{"id":242837,"date":"2025-11-04T06:50:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T06:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/242837\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T06:50:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T06:50:15","slug":"twilight-director-on-uphill-battle-of-launching-the-iconic-franchise-as-a-woman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/242837\/","title":{"rendered":"Twilight director on ‘uphill battle’ of launching the iconic franchise as a woman"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\"EXCL:
\n\t\tTwilight director Catherine Hardwicke is reflecting on the iconic franchise and its legacy, plus delving into the reality of being a female filmmaker (Picture: Antonelli\/Laruffa\/Shutterstock)<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s always a no,\u2019 says Catherine Hardwicke of the struggle to get films made throughout her career as a director, from Twilight<\/a> to Lords of Dogtown to her bold and visceral debut, teen psychological drama Thirteen, over 20 years ago.<\/p>\n

Not that it was Hardwicke\u2019s introduction to Hollywood: she\u2019d already been an established production designer on movies including Three Kings, starring George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg, and worked with Tom Cruise<\/a> on Vanilla Sky.<\/p>\n

But her mantra of working out how to \u2018overcome the no\u2019 has seen Hardwicke forge her own (award-winning) path in the industry as an indie filmmaker who also launched a $3billion franchise with Twilight<\/a> thanks to her vision and understanding of Stephenie Meyer\u2019s novel, which studio execs at Paramount \u2013 who had started to develop it \u2013 hadn\u2019t even read.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s a f**king love story,\u2019 is the simple way she puts it to me when we talk at Malta<\/a>\u2019s Mediterranean Film Festival, where Hardwick served as a jury member and delivered a rousing masterclass showing how she meticulously planned out each of her movies.<\/p>\n

Hardwicke was also told \u2018no f**king way\u2019 about Thirteen when she initially pitched it, co-written with actress Nikki Reed, who also appeared in the Twilight films<\/a> and was then the daughter of her former partner and still in middle school.<\/p>\n

\u2018We\u2019re not making that movie with a 13-year-old girl cutting herself, with the F-bomb. It\u2019s going to be R-rated. Who\u2019s the audience?\u201d Everybody said no,\u2019 the director recalls of the initial reception for the film \u2013 until Hardwicke made it on a shoestring budget, convinced Holly Hunter to come on board and Searchight purchased it at Sundance.<\/p>\n

\t\t\"15109245
\n\t\tTwilight catapulted Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart to global fame in the 2010s (Picture: Summit Entertainment)<\/p>\n

Thirteen went on to become a commercial success and a critical darling, being nominated for a slew of awards, including Golden Globes<\/a> \u2013 while Hunter was nominated for the best supporting actress Oscar and Hardwicke won Sundance\u2019s directing award.<\/p>\n

Even following the phenomenon of Twilight<\/a>, though, with all of the franchise\u2019s films re-releasing in UK and US cinemas<\/a> this month for the book\u2019s 20th anniversary, the struggle was not over for Hardwicke.<\/p>\n

\u2018Even afterwards \u2013 well, why can\u2019t I get to direct this? \u201cOh, you were only successful because the book was successful.\u201d Bulls**t. You and every other studio in town did not see that as a success. So anyway, what can you say?\u2019 she shrugs.<\/p>\n

Hardwicke describes being a female director in Hollywood as an \u2018uphill battle\u2019 \u2013 and she has the anecdotes and rejections to prove it \u2013 but she wears them lightly as a smiley and energetic force, but with a laidback air. I can\u2019t imagine her ever losing her rag; she\u2019s soft-spoken but passionate.<\/p>\n

Her next project, Street Smart, is a project close to home, shot on the streets of Venice, California<\/a>, and taking a look at homelessness<\/a>.<\/p>\n

She calls it \u2018a movie that matters\u2019 and adds: \u2018I wanted to shine a light of the humanity of these kids that are creative, they just didn\u2019t have a chance.\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\"Film
\n\t\t\u2018The first movie would never have been the same if I hadn\u2019t done it, or another woman\u2019 (Picture: Bitte Fotovermerk\/REX)<\/p>\n

