(Spoilers) In the words of the director, Tony Kaye: The casting of the movie began with the casting of Erica. The runaway teenage hooker was the central pin for me in the story, she was the first brick in the wall.... [She] was the cornerstone of the picture because she was a character who connected with Henry, was a part of Henry. --detachment-film.comErica, we learn, isn't as hard as she comes across when the viewer is first introduced to her, mostly off screen, giving oral sex to some a bum in the back of a bus Henry Barthes is on--for which she gets stiffed. They run into each other again in the iconic scene in front of a red brick wall where she tries to come on to him. He declines, but he doesn't walk away either. Finally she says, with all the brass at her disposal, Can you loan me ten bucks?....C'mon man, I'm hungry. Henry considers then says, I may have something at my place. From then on (with Henry sleeping on the floor) she's in and out of the story, first testing him again, and then helping where she can, until Henry, due to the unseemliness of having a teenager girl/hooker living with him, a teacher, has her taken away to a foster care facility. That scene is superbly done, portraying a girl who thought she was finally getting a break in life, only to be put aside again. Her pain and sense of betrayal along with his angst are palpable, particularly against the backdrop of the situation at the school. But all of that serves to make their final scene one of the most memorable and uplifting of it kind ever--and without a word of dialogue. They are each other's saviors.Sami Gayle, who plays Erica, was only 15 when this was filmed. She's a major talent on the horizon who can do it all. She acts, sings, dances, has performed in several off and on Broadway productions, is a nationally ranked debater, has two other films currently in post-production and is a familiar face to lot of people due to her roll as the teenage daughter with braces on TV's Blue Bloods . Show less «