First of all, you probably know this but if you say the ‘F’ word twice in a movie, it’s rated R. If an underage kid takes one sip of alcohol, it’s rated R. But you can kill people if you want and it’s rated PG-13. How fair is that? Love that little quirk of the system. We knew that it was going to be rated R because the subject matter was about difficult stuff that kids are going through. We’ve already got all the Disney versions of that, so this is a different kind of movie. It’s an alternative. So was I worried about it? No, we just accepted that. That’s the way the motion picture ratings system is.
I think that in some ways it could be good because some people feel, because the performances are so strong, that it’s a powerful film. It might be tough for some kids who aren’t sophisticated enough to go see it. If they don’t see other films like this or if they don’t read Russian literature yet, they might not be ready for it. I think that the parents can make that judgment. Also, if you go see it with an adult, then you have someone to talk about stuff with afterwards.
Do you believe the film will spark dialogue between mothers and daughters? Is that something you hoped would happen?
It already has a lot and that’s exactly what we were hoping for. We found that in the auditioning process right off the bat. No girl could come audition for this movie that was under 16 without her mom’s permission. We had a lot of mothers and daughters… Everyone had to read the script together; they both had to read the script. Many people said that when they read the script, this was the first time that they talked about these subjects. There was a women crying in the waiting room who told us that. There was a mother who said that this was the first time she’d actually talked about this stuff. I think that’s what we were hoping it would do. We were hoping moms would have a little bit more understanding of their daughters, and daughters would have a little more understanding of their moms.
Along those same lines, is there a comment that you’ve heard from either a parent or a teen that’s really affected you?
Oh yeah, there’s so many people who’ve come up and hugged me and cried, and introduced me to their mother or their daughter. I’ve even had a 48 year-old lady say she went home and called her 75 year-old mom and apologized. One girl made her mother go see it just to prove that she wasn’t really that bad. “See mom, I could have been as bad as Tracy.” You could use it in any way you want, I’d say (laughing).
Having worked with some fantastic directors, who do you think influenced you the most?
I think Richard Linklater probably. I’ve done two movies with him and he just really keeps trying to push himself to do new things, different things. He definitely thinks outside the box. He’s experimental. I was always trying to get him to help me a little bit on this and his main thing was, “You've got to just do it.” He gave me tough love and that was the right thing. I did it, and I did it myself basically, and that was good.
What was the most difficult part about transitioning from production designer to director? Did it seem like the logical next step?
Well I wouldn’t say logical (laughing). As a production designer, it’s a very hard job. I don’t know if people realize it. You really have to put in a lot of really long hours. You have to be very organized and budget things very carefully. You have to deliver on the aesthetics, the creative and the financial end of the things. Directing is not harder, it’s just a different set of things you’re working with. They are both really demanding jobs. I’m sure all that kind of prepared me, too. I have worked on so many demanding projects.
More Information on Catherine Hardwicke's Directorial Debut - "Thirteen"
