Nikki Reed: "Dogtown Lady"

The skater boi film Lords of Dogtown is chocked with hot young actors all doing a lot of male bonding. 17-year-old Nikki Reed (star of the controversial and excellent film Thirteen) gets to take advantage of all that testosterone as she plays Kathy Alva, sister to skater Tony Alva. Kathy was one of the few gals who got to hang with the Z-Boy skaters as girlfriend material. According to Nikki, making the film was a blast!

We sat down recently in Culver City , Ca. to chat about "Dogtown", growing up too fast and her Hollywood plans from now on. After launching her career as a really toughgirl teen, she was anxious to branch out. Picture the young actress in spiffy fitted suit jacket , heels and ¾ pants. Her brown eyes are huge!

TeenHollywood: Did you talk to the real Kathy Alva?

Nikki: I did. Kathy Alva's an amazing woman and still plays a huge role in Tony's life. And she's actually going to school right now to become a nurse and using money she got from this film. (The money for her life rights paid for medical school). I spoke to her on the phone a lot just because she was so busy. She came to the set a few times and I did hang out with her and I tried to capture as much as I could, but she said she was pretty happy with it.

TeenHollywood: What's your life like now, since Thirteen?

Nikki: After Thirteen I went back to school and then I actually took a test so that I could home school myself. I moved out [from home] two years ago and I'm 17 now. I home schooled myself but it didn't really work out because you tell a kid who lives by themselves to go to school and teach themselves...yeah, right. So I graduated and I took my GED and then I actually went back to school and got my high school diploma.

TeenHollywood: Any plans for college someday?

Nikki: Well, I quit while I was ahead. I'm not really good at multitasking and I really want to focus on what I'm focusing on now. I do want to direct one day and I think Catherine [Hardwicke, director of both Thirteen and "Dogtown"] believes in me and she thinks that I can and I want to do a lot of things, maybe produce, maybe act, maybe write, maybe do it all and I want to go to school for those things. I really want to learn how to actually improve. And so I'm going to take a few years off and go to school and study those things.

TeenHollywood: Is Catherine your mentor?

Nikki: Absolutely, and she always will be. Everything that she is and is continuing to do, I aspire to be and do one day. Hopefully I'll follow in those footsteps.

TeenHollywood: Anything new coming up for you soon?

Nikki: I have three other films coming out this year. I happen to be attracted to more indie films and so I have a bunch of films this year that I'm ready to do, but people aren't ready to have all the money there. So when those have start dates, I'll be continuing to work and until then I'll just be traveling all over for everything else that I'm trying to work on and promote.

TeenHollywood: The three films, how different are they?

Nikki: American Gun has a very strong message about guns in America right now and we had a wonderful cast. We had Donald Sutherland and Marcia Gay Harden and Tony Goldwyn and Forest Whitaker was in it and produced it. It focused on many different areas in the United States, whereas Mini's First Time focused on me and my relationship with my stepfather who I seduced who is played by Alec Baldwin. I know, turn your head. And we had Carrie Anne Moss and Luke Wilson and Jeff Goldblum in that. It's supposed to be a dark comedy. I just finished that. And then Man of God, I actually did between Lords of Dogtown and Thirteen.

TeenHollywood: Your stuff has been pretty serious. Any plans to do a light comedy?

Nikki: Like "Sisterhood" [of the Traveling Pants] 2? I'm sure I will. This is a light film but for being PG-13, my character's still pretty crazy and wild. But I never say no to anything and I'm open. I just do what I respond to whether it's an independent film or if it's Lords of Dogtown or whatever.

TeenHollywood: Did the girls, that the Z-Boys hooked up with, ever get into skating?

Nikki: Catherine had me in there learning how to skate and I did go to skate camp and board camp. I never knew if Catherine was going to say, like, 'All right, Nikki. In the background, I want you surfing with Stacy' or 'I want you skating here.' And I didn't want to be like, 'I can't'. I did actually learn how to skate better and I did spend hours with Steve Badillo, who's an amazing trainer. And I don't know if Catherine necessarily knew which direction it was going to go and maybe I would have ended up a few more times in the background skating with the guys and maybe not, and I didn't. But I knew how and I was prepared.

TeenHollywood: You're making all these films, do you still have a social life?

Nikki: I do have a wonderful social life actually. I stick to my core group of friends here. No, I'm definitely not like miss social butterfly and at every party but you know, I did that, so I chose to live an adult life. I pressed fast forward a little too much. I chose to have these responsibilities and to be an adult and to live by myself and I was in over my head and it was very overwhelming at times. I lived by myself before I could drive a car! But I did it and have pulled through and so most of my friends are a bit older than me. Most of the guys I ended up being with were a bit older than me, but you know, we learn from our mistakes. We're moving on.

TeenHollywood: So do you regret growing up so fast?

Nikki: I grew up too fast and I finished school fast but you know, I'm going to avoid being one of those people that says 'I regret it and I didn't have a childhood'. I'm going to avoid that and I'm going back to school and I'm going to do all the things that I may or may not have missed out on. And I feel like I've accomplished a lot in my years.

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.