Friday the 13th is a 2009 American slasher film directed by Marcus Nispel, written by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift from a screen story by Shannon, Swift, and Mark Wheaton. It is a reboot and twelfth installment in the Friday the 13th franchise, which began in 1980. Nispel also directed the 2003 remake of Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), while Shannon and Swift wrote the screenplay for the crossover film Freddy vs. Jason. The film was produced by Platinum Dunes and Crystal Lake Entertainment and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and Paramount Pictures. It stars Jared Padalecki, Danielle Panabaker, Aaron Yoo, Amanda Righetti, Travis Van Winkle, and Derek Mears and follows Clay Miller (Padalecki) as he searches for his missing sister, Whitney (Righetti), who is captured by Jason Voorhees (Mears) while camping in woodland at Crystal Lake.