Prior to Thirteen, Hardwicke had struggled to get any screenplays she\u2019d written made into films.<\/p>\n

\u2018The first one that got optioned would have cost like $8million \u2013 but they\u2019re not gonna let a woman first-time director direct [an] $8m [film]. Then I wrote a cheaper one, $4m. \u201cOh no, you\u2019re never going to get a $4m film.\u201d She laughs. \u2018I was like, Jesus Christ, I\u2019ve worked with a lot of first-time directors that had much bigger budgets than that, but that wasn\u2019t a popular time to be a female director. Then I wrote that one with Nikki, and that was so we could basically shoot it with all my furniture, clothes, my house, my car \u2013 everything\u2019s in it. We just did it bare bones.\u2019<\/p>\n

And the \u2018no\u2019 was promptly overcome.<\/p>\n

But when working on Twilight, Hardwicke still had issues with the budget, which ended up at $37m (Thirteen\u2019s, in contrast, was $2m). The rights were expensive to Meyer\u2019s book, \u2018for good reason,\u2019 says Hardwicke. (\u2018She deserves every penny she can get!\u2019)<\/p>\n

\u2018But I would have an idea, like let me have a cool dream sequence or I want to do this thing underwater\u2026 \u201cWe can\u2019t afford it, it\u2019s not going to make any more [money]\u201d,\u2019 she recalls being told.<\/p>\n

The studio had estimated Twilight\u2019s success as, in the absolute best-case scenario, equal to that of The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, released in 2005 and starring Blake Lively<\/a>, America<\/a> Ferrera and Alexis Bledel.<\/p>\n

\t\t\"\"
\n\t\tHardwicke describes being a female director in Hollywood as an \u2018uphill battle\u2019 (Picture: Shutterstock)<\/p>\n

\u2018They said that\u2019s a bigger book, that was all females with four leads, and that made $42m and that\u2019s about all we\u2019ll ever make. So they didn\u2019t\u2026 they were not free flowing with the money,\u2019 Hardwicke reveals.<\/p>\n

Twilight went on to gross over $400m, with the subsequent four films based on Meyer\u2019s sequel novels bringing the franchise\u2019s total north of $3.3bn \u2013 that\u2019s more than Guardians of the Galaxy and Indiana Jones.<\/p>\n

\u2018It was kind of funny because if they knew the goal they had, they would never have hired a female director,\u2019 Hardwicke suggests. \u2018Because after me, none of them were women. The next four were all men, all the Hunger Games<\/a>, five of them, all men \u2013 same studio \u2013 and then the Divergents, all men.\u2019<\/p>\n

Again, coming from someone else, this might sound bitter \u2013 but while Hardwicke has acknowledged these slights, they haven\u2019t twisted her out of shape. She also wasn\u2019t interested in coming back to helm New Moon afterwards \u2013 \u2018but I still wish they would have hired other female directors\u2019.<\/p>\n

And she adds of this boom in YA fantasy adaptations: \u2018That\u2019s 12 more films that were directed by men that have now, on their track record, a big fat box office hit that [means] they have an easier time getting the next [project] instead of women.\u2019<\/p>\n

And why was it always men, does she think?<\/p>\n

\t\t\"Street
\n\t\tHer next project, Street Smart, is close to home for Hardwicke (Picture: Instagram)<\/p>\n

\t\t\"Street
\n\t\tShot on the streets of Venice, California, it delves into homelessness (Picture: Instagram)<\/p>\n

\u2018That was just default. You know, women are too emotional, women don\u2019t know how to do action\u2026 Now we\u2019re going to do more action, more VFX in those [so] we better get a dude!\u2019<\/p>\n

As Hardwicke has detailed before, the first script she saw for Twilight had Bella, famously to be played by Kristen Stewart<\/a>, on a jet ski with the FBI chasing her, and the clumsy teenager was shown \u2013 from the very first scene \u2013 as a gifted athlete.<\/p>\n

