Thirteen (2003) on Netflix
Tracy Freeland is thirteen and starting seventh grade in Los Angeles when she falls in with Evie Zamora, the school's most popular girl. Evie draws her into sex, drugs and crime.
- Netflix3.4/5
- IMDb6.8/10108,044 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes81%
Trailer
Plot summary
Tracy Freeland begins seventh grade at a Los Angeles middle school as a bright honors student. Her mother Melanie is divorced, a recovering alcoholic who cuts hair for a living, and she is occupied with her boyfriend Brady, an ex-addict. Teased by Evie Zamora's clique for her childish clothes, Tracy buys trendier ones at a shop run by a friend of Melanie's. Evie invites her to Melrose Avenue, where Tracy meets Evie and her friend Astrid. Uncomfortable with their shoplifting, Tracy sits outside and steals a distracted woman's wallet, which impresses the two. The stolen money pays for a shopping trip, and Tracy and Evie quickly become close. Tracy skips class and neglects her schoolwork, spending her time with Evie's group rather than her old friends.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Thirteen (2003)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Catherine Hardwicke wrote the screenplay with the then-14-year-old Nikki Reed in six days; Hardwicke was a former production designer making her directorial debut, and she raised the production's funds herself.
- Nikki Reed, who co-wrote the screenplay at 14 and drew on her own life, said she was inspired by her friends being arrested for dealing methamphetamine when she was 13.
- Michelle Trachtenberg was initially cast as Tracy but had to withdraw because of her commitments to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Hardwicke auditioned hundreds of girls and came to believe she could make the film only with Evan Rachel Wood as Tracy.
- Brie Larson, who was 13 when the film came out, auditioned for one of the parts in Thirteen but was rejected.
- The scene with Luke was shot as one long, uncut take with Evan Rachel Wood, Nikki Reed and Kip Pardue, the camera panning more than 200 degrees to show all four walls while crew members, social workers and parents hid in the small room.
- The cigarettes the girls smoke on screen were filled mostly with catnip, and the crushed pills they snort from the cover of a children's book were actually vitamins.
- Hardwicke had the colors manipulated to match Tracy's arc: the film is slightly desaturated before she befriends Evie, gets a "glowy" saturation once they are friends, then loses saturation steadily after the scene where Evie and Tracy make out with Luke.
- Hardwicke said most of the producers she pitched were "terrified" of the project: all the characters were women, it would be rated R and it was about a teenager, which she said "does not check the boxes for any studio".
