Short Term 12 is a group home for troubled teenagers. Grace is the supervisor and she handles the job fine, but then a new teenager, Jayden, joins Short Term 12 and Grace is losing her sanity. Grace figures out that Jayden’s father abused her and it reminds Grace of what she went through with her father.
Blaine: After Destin Daniel Cretton graduated from college, he took on a job at a group home for troubled teenagers. What Destin experienced there was really something for him. Destin spent two years working there and he wrote a story for a short film after that. Destin almost gave up on the story at one point, but it was hard to let go. Destin was obsessed with the story, so he continued working on it. Destin finally put that story to good use when he made the short film “Short Term 12” in 2008. Unfortunately making a short film based on his experiences working at a care unit wasn’t enough for Destin, so he decided to write another screenplay, this time for a full length feature. A lot of the people Destin worked with at the care unit always had interesting stories to tell about their experience working at a care center. It was all so fascinating to Destin.
When Destin started writing the script for a full length version of “Short Term 12”, the main character was male, but Destin then decided to change the sex to female when Brie Larson came to mind. Brie Larson has been acting since she was nine and she has become a professional after having so much experience in it. She puts so much into each performance she has done. Destin thought of Brie Larson as an inspiring actress because he has seen a lot of her work and he loves how she really becomes someone else with each character she plays. The whole script for “Short Term 12” was sent to Brie Larson through email and she was very happy this project came her way. Brie Larson was more interested in playing the Marcus character at first. Brie Larson had never played the lead before in a movie, so that was new for her. Brie didn’t have much time to prepare herself for the role of Grace. She really wanted to impress Destin and show how interested she was in being apart of the project. When Destin tested Brie Larson, she gave her performance everything she got. Brie got the role of Grace in the end and she earned it. Grace starts off as someone who can handle anything, but when she gets close to the new kid, Jayden, her personality starts to change. Jayden is only supposed to be at Short Term 12 for a week and then go back to her father. Jayden has problems and she feels no one understands the pain she is feeling. Jayden hates being at Short Term 12, but Grace doesn't give up on her. She wants to know what’s wrong with Jayden. Jayden finally expresses what her problem is through a story she made up about an octopus and a shark. Grace figures out that Jayden’s father abused her. Grace takes this very personally. Grace doesn’t care if it’s her business or not because what she is feeling is strong. Another thing about Grace is that she learns that she is pregnant and she doesn’t know what to think about it. She’s unsure if motherhood is something she is up for, so she plans to get an abortion.
Kaitlyn Dever found the script to be inspiring. When she went in to audition, Kaitlyn had to act out the scene where her character, Jayden, freaks out. It was tuff and challenging for Kaitlyn to go out of her mind during her audition and she had a feeling there was going to be a lot of challenges through the project, but she was up for it. Jayden spits on Rami Malek’s face in the film and Kaitlyn spit on his face through every take they shot. Thing is Jayden didn’t know the camera wasn’t always going to focus on Rami while shooting a take of that scene. Destin informed Jayden and she felt embarrassed. She was really getting into the scene that she didn’t think. But everyone had a good laugh about it, especially Rami, sense he was the one being spit on. Kaitlyn Dever would get exhausted after working so hard and that concerned the producers. Destin asked Kaitlyn if she needed a break, but she said no. The other actors were hard workers and they inspired Kaitlyn to push herself to do her best. So she kept going.
John Gallagher Jr. knew “Short Term 12” was going to be something really special after reading the first page of the script. John had been unemployed for months and when he met Destin to talk about “Short Term 12” he had a lot of facial hair. John was to lazy to shave and get a haircut while being unemployed. Destin thought John’s hairy looks was cool and he wanted John to keep that look for the film. It was nice for John not to be given an order to cut his hair because that’s how every other job interview went for him in the past. John joined Brie Larson in visiting real group homes to see how things work. John’s character Mason is Grace’s co-worker and partner in life. Like Grace, Mason doesn’t know what to think about becoming a parent. The news hits him like a missile because it’s a lot for him to take him. Mason has been open minded about a lot of things at his job and personal life, but having a baby and being a father, that’s big. I think if Mason can handle troubled teenagers, he can handle a baby. So can Grace.
Keith Stanfield, who plays Marcus, one of the kids, was in the original short film and he was asked by Destin if he would like to be in the full length feature. Keith still had to audition though because Destin wanted to see if his acting improved over the past five years. Keith thought of the full length feature of “Short Term 12” as a sequel to the original short because it would show more details to his character, Marcus. Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody) said it’s not everyday a good script comes an actor’s way. Rami thought Destin was a great writer after reading the script for “Short Term 12” and Rami trusted Destin after explaining his vision. Rami’s character, Nate, is supposed to represent Destin and what he was going through when he started at the group home. Nate’s the new guy and doesn’t know how everything works at the group home. He’s treated like an outcast with the kids and he doesn’t know what to think about the kids when they act crazy. But in time, Nate learns to live with it.
Jayden’s father picks her up. Jayden hasn’t said anything about her dad and Grace can’t allow him to get away with it. Grace goes to the house to take care of the father. Jayden enters her father’s bedroom and Grace doesn’t do anything. Grace tells Jayden her story of what she went through when she was her age. Grace has been doing a good job at leaving the past behind her, until now. She’s acting like the teenagers she looks after. Jayden lets her rage out on her dad’s car by bashing the windows and Grace does it too. Grace goes bananas on the car. Jayden sees a side to Grace that she never would have expected as Grace is breaking the front window to her father’s car. Grace has the same anger issues Jayden has. The car they used for that scene was rented from a production place. The windshield had to be replaced several times because Brie had to beat the shit out of them. Grace becomes an inspiration to Jayden. Grace tells Jayden that she didn’t feel comfortable being surrounded by people in court while prosecuting against her father, but she did it anyway just so she could get rid of him. Jayden realizes if Grace had the guts to do that then she too can find the strength to prosecute her father. Grace and Jayden help each other out. Grace gave Jayden the courage to stand up for herself and confess what her father did to her. And Jayden helps Grace talk her out of the abortion by saying she’ll be a great mother. Jayden is also giving Short Term 12 another chance and plans to stay longer now that she knows she is not alone. Grace and Jayden have a lot in common.
My rating on “Short Term 12” is four and a half out of five stars