The filmmaker despaired at how wrong this all was.<\/p>\n

\u2018They thought it had to be action \u2013 like male action. I was like, nope, that\u2019s not why people are reading these books. They don\u2019t want her whizzing around on a jet ski \u2013 it\u2019s a f**king love story. And she\u2019s supposed to be f**king awkward, she\u2019s not a f**king track star.\u2019<\/p>\n

As a teenager at the time \u2013 and as someone who had actually read the books \u2013 I wholeheartedly agree.<\/p>\n

\u2018The first movie would never have been the same if I hadn\u2019t done it, or another woman.\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\"\"
\n\t\tPrior to Thirteen, Hardwicke had struggled to get any screenplays she\u2019d written made into films (Picture: Fred Hayes\/WireImage)<\/p>\n

Hardwicke also understood the importance of the fanbase (\u2018I did read fan comments\u2019) while also knowing that she needed to make it cinematic and be confident in her vision.<\/p>\n

\u2018I thought, if I make it visual and sexy, and all those feelings that you have when you read the book, I think the fans will like it. So when I took that very famous scene out of the car [Bella\u2019s \u2018you\u2019re impossibly fast and strong\u2019 confrontation of Edward], I thought people were going to like my version better \u2013 and they did. I didn\u2019t feel like I had to lock it precisely into the book.\u2019<\/p>\n

While Hardwicke has passionate lovers of her other films, Thirteen and Lord of Dogtown mainly, who like to approach her in the street to share their enthusiasm, she\u2019s never disappointed if it\u2019s a Twilight fan either \u2013 despite the struggles she faced making it, and despite it not being her own story.<\/p>\n

\u2018I made a lot of original choice on that, so I feel like that\u2019s my baby too, 100%,\u2019 Hardwicke says. \u2018But also, Rob [Pattinson] and Kristen met at my kitchen table, they kissed on my bed, you know? So it\u2019s very personal \u2013 Kristen wore my clothes in some of the scenes. So as hard as directors work on movies, if you get one movie that people love, we got to be happy. And I am happy!\u2019<\/p>\n

She also has an extra affection for the little details that Twilight afficionados notice \u2013 \u2018I can say the craziest things to fans, like who says \u201cBurrito, my friend?\u201d in the movie? And the deep fans, they know exactly who said it in what scene, what is on the wall. Everything is appreciated.\u2019<\/p>\n

Hardwicke has learned through fans what the new obsessions are too, from how many boiled eggs Emmett (Kellan Lutz) is carrying when he enters the school cafeteria, to people dressing up as ketchup bottles for a Twilight costume contest she judged.<\/p>\n

\u2018I don\u2019t know what that means. They said, \u201cOh, in the scene in the diner? Bella takes a ketchup bottle, and she can\u2019t get the ketchup out, so she hits it twice and sets it down.\u201d So that\u2019s a new popular Twilight costume now. I\u2019m like\u2026 it\u2019s 20 seconds in the movie!\u2019<\/p>\n

But she also thinks it\u2019s \u2018awesome\u2019, especially when she hears of the deeper, life-changing resonance the film and its passionate fandom has had for some.<\/p>\n

\u2018The best thing is, honestly, when you meet people that did not have any friends: they were dyslexic, they were contemplating suicide or had attempted it \u2013 and then when Twilight came out they made a friend on the other side of the world that they could relate to, and then they learned how to read. That\u2019s pretty cool, you know?\u2019<\/p>\n

Got a story?<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk<\/a> entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff<\/a> page \u2013 we\u2019d love to hear from you.<\/p>\n

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\nMORE: Wicked: For Good director confirms he\u2019s cut the franchise\u2019s biggest song from sequel<\/a><\/p>\n

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\nMORE: The beloved films we\u2019ve lied about watching \u2013 and why we\u2019re fibbing<\/a><\/p>\n

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\nMORE: 90s horror hailed as \u2018best film ever\u2019 shoots up Netflix chart 30 years after release<\/a><\/p>\n


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