Aloha, Father Geek here in Austin working in my standard Hawaiian Shirt uniform... our Ms Moon Yun has sent in another of her cool little interviews for us to checkout, I really enjoy these and am pleasently surprised at the number of them she has filed in the last couple of months.
Ol'Father Geek saw THIRTEEN quite a while back and enjoyed it alot, very edgy flick. Unsettling! It reminded me alot of experiences with Harry's sis (sistersatan) at 13 and 14. Being a single parent male raising a daughter thru her teenage years is no cup of tea (not even Red Zinger). Especially when, as was our case, the deceased mother had been a very violent, substance abusing role model. Still, the family came thru it all in good standing and Dannie's little DVD shop here in Austin just received one of the newspaper critics "Best Of" awards for 2003, annnnnd she doesn't even advertise in their paper. Cool, huh...
Moon Yun signing in from Hawaii where I just saw “Thirteen.”
After seeing that gut-wrenching movie about smart-ass kids, I will never, never be mean to my mom again.
I was so glad that I saw that film. The movie was so good that it just left me in awe that “Thirteen” was directed by a first-time director. Catherine Hardwicke, who I got to talking with at the Maui Film Festival, is an amazing talent. She was a major Hollywood production designer before directing her first film. Holly Hunter, as the mom, was great too but it was really Evan Rachel Wood’s performance as the troubled teen that stole the show.
I haven’t made out my top ten movie list yet, but I think this one has got to be one of the best I’ve seen this year.
Hardwicke definitely deserved her Best Dramatic Directing Award at Sundance 2003. Here’s my conversation with Hardwicke:
AICN: How do you feel about winning the Director’s Award at Sundance?
CH: Exciting. I was shocked. I feel honored because I’ve been inspired by Sundance for years. I’ve gone there six years ago with another film that I was a designer on. Every year that I’ve gone, I’ve gotten so excited talking to filmmakers and seeing what they can do that I was so glad to be able to go back with a film that I made and hopefully inspire other people. So it was a neat circle.
AICN: They say that in screenwriting the writer goes on the journey process of the protagonist. Did you go on a journey too during the writing process? (Hardwicke co-wrote the script with Nikki Reed, then 13, who also stars in the movie as bad kid Evie.)
CH: Sure, I did. I wrote it with Nikki. I started to learn what happened to her and what kind of emotional arc that her life was taking as she went from being a very innocent, childlike, good girl, straight "A" student, loving of her mother to what made her change into a rebellious teen. She wanted to be a hotly and popular. (She) would do anything she could to be loved by all the kids… (like) shoplift, do drugs and dress really outrageous. I wasn’t like that as a child. It was a journey to write it with her, to let her feel confident enough to talk to me about it, to feel protected by me, and also to get the movie made. It was all a long journey.
AICN: Holly Hunter, who plays Melanie the mom, is an Oscar-winning actress. What was it like to direct her?
CH: At first, I was so scared because she’s such an amazing actress. I’ve admired her forever … since “Broadcast News,” “The Piano,” everything. But I thought that I really needed somebody that strong and that amazing and great to do this role. She was my first choice. I had taken acting for the last five years because I really wanted to be able to work with actors, to communicate with them in the same language, understand how to talk with them. How do they get there? How do they do the amazing things that actors do? So I forced myself to go through that process and act and direct actors in scenes that I’ve written. That was invaluable for me … to be able to communicate with her that I just had so much of a better understanding from when I met with her for the first time. I could talk to her … where the character came from and what I was trying to do with the character.
AICN: It’s very impressive for a 13-year-old to co-write a screenplay. How were you able to bring that out of her? (Reed is 15 now.)
CH: I’ve known her since she was five-years-old. I’ve seen her grow up. She and I are really good friends. I was trying to help her because she was going through this tough age where she was angry at herself, angry with her mother, angry at everyone in her family. She was having a tough time with life. All she was caring about was hair and make-up and looking good and (being concerned with) “how sexy am I?” I was like, “God, I got to get her to think about other things in life. What can I do? (I needed to show) her how this isn’t all there is. (Such as) how bad ass can I be smoking cigarettes? No, you can be an artist. You can write. So that’s why I started taking her around to museums and really good movies and showing her cool stuff. And then (I said to her), “Let’s write something together.” You can’t just say to somebody you should do this or that. You probably got to do it with them. So w! e just started writing it together. It was great.
AICN: How would you describe yourself? Are you laid back or a workaholic?
CH: I would NOT say I’m laid back [Laughs] because I’m a workaholic. I have so many ideas and different projects that I want to do that I love to try to be making things and being creative. I love to read and see good movies. I also love to surf and run so I like to do outdoor stuff. If I have a spare minute, it’s like, “OK, what could we do? Go hike up a volcano? Or go surfing or see a great movie?”
AICN: What do you consider are some of the great movies?
CH: My movie is very handheld. It’s very in-your-face and gritty so I love (Martin) Scorcese’s “Mean Street” (1973). I like (John) Cassavetes’ “A Woman Under the Influence” (1974). I liked Kimberly Peirce’s movie “Boys Don’t Cry.” I thought it was very real. “Dancer in the Dark” (2000 directed by Lars von Trier). Very emotional film.
MYC: Who are some of the directors you admire?
CH: Martin Scorcese, John Cassavetes, Kimberly Peirce, Cameron Crowe and Richard Linklater.
That wraps up my conversation with Hardwicke. Glad I caught her before she went surfing down at “Jaws” on Maui with the festival director’s twin sons, Kiva and Tide Rivers. Hardwicke, an avid surfer herself, was in good hands since both of Barry Rivers’ sons, 25, are pro surfers.
Moon Yun signing out until next time…
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