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Catherine Harwicke (born Helen Catherine HardwickeAccording to the State of Texas. Texas Birth Index, 1903-1997. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. At Ancestry.com on October 21, 1955) is an American production designer and film director. She is perhaps best known for directing the independent film Thirteen and the Biblically-themed The Nativity Story.

Biography

Early life

Hardwicke was born in Cameron, Texas to John Benjamin Hardwicke and Jamee Elberta Bennett. She grew up in McAllen, Texas and was raised in the Presbyterian religion. While at UCLA film school during the 1980s, Hardwicke made an award-winning short, Puppy Does the Gumbo.

Career

Hardwicke began her career as an architect. She spent most of the 1990s as a production designer, working on such films as Tombstone (1993), Tank Girl (1995), 2 Days in the Valley (1996), and The Newton Boys (1998). Hardwicke designed Three Kings (1999), directed by David O. Russell and starring George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg and Ice Cube; and the following year she collaborated with director/screenwriter Cameron Crowe and actor/producer Tom Cruise on Vanilla Sky (2001). The later two films are notable for their original use of color-manipulation techniques to complement the narrative.

Hardwicke's first foray into film direction was with the award-winning Thirteen (2003). Hardwicke and fifteen year-old Nikki Reed got together to write a movie that would reflect Reed's pre-teen experience. The script for the movie was done in only six days. Evan Rachel Wood was contracted to star in the movie alongside Reed. Hardwicke went on to direct Lords of Dogtown (2005), a fictionalized account of skateboarding culture. The film is loosely based on the documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys by Stacy Peralta.

In 2006, Hardwicke directed the biblical film The Nativity Story for New Line Cinema. The film is scheduled for release on December 1, 2006.

Footnotes

External links

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