Auteur Watch - Catherine Hardwicke

Looque! Up in the sky! It's Ana Gasteyer! It's this gal I went to class with! No... it's Catherine Hardwicke. Oooh! Good name. If it were a guy, like Johnny Hardwicke, well... anyway, she's one of those rare few who migrate from one career to another. Sorry, Bo, but you've still got the day job. Side note: Cat in the Hat made money, right? Must not've been enough, or perhaps he a-holed his way into the director's chair, then a-holed his way right back out. Okay, back to C.H. Was the 80s her favourite decade? A semi-protege of Sally Cruikshank and Tama Janowitz, designing the production of such classics as Tapeheads and I'm Gonna Git You Sucka? Every girl's hair and dresses like Cyndi Lauper? Living in a Box only to sleep during the day, partying at trendy L.A. clubs and Jack Lemmon's house all night?
Or was it the go-go 90s? Time to roll up one's sleeves and get to work. A lot of P.D.'s retired during that time. Time for the next generation to take over! Even on a film like Posse! Which she parlayed to the white version, Tombstone. She reunited with Tapeheads director ... what's his name to do Car 54, Where Are You? I forget who that director is, but somehow I think Car 54 will be the one he's remembered for. Whichever cable network they always play it on, TMC or Showtime, it'll be on there forever for some reason. I'm thinking Rosie O'Donnell's the reason!
Surely the 2000s are Hardwicke's favourite. She finally had the motel pictures she needed to blackmail her way into the director's chair for such features as The Nativity Story and the first Twilight... somehow thematically they seem awfully similar. But no, if talking to one director has taught me anything, the current decade's always the favorite, and the 2010s are going to be the best yet, even if nifty 60's approaching fast. And look! A Red Riding Hood reboot is on the menu! With Amanda Seyfried no less! She's perfect for the part; as long as Todd Solondz isn't directing with what's her face in the lead: Heather Matarazzo, that's it. The only one NOT in that documentary I just saw!