Hardwicke Charges Ahead After 'Red Riding Hood' Debut

With her low bangs, long tresses and celebrated vigor, Catherine Hardwicke, director of "Thirteen," "Lords of Dogtown" and "Twilight," seems more like the teens who flock to her films than a 55-year-old industry veteran.

If the Texan — in Austin for a workshop panel and midnight screening of "Red Riding Hood" at the South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival — was irked by reviews bashing her new romantic fantasy thriller, it didn't show.

The artistic hard-charger, work ethic in gear, soldiered on, talking with customary verve and passion about her cinematic fairy tale, South Texas ties and unabashed love for Richard Linklater.

It was while working on the Austin filmmaker's "The Newton Boys" and "SubUrbia" that Hardwicke told him her dream. After nearly 20 years as production designer for some 20 films, including "Tombstone," "Vanilla Sky" and "Three Kings," she wanted to direct.

"I said, 'Rick, I want to make my own movies," Hardwicke recalls. "He's heard a million people say that. I said, 'Will you help me?' And he said, 'No, you've got to do it yourself.' And by discouraging her, she gratefully says, he encouraged her to do it.

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