A mere 13-year-old co-wrote the film with the director of Twilight and left a mark on an entire generation

And no, Twilight isn’t Katherine Hardwick and Nikki Reed’s first collaboration. She, who plays the role of vampire Rosalie Cullen in the successful saga, met the director as a child. Then they collaborated to offer a whole generation of teenagers a drama that won’t leave them indifferent.

Two decades after its release, Thirteen (2003) remains relevant today and continues to present a raw and realistic portrait of the complexities of adolescence. He is a director Katherine HardwickMaking her directorial debut at the time, the feature film explores this “untouchable age,” as it is called, this period of life created by attractions, through the eyes of a loyal and responsible young girl who ends up finding herself. Immersed in a whirlwind of drugs, sex, and petty theft while befriending one of the most popular girls in her school.

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In the cast we meet teenagers Evan Rachel Wood, in the skin of the innocent Tracy and Nikki Reedwho played the troubled Evie – aka Nikki Reed, who co-wrote the screenplay and who Katherine Hardwick Five years later, he will again choose to act in one of his films: the first chapter of a certain saga, the so-called Twilight…

NIKKI REED’S LIFE ON SCREEN

Whenever Nikki Reed write thirteen, which can be considered a semi-biographical work about his own life, he was only 13 years old, like his character. But the young girl then managed to create a film that has retained all its power and still resonates with young viewers.

“Thirteen is my favorite movie in the world“- said the young woman Nikki Reed One day at the beach, as the actor said in an interview with Rolling Stone on the film’s 20th anniversary last summer. “I wanted to write and I wrote my first screenplay.“

“I don’t even think he was alive when we made this movie“, he added Nikki Reed, shocked. “And he says he wrote the script because he was so inspired by me writing at such a young age.“

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Katherine Hardwick He himself told Rolling Stone how he ended up writing his first film with a 13-year-old girl. He had known Nick since he was 5 years old because he was his father’s boyfriend and his mother’s friend.

When she finished her film studies and was looking for her first opportunities, she was shocked by the changes that the little girl had undergone: “He was completely changed. She used to be a cute little girl riding a bike, climbing trees and wearing a jumpsuit, but now she’s a mini JLo. I saw a real dark cloud above him.“

Nikki Reed He never hid that his family was troubled. ٢ Katherine Hardwick decided to become a kind of godfather for him and offered new opportunities. “She was a funny older David, a kind of aunt who brought me closer to cool experiences“- said the actor. Katherine Hardwick Then the idea to make a film together came up. She remembers him telling her, “We’ll have to write our own movie. You will play the main role and I will be the director. I think it will be our therapy to help you do something creative.“

6 days of writing and it’s done

And the result is a drama that they wrote in just six days and in which Nikki Reed Showed his recent experience as a teenager. After completing the script, it was not easy to find financing for the project, and they faced scandalous producers who did not dare to give them a chance. thirteen It was ultimately created on a budget of two million dollars and shot in 24 days.

However, years later Nikki Reed He regrets how he portrayed his family: “I wrote this movie about them, their flaws and imperfections, and what it was like growing up.” she told Zooey Magazine in 2012.You grow old and think: How dare I describe my father as a carefree, completely empty idiot?“

With $10.1 million at the box office, thirteen met his audience in 2003 – and clearly continues to inspire new generations – and received critical acclaim, propelling his career forward Katherine Hardwick And his two young actors.

Thirteen can be rediscovered streaming on Disney+.