Trailer
Plot summary
In a chat room, Hayley Stark, who is fourteen, and Jeff Kohlver, a photographer of thirty-two, spend three weeks in conversation. Each tells the other their age. They agree to meet at a coffeehouse, where their talk carries indirect sexual hints, most of them hers, while he says he does not sleep with minors. She then persuades him to move the meeting to his house. There he mixes drinks for them both. She refuses hers and goes to the kitchen, where she makes screwdrivers for the two of them. She asks him to photograph her, and he brings out his camera.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Hard Candy (2005)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The idea came from a news story producer David W. Higgins saw on 20/20 about young Japanese girls who lured older businessmen to a location with the promise of meaningful conversation, only to assault and mug the men with a gang of other girls.
- Because of the controversial nature of the work, the budget was deliberately kept under $1 million so that the production company would not ask to change anything.
- In his memoir Pageboy, Elliot Page revealed that a member of the production gave him a ride home after the wrap party and then sexually assaulted him.
- Hard Candy premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival with a midnight screening, but the Dolby Surround System failed beforehand and the audience was kept out until it was repaired.
- Hayley wears a red hooded sweatshirt that is often seen as an allusion to “Little Red Riding Hood”, but it was a serendipitous wardrobe choice by the creative team that was not realized until later on.
- One effect had, as far as the director was aware, not been done in cinema before: the lighting was brightened during filming and corrected back down in post-production, which let facial details stay visible in a darkened atmosphere.
