As a moviephile, nothing tests your professionalism quite like having to cut a biography about Catherine Hardwicke. I wasn’t completely familiar with her body of work until having her filmography handed to me, but there were a couple titles that stuck out in my mind and had me suspicious of what lay in store for me.
Catherine is currently touring to promote her new film, Red Riding Hood, a lycanthropic take on the fairy tale, starring Amanda Seyfried and Gary Oldman. It takes place deep in the wilderness in medieval times and was fittingly made amidst the rugged beauty of British Columbia. Bafflingly though, it was shot entirely in a sound stage, with fake trees and fake fans for a breeze. The “artistic merit” of the film is equally baffling, the performances, script and story are so subpar that it was difficult to even watch the abridged electronic press kit materials.
If that wasn’t enough to test my gag reflex, there’s the matter of her contribution to the Twilight phenomenon by directing the franchise’s first installment. I’ve actually seen the film in its entirety, so I can say with authority that it’s contribution to the dismantling of the Vampire sub-genre is without peer, for this century at least. I get the impression that she was offered the chance to act as “studio puppet” for the movie after demonstrating her ability to ape Stacey Peralta’s documentary, Dogtown & Z-Boys into the the passable, but instantly forgettable Lords of Dogtown.
These are underwhelming feats for someone with as audacious a debut film as Evan Rachel Wood’s unveiling in Thirteen. Her intense style and and raw approach to the film, along with her ability to elicit Wood’s incredible performance had so much potential. I don’t think there was ever all that much lying beneath the surface, and perhaps that’s the point. With Hardwicke, everything seems to be right on the surface, and perhaps that could be why she keeps getting work.
I remain the consummate professional though. Her bio looks great, and I even managed to stomach the comparison to John Hughes. (shudder)
I truly amazed that she is getting movies to direct. Her work in Twilight should be enough to send her to director purgatory for the rest of her lifetime!
I had thought to compare her to Chris Columbus in relation to Chris being tapped to do Harry Potter, but at least he’s got a fairly distinguished career behind him. I read her next project is an adaptation of Hamlet starring Emile Hirsh… sounds decent enough on paper, we’ll see if this is her ticket out of the business though.
I actually knew her. I had an acting class with her years ago as she was transitioning from set designer into directing. I have a great story about the inception and concept of “13″ that no one believes (ha ha ha) except my close circle of friends whom were there at the time. If you are interested I can email it to you. I am always amazed at the caliber of projects she directs. I always thought she could be one of the great small independent film directors along the same line as David Sayles-Not nearly as good though-but that type of career- small, well done, meaningful indy films.
I am interested, Mr. Smith. I was taken aback by you invoking the name of David Sayles. He seems a little beyond her league, but I’m excited at the idea of what you saw in her, especially based on the interview I witnessed that demonstrated a strange detachment to Thirteen’s subject matter.