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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, September 11, 2003

Troubled teen voice rings true in 'Thirteen'

By Moon Yun Choi
Special to The Advertiser

Catherine Hardwicke, right, director of "Thirteen," says the film's unflinching examination of adolescence makes it a good one for parents to watch with their children, because it can open the door to discussion and possible reconciliation.

Anne Marie Fox

Catherine Hardwicke

From: Texas. Currently resides in Venice Beach, Calif.

Education: Architecture degree from the University of Texas in Austin. She was an architect before attending the UCLA graduate school in film, where she studied live-action and animated films.

Career facts: She left UCLA before graduating and became a production designer, working on such films as "Vanilla Sky," "Three Kings," "Tombstone" and "Tank Girl."

Inside story: Hardwicke worked with co-writer/teen actor Nikki Reed's father, Seth Reed, an art designer, on the set of "Tombstone" and became acquainted with Nikki. Seth Reed was Hardwicke's boyfriend for four years, from the time Nikki was 5 until she was 9.

Making the movie: Holly Hunter took a minimum rate of pay and deferred payment to help "Thirteen" get made. The 95-minute film cost under $2 million to produce.

Accolades: Best director award, grand jury prize nomination for "Thirteen" at Sundance.

As a film that takes an extraordinarily intimate look at teenage life, "Thirteen" will shock, and maybe even upset, some viewers with its gritty yet realistic portrayal of what it's like growing up in today's society, especially for girls.

The movie, set to open in Hawai'i Sept. 19, deals with a bright seventh-grader, Tracy (Evan Rachel Woods), who gets along with her mother until the girl falls under another girl's bad influence. Her desperation to fit in leads her into sexual promiscuity, drugs, bullying and even self-mutilation.

First-time feature film director Catherine Hardwicke says this is a good movie for parents to watch with their kids, because it opens the door for discussion and possible reconciliation.

The director, who also co-wrote the script for "Thirteen," has drawn critical praise for the movie's heightened but realistic portrayal of teens in trouble. She spoke about her movie at the Maui Film Festival, where "Thirteen" had its Hawai'i premiere.

The honest portrayal of teens came straight from the source — then-13-year-old Nikki Reed, whom Hardwicke had known since Reed was a 5-year-old. Hardwicke and Reed wrote the script together, incorporating Reed's insights. Since Hardwicke wasn't like the teenage characters in the movie, she said she "had to get into a different person's head space" and did so through the collaborative process with Reed.

Reed, now 15, stars in the movie as bad girl Evie.

Reed wasn't just fodder for research. Hardwicke started the project as a way to help Reed cope with the stresses in her life.

"She was going through this tough age where she was angry at herself, with her mother and at everyone in her family," said Hardwicke. "All she cared about was hair and makeup and looking good and sexy." Rather than lecturing her, Hardwicke got the idea to start writing together.

The film has been praised not only for its emotional resonance, but also for the visual acuity Hardwicke, a former architect and production designer, brought to the sets and the attire worn by her actors. The Washington Post, for example, noted that Hardwicke — who appeared at the Maui Film Festival with her hair styled in cornrows — made a visual point in highlighting the ways parents dress and act like their teenage children.

Hardwicke said her hope is that people of all ages can relate to the movie. "A 55-year-old woman called her 78-year-old mom and apologized to her (after she saw the movie)," she said.

"Sometimes the people that you love the most are the ones you take your worst thoughts out on.

"At the end of the movie, it's about unconditional love ... somebody loving us no matter what."

Hardwicke said she saw the movie with her mother, who cried and thanked her, saying, "I'm so happy that you weren't like this."

Don Brown, film programmer for the Art House at Restaurant Row, prescreened the film and said the script for "Thirteen" was an eye-opener about peer pressure from a teenager's point of view.

"I don't know if a story written by a writer in his or her mid-20s or -30s could have been as painfully honest about the raw emotions a teenager feels at that age," Brown said. "Although the script is technically polished (by Hardwicke), the raw personal experiences (of Reed) give the film an authentic voice."

Hardwicke directed Oscar-winning Holly Hunter (best actress, "The Piano"), who plays Tracy's mother, in "Thirteen."

"Over the first day or two on the set, (when) you tell Holly Hunter what to do ... that's a little scary,'' Hardwicke said.

To budding filmmakers in Hawai'i who want to make their own movies, Hardwicke says: "What worked for me is to find a subject that you really care and feel passionate about. That is going to give you the strength to keep working on it, to make it good and to finish the film."

She warns filmmakers about the struggles ahead: "It takes years, blood, sweat and tears, and your own money."