"Hard Candy" is tough, not sweet

Brian Nelson remembered the tall man who took notes throughout the Sundance Film Festival screening of the thriller "Hard Candy," written by Nelson and directed by David Slade. At the post-screening Q&A, the man stood up and said angrily, "What gives you the right to make this film?"

"Hard Candy" has been dividing audiences since its 2005 premiere. The film, from Seattle-based Vulcan Productions, is a taut two-person tale of a 14-year-old girl, Hayley (played by Ellen Page), who's been flirting online with thirtysomething Jeff (Patrick Wilson). She arranges to meet him in a coffee shop and ends up going to his place. And what happens next? Suffice to say that this ultra-dark movie quickly takes a surprising turn, touching on disturbing themes of pedophilia, pornography and violence.

Page, in Seattle earlier this month with Nelson, says that the audience response has been "all across the board, from people seeming like they're really inspired to people who are very angry." She notes that the film does not take an obvious side. "We're not telling you 'cheer for Hayley,' 'cheer for Jeff.' I think that really freaks people out."

That quality is what initially drew Vulcan to the project. (Known as Clear Blue Sky Productions when founded by investor Paul Allen in 1997, Vulcan was renamed in 2002.) "Most screenplays, when you read them, they're rather forgettable affairs," said Michael Caldwell, a producer on the film and Vulcan's director of motion-picture productions. "This one stuck with me. It kind of grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go."

Inspired by news story

Vulcan came on board in the summer of 2003, when Nelson's screenplay was in fairly advanced form. Producer David W. Higgins had the original inspiration for the film, from a news item about a gang of Japanese teenage girls.

"These underage Japanese schoolgirls [would] entice businessmen with the lure of possibly illicit underage sex, and when the businessman would bite and head up to the apartment, he'd find himself mugged and robbed," said Nelson. "This started David thinking about the storytelling dynamic. There's a character that in the beginning of the story you think, I'm afraid for this person. Then later, you start to think, maybe I should be afraid of this person. That flip was sort of the core of this story."

Higgins brought together Nelson, a playwright, and Slade, mostly known for music videos and commercials. A screenplay draft was completed and shown around town, to praise but little interest. "We have friends at studios who read the project and responded very positively, but were also very clear: We could never do this here," said Nelson.

Enter Vulcan, producer of such films as Todd Haynes' melodrama "Far from Heaven" (a multiple Oscar nominee in 2002), Julie Taymor's "Titus," and John Sayles' "Men with Guns." The company brought not only financing, but a number of questions that helped to sharpen the screenplay.

Executive brainstorm

"When it came to us, there were certain things that still needed to be worked on," said Richard Hutton, "Hard Candy" producer and Vulcan's vice president for media development. "Brian, David, David, Michael and I all sat down and brainstormed where to go from there."

A few changes in tone were made. "We felt that the clock needed to be ticking more forcefully, that Hayley needed to be in more jeopardy than she was in the early versions of the screenplay," said Hutton. "We felt that Jeff, in early versions, was a bit too much of a victim. The audience had to have the sense that he could and would fight back."

The film had its premiere at Sundance in 2005, and was quickly picked up by Lionsgate. It's taken nearly a year and a half for the distributor to find an appropriate release date, and in the meantime the team has gone on to other projects. Nelson and Slade are collaborating again on "30 Days of Night," a vampire drama based on the graphic novel by Steve Niles. Page next appears as the mutant Kitty Pride in "X-Men: The Last Stand." Hutton and Caldwell are ushering Vulcan's next projects to conclusion, including "Bickford Schmeckler's Cool Ideas" (recently seen at the HBO Comedy Festival) and "Where God Left His Shoes" with John Leguizamo.

"Hard Candy" will surely continue to divide audiences as it opens in theaters across the country in the coming weeks. But Nelson had a response for the angry man at Sundance. "We're in no way endorsing [the behavior in] this film. But everyone has had thoughts about what should be done to certain transgressors. Who's going to do that? What would it cost you to do that? We want to raise those questions."

Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com