Diablo Cody, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Juno, is to make her directing debut on the comedy Lamb of God, reports Deadline.

Cody has also written the script for the project, which centres on a young Christian woman who loses her faith after a plane crash. She heads to Vegas to pursue a new career as a stripper, but winds up rediscovering her love for Jesus along the way. Cody herself worked as a stripper prior to making her name in Hollywood with the screenplay for 2007 comedy Juno, the tale of a sassy high school student who decides to give her unwanted child up for adoption. She has also written the upcoming comedy Young Adult, starring Charlize Theron, which sees her reuniting with Juno director Jason Reitman and producer Mason Novick (the latter is also on board for Lamb of God).

"Having been in the trenches with Diablo and Mason on Juno and Young Adult, we immediately jumped at the opportunity to partner again," said producer Nathan Kahane of Mandate Pictures. "It's an honour to be part of Diablo's transition to director."

Since winning the best screenwriter gong at the 2008 Academy Awards, Cody has also worked on the screenplay for comedy horror Jennifer's Body, in which Megan Fox starred as a seductive cheerleader who transforms into an evil man-eating succubus. That film was less well-received, but Cody received plaudits for her TV show United States of Tara, starring an Emmy award-winning Toni Collette as a woman with dissociative identity disorder.