Photographed by Katherine Rountree.
Written by Asli Shebe.
Catherine Hardwicke is known for the many films she has directed, starting with “Thirteen” and moving on to to big-name films such as “Twilight,” “Lords of Dogtown,” “Red Riding Hood” and now “Miss You Already.”
Although Hardwicke has directed her fair share of big-name films, she pointed out that doing so has by no means made getting hired to direct other films easier.
“To be honest I thought it’d be easier,” said Hardwicke. “I thought that people would come to me and be like, ‘hey what do you want to shoot next?'”
In many of her interviews, Hardwicke has brought up that only four percent of films directed by women make it. When asked why she thinks this is, Hardwicke stated that “people do not believe in female films as much as the believe in male [films].”
“We’re used to pale, male men in authority. And that’s what we think it’s supposed to be,” she added.
Hardwicke explained that that the only way to move forward from this is to “open up that stereotypical mind and broaden out and tell more diverse stories” by making references to “Selma” and “Orange is the New Black” and how they differ from the norm.
This year’s Savannah Film Festival has been packed with films directed by women, produced by women, written by women and starring female leads.
“This is so cool. It feels like we’re getting ahead of the game and we are on the right side of history,” said Hardwicke. “We are excited that Savannah is doing that and supporting all these films directed by women.”
The film’s main characters — Jess and Milly –are best friends played by Drew Barrymore and Toni Collette respectively. Despite the fact that they were going to be playing best friends on screen, the two actresses did not meet until a week before shooting.
“I was terrified, because on ‘Thirteen’ Nikki Reed and Evan Rachel Wood got to meet before and I got to see if there was chemistry,” said Hardwicke. “On ‘Twilight’ Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart got to meet in my house. But I couldn’t get Drew and Toni in the same city at the same time.”
“The first time they meet I’m like ‘come on baby, please make this work.’ Suddenly they start cracking each other up with jokes. We put that real banter and that real chemistry in the movie. Some of the funniest lines they just improved.”
Hardwicke explained the the audiences reactions have been far from what they expected, stating that people were laughing throughout, even during some of the heavier scenes.
“What I love about Morwenna Banks’ script is that she tried to figure out a way to keep the humor going — keep injecting humor so that even in your darkest moments your best friend lifts you up make you laugh.”
The film’s lead actors are women, it was directed by a woman and it was written by a woman. It doesn’t stop there though; the fight is not over. Hardwicke pointed out the importance of giving women the tools and the love and support to continue to do this. She explained the few female films that are taken on are passed to smaller distributions are in less theaters and less money is spent on advertising them.
Hardwicke’s first film “Thirteen” got all the buzz, but only opened in two theaters in the U.S. Hardwicke reiterated the importance in supporting women.
“We want to try and change everything. This is the year everybody is opening their eyes and saying we are going to change this stuff. And people like you and everybody that is writing about this, shining a spotlight on it, things are gonna change. We’re gonna be in a different world, I think — within a year.”
The director ended the interview with offering advice to students — particularly to women — trying to make it in the industry.
“One thing that we all kind of know, since the odds are a little bit stacked against us right now, I just advise everybody work super hard, really know your craft [and] really hone your skills.”
She underlined the importance in being prepared and knowing what you’re doing so that employers will “respect you and won’t be able to turn you down.”
“You’re gonna be kind of bulletproof. They’re not going to be able to say ‘oh she wasn’t professional, she didn’t know her stuff.’ Come in there with guns blazing,” Hardwicke added.
“Miss You Already” will be available in movie theaters on November 6.
Asli Shebe is a senior writing major from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. She began working for District in 2014 as a staff writer, then copy editor, A&E editor, Chief Assignment editor and finally, Editor-in-Chief in 2017. Asli currently holds the record for obtaining the most job titles during her time at District. When she’s not writing for District you can find her biking around the Historic District of Savannah at odd hours of the day.
