Thirteen is a 2003 teen drama film directed by Catherine Hardwicke, written by Hardwicke and Nikki Reed, and starring Holly Hunter, Evan Rachel Wood and Reed with Jeremy Sisto, Brady Corbet, Deborah Kara Unger, Kip Pardue, Sarah Clarke, D. W. Moffett, Vanessa Hudgens (in her film acting debut), and Jenicka Carey in supporting roles.

Loosely based on Reed's life from ages 12 to 13, the film's plot follows Tracy, a seventh-grade student in Los Angeles who begins dabbling in substance abuse, sex and crime after being befriended by a troubled classmate.

Though it received numerous favorable reviews from critics, Thirteen generated some controversy for its depiction of youth drug use (including inhalants, marijuana, LSD and alcohol), underage sexual behavior, and self-harm.

13-year-old Tracy Freeland begins the seventh grade as a smart, mild-mannered honors student at a middle school in Los Angeles.

Her divorced mother Melanie is a recovering alcoholic who struggles to support Tracy and her older brother Mason by working as a hairdresser.

After being teased by Evie’s clique for her "Cabbage Patch" clothes, Tracy is mortified and decides to shed her "little girl" image.

Evie invites Tracy to go shopping on Melrose Avenue in Hollywood but gives her a fake phone number to prank her.

She frequently skips class, neglects her school work, and abandons her old circle of friends in favor or Evie and her clique.

The pair attempt to seduce Tracy's adult neighbor, Luke, and ditch a family movie night to get high on the streets in Hollywood.

Melanie attempts to break the girls' friendship by sending Tracy to live with her father, but he refuses, claiming to be too busy.

Director Catherine Hardwicke, who had worked prior as a film production designer,[4] has called Nikki Reed a "surrogate daughter", having known her since she was five years old.

[7] Reed later stated in 2012 that she regrets the way she portrayed her family in the autobiographical film, saying, "I wrote this movie about them and their flaws and imperfections and what it was like growing up.

[6] The camera was small, had a Panavision lens, and was mostly hand-held by cinematographer Elliot Davis, which helped achieve a documentary, "cinéma vérité" style.

Due to child labor laws, the underage performers were only allowed to work a regulated number of hours per day.

[6] This made for a frenetic production atmosphere, which cast and crew later said matched the script and added to the film's fast and emotionally taut pace.

[14] All of the scenes in which Tracy cut herself were shot in a single day; Wood recalled running to her brother for emotional support between some takes.

The whole scene with Luke was rendered in a single, long and uncut take with Wood, Reed, and Pardue but was tightly choreographed with several crew members, social workers and parents also in the small room, carefully staying either hidden or behind the camera as it panned more than 200°, showing all four walls.

[2] Its release expanded to 243 theaters on September 19, 2003, and it went on to gross a total of $4,601,043 in the United States before concluding its theatrical run on December 18, 2003.

"[19] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 70 out of 100, based on 37 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Maybe the film is simply for those who admire fine, focused acting and writing; Thirteen sets a technical problem that seems insoluble, and meets it brilliantly, finding convincing performances from its teenage stars, showing [...] a parent who is clueless but not uncaring, and a world outside that bedroom window that has big bad wolves, and worse.

"[21] Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times wrote: "The movie has the ebb and flow that come from material structured as a series of anecdotes—it doesn't build, and sometimes feels as cluttered as a 13-year-old's bedroom.

But that may be a byproduct of Catherine Hardwicke, making her directorial debut, working to layer incidents that are as far as possible from the weary set of clichés that inform pictures about teenagers.

"[22] Writing for the Los Angeles Times, Manohla Dargis characterized the film as an "arty exploitation flick," adding: "Only audiences that have been locked inside a bomb shelter for the last 50 years will be shocked by what happens in Thirteen.

An official soundtrack was released on August 19, 2003, by Nettwerk Records, which includes songs by Liz Phair, Clinic, Folk Implosion, Imperial Teen, Katy Rose, The Like, and MC 900 Ft.