Unlucky Number Thirteen

Posted on December 06, 2006 | From FilmStew.com | Previous

When I interview teenagers, I usually feel like a schoolteacher, perhaps an aunt, sometimes even maternal.

But I can think of only one time when I felt as if I was chatting with a peer, an equal – one who could easily be a close friend. That was just last week, when I spoke with 18-year-old Nikki Reed, who is famous, or perhaps infamous, for co-writing and starring in the groundbreaking indy Thirteen. She can currently be seen in another highly charged teen drama, Mini’s First Time.

Reed was extremely candid about her work on the film. She was only 13-years-old (natch) when she first sat down with writer-director Catherine Hardwicke (pictured at bottom) to write a semi-autobiographical screenplay from her journal entries. Nikki met Catherine when she was about five, when Catherine was dating Nikki’s father. Nikki poured her heart and soul into her work, then naively started her first year of high school, completely unaware of the havoc it would wreak.

“I had no idea how much my life would change when that film was released,” Nikki recalls. “I didn’t know it would be so controversial, and I didn’t realize it would put me in a position as a spokesperson for all teenage girls.” Adults would come to campus to speak with her during lunch. “Could this be happening to my daughter?” they asked.

Classmates would carry teen magazines with pictures of her: “Top Ten Teens,” right up there next to Mandy Moore. Nikki’s brother, a year ahead of her in school, was constantly harangued about a fictitious line uttered by the older brother in the film. And that was just at school. What her parents endured because of the film is another story.

“My mother really is a hair stylist, and had her issues with alcohol,” Nikki said. “ Photographers would come to their house and try to catch her in her pajamas. At work, my father would be asked, ‘So are you finally there for your daughter?’”

Nikki was stunned by what her work had wrought. At 14, she moved out of her house into her own apartment, began home schooling, and even bought a 1983 Acura Integra from a neighbor for $500. “I was too young to drive, but I had to get around,” she admits. “But it wasn’t really that bad. I like being on my own.”

Today, at age 18, Nikki is still living alone. She just ended a two-year relationship, and doesn’t mind her independence one bit. “I’ve been able to do a lot of writing lately,” she says. “I’d forgotten what it was like to have so much time for that.”

Nikki’s writing since she penned Thirteen has been bittersweet. “I’ve completed three screenplays, and I’m working on another. We’re working on financing for one right now.” None of her other screenplays have been developed yet. “I’ve found that unless I write a sequel to Thirteen, there aren’t that many people who will stand behind me.” Nikki has had many offers for a sequel, but she’s not succumbing to the pressure.

“I will absolutely never write anything autobiographical again,” she declares. “If I were going to write a sequel, I would have done it already. It tore up my family. I exposed a lot of personal information, and I didn’t understand the effect it would have.”

Her writing and steady acting gigs since then have had some positive effects. She got rid of the Acura and now drives a Toyota Rav 4. She purchased similar cars for her brother and her mother. “I wanted to get a Prius,” she said, “but there was a nine-month wait, and I just couldn’t see using connections to jump to the front of the line.”

Nikki may still be in her teens, but she’s a very old and wise soul. I hope to one day match her maturity – perhaps when I’m 64?

By Month

Newest

Unlucky Number Thirteen