Thirteen
Short description
Thirteen follows Tracy, a thirteen-year-old honour student in Los Angeles who lives with her mother, Melanie, and her brother, Mason. When Tracy falls in with Evie, the most popular girl at her school, she is drawn into Evie's circle and begins to imitate her new friend's way of life, experimenting with sex, drugs and petty crime. As Tracy's behaviour grows more reckless and aggressive, Melanie struggles to understand the change in her daughter and to pull her back.
The film was directed by Catherine Hardwicke, who wrote the screenplay with Nikki Reed, and it was the first feature she directed, opening a run that continued through Lords of Dogtown, The Nativity Story, Twilight and later films including Mafia Mamma and Prisoner's Daughter. Evan Rachel Wood plays Tracy, Nikki Reed plays Evie, and Holly Hunter plays Melanie, with Brady Corbet, Jeremy Sisto and Vanessa Hudgens among the supporting cast.
Made for a budget of about two million dollars, Thirteen took roughly ten million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds a rating of 6.8 from around 107,000 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.7 from about 1,800 votes, suggesting a solid but divided audience response. A critics' rating of 7.6 from 152 reviews places it somewhat higher with reviewers than with the general public.
What's left behind the scenes
- The entire two-million-dollar budget was raised through share offerings via independent companies, which in return for their investment received a certain portion of the film rights.
- During the scene where the girls inhale computer dust spray and hit each other, Nikki Reed was genuinely hurt.
- Vanessa Anne Hudgens's debut film.
- In the scene where Brady picks up Tracy on the road after school, the car unexpectedly stalled, and the film crew had to push it from behind, staying out of camera view.
- Most of the adult actors agreed to a reduced fee, becoming interested in the script they liked.
- Originally, Nikki Reed was supposed to play the role of Tracey.
- Tracey’s phrase “What the fuck did you do,” which she exclaims when Evie gets a belly piercing, was not in the script and blurted out spontaneously after Nikki Reed accidentally pierced the upper part of her navel with the needle.
- With the exception of a few scenes, the entire film was shot using a handheld, non-professional camera.
- Due to the film's low budget, the girls' clothing came from their own wardrobes.
- Although Brady Corbet plays the heroine’s older brother in the film, he is actually almost a year younger than Evan Rachel Wood.
- The cigarettes smoked by the girls in the film were mostly made of catnip, and the powder they inhaled was made of harmless food additives.
- The entire scriptwriting process took 6 days.
- The film's plot is partially based on events from the life of actress and co-writer Nikki Reed, who experienced a difficult period at the age of 12-13.
- Nikki Reed's tongue piercing was real, but Evan Rachel Wood's was not. The actress wore a special adhesive that periodically fell off, and she involuntarily swallowed several pieces throughout the shooting.
- Filming of the low-budget movie took place in an ordinary house on Babcock Avenue in Los Angeles, which was rented for a short period. Brady Corbet, who played Mason in the film, lived just a block away and could easily walk to the set each time. School scenes were filmed at Portola Middle School, with extras consisting of ordinary students and members of the film crew.
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