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‘It was an earth-shattering reality right away’: director Catherine Hardwicke on life after Twilight

From her groundbreaking debut Thirteen to forthcoming teen drama Street Smart – ‘a homeless Breakfast Club’ – the film-maker explains how she’s made her way in a job still largely made for men

Street Smart, now in post-production, is a low-budget ensemble drama, executive-produced by Gerard Butler and partnered with charities Covenant House and Safe Place for Youth, that centres on a group of unhoused teens bonding through music, trauma and humour while fending for themselves on the margins of LA society. It stars Yara Shahidi (Grown-ish), Isabelle Fuhrman (Orphan) and Michael Cimino (Never Have I Ever), as well as a group of unknown actors whom Hardwicke describes as having “big hearts and compassion for others; otherwise, they would be trying to work on a superhero film”. Still, Hardwicke has been able to exert her will when it comes to casting, and in the process has launched the careers of some of Hollywood’s biggest actors, from Evan Rachel Wood and Robert Pattinson – she was at his birthday party 18 months ago – to Oscar Isaac in The Nativity Story and her “buddy” Jeremy Renner in Lords of Dogtown, which this year marks its 20th anniversary.

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