Hardwicke is billed as the most commercially successful female director in the business, but this is of course due to her directorial work on the first—and only the first—Twilight movie. It deserves mention that many credit this film as the strongest of the series, focusing on the emotional elements of the teenage experience rather than the supernatural warfare taking place in the later installments in the series. That this theme took center stage in that movie makes sense, given that Hardwicke is the individual who brought us Thirteen in 2003, a story of a young teenage girl growing up faster than her mother and adults around her can comprehend. Her movies are typically polarizing, including the two aforementioned features as well as Lord of Dogtown. She presents challenging material that is sometimes rich and complex and sometimes simply grating, but always compelling in one form or another.
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