Don'n let go.Never give up!It's such a wonderful life!
СТАТЬЯDakota Fanning's porcelain-doll
features were swathed in exotic makeup and her blond hair coiffed into
a feathery shag; she raised her umpteenth shot of sake and cast a
knowing glance at Kristen Stewart. The "Twilight" star held Fanning's
gaze briefly and toasted back, looking every inch the tough rocker
chick, with her matching black shag hairdo, spiked bracelet and
razor-blade charm necklace.
The actresses clinked glasses and giggled.
With downtown Los Angeles' Kyoto Grand Hotel standing in for a bustling
Tokyo sushi joint last summer, the teen stars were on the set of the
coming-of-age drama "The Runaways" -- in character, with Fanning as
Cherie Currie, the wild-child lead singer of the titular all-girl rock
group, and Stewart portraying Joan Jett, its electric-guitar-wielding,
'tude-copping founder. Between the years 1975 and '79, the Runaways
packed shows from coast to coast, toured the world and racked up hits
before self-immolating in a blaze of drugs, jealousies and in-fighting.
"The Runaways" will premiere next Sunday at the Sundance Film
Festival in Park City, Utah, arriving as one of the fest's most
outrightly commercial offerings, thanks largely to Stewart's
demonstrated "opening" power as a marquee draw. (Put out by independent
distributor Apparition, the movie reaches theaters in March.) But "The
Runaways" is also one of the most piquantly feminist films to touch
down this year at America's preeminent independent film forum -- albeit
a punk- infused genre pic with a pronounced generational viewpoint and
no shortage of blood, drug abuse and bodily effluvia.
Written
and directed by Floria Sigismondi, the acclaimed photographer and video
director behind such foreboding, atmospheric clips as Marilyn Manson's
"The Beautiful People" and Christina Aguilera's "Fighter," the movie
was less intended as a by-the-book musical biopic à la "The Doors" or
"La Bamba" than an impressionistic character study illuminating a
unique female predicament: What happens when teenage girls get handed
too much, too soon via worldwide rock stardom?
Kid rock
No stranger to the rock 'n' roll life in her own right, the
Italian-born first-time feature director -- a striking woman with a
mane of raven-black hair who was clad in a vampire-chic, all-black
ensemble on set last summer -- said she drew on personal experience to
connect with the characters. "It's young girls getting swept up into a
world they couldn't handle," Sigismondi said. "Feeding on those
confusing feelings that develop from moving from girl to woman, I could
reach deep into myself to find those things."
Sigismondi, who
is married to Lillian Berlin, lead singer of the hard-rocking
alt-quartet Living Things, continued: "I wanted to focus on Joan and
Cherie. How different they are, how they were drawn together for this
crazy experience. Joan is so focused, she really wanted to have this
band. And Cherie wanted the rage of rock 'n' roll, the rebellion."
The film follows Currie at age 15 as she chafes against the San
Fernando Valley's suburban torpor and her family's psychological
abandonment en route to becoming the most forward female face in rock.
On a parallel track, Jett is shown raging against the proverbial
machine, defying all cultural expectation to stake out her place as a
young woman in the boys' club of hard rock while still in her midteens.
One night in Hollywood, Jett approaches record impresario Kim
Fowley (a scene-chewing Michael Shannon in campy glam drag) who
introduces her to drummer Sandy West (Stella Maeve) and becomes the
band's Svengali. Fowley "discovers" Currie at a nightclub, installs her
as frontwoman and even concocts the lyrics to one of the group's
biggest hits, "Cherry Bomb," on the spot during Currie's audition.
Scant character development is devoted to West and bandmate-guitarist
Lita Ford (Scout Taylor-Compton).
"Runaways" producer John
Linson pointed out that even though the film is partially based on
Currie's 1989 memoir "Neon Angel: The Cherie Currie Story," "The
Runaways" is not a "band film" per se, because the filmmakers did not
secure life story rights for Ford and bassist Jackie Fox (drummer Sandy
West died from a brain tumor in 2006; original bassist Micki Steele was
fictionalized by Alia Shawkat's character "Robin"
. Instead, the grander ambition was to faithfully capture "the youth ethic in film."
"It's about 15-year-old rock stars, the rise and fall of kids," Linson
said. "We're trying hard not to let that get taken away."
Profligate prop sake consumption aside, Fanning, who turns 16 next
month, and Stewart, 19, appear side by side in an overwhelming majority
of the movie's scenes. The two are shown snorting cocaine in an
airplane bathroom as well as getting very up close and personal in what
is sure to become one of "The Runaways' " primary talking points: a
make-out scene in a roller rink that takes place about two-thirds of
the way through the movie.
The scene was inspired by a remark
Currie made in the rockumentary "Edgeplay: A Film About the Runaways,"
made by former band member Victory Tischler-Blue.
"In
'Edgeplay,' Cherie mentions that Joan is really good in bed,"
Sigismondi said. "I thought, 'I have to pry into this a bit. It will
cause an explosion in the film. Why not go there?' "
Stewart
and Fanning first shared screen time in "The Twilight Saga: New Moon"
and became fast friends. "You can probably tell we get along really
well," Fanning said in between takes. "For the characters, it's really
important that bond is portrayed. And we have that in real life."
Rather than talk up the more sensational aspects of filming -- like,
say, the scenes in which Fanning writhes and vamps onstage dressed in
fishnet stockings and a revealing bodice -- the actress chose to
explain how she and Stewart (with castmates Taylor-Compton, Maeve and
Shawkat) rehearsed the Runaways' music together for a month before
filming began. Stewart and Fanning then re-recorded the vocals for
several of the songs heard in the film.
"When you're up there
and you hear yourself singing the songs and feel yourself performing
the dance moves that are so iconic -- when you're up there having the
time of your life -- you feel like you are those girls for a few
minutes," Fanning said. "It's really fun!"
Asked if the role
was an attempt to shatter the conception of her as the child star of
such kid flicks as "The Cat in the Hat" and "Charlotte's Web," the
actress demurred, explaining it was simply part of her natural career
evolution.
"I'm just portraying what was going on with
[Cherie] when she was my age," Fanning said. "I want to continue to act
for my whole life. Eventually, everyone will have to let me grow up,
somehow, some way. I'm just trying to let that happen as naturally as I
can."
Look-alike
During production, the real Joan
Jett was a semi-constant presence on-set. At the Kyoto Grand location,
the rock icon huddled with Stewart conspiratorially in between takes,
their closeness highlighting a remarkable physical similarity. In the
film, Stewart convincingly channels something of Jett's androgynous,
take-no-guff demeanor and rock star swagger. (Stewart declined comment
for this story.)
"She has completely embodied the character
of Joan," Sigismondi said. "Her body language, her face, her walk. It's
amazing how she has just become her."
Production designer
Eugenio Caballero was even more blunt. "Kristen is Joan," he said in
between scenes. "You talk with her and you think it's Joan Jett."
The notoriously private rocker, whose post-Runaways project Joan Jett
and the Blackhearts' "I Love Rock 'N Roll" famously hit No. 1 and has
sold more than 10 million copies, did not want to be interviewed. But
she admitted feeling a strange satisfaction while watching the
actresses perform the Runaways' music.
"It's surreal, that's all I can say," Jett said. "But I have a smile on my face."
♥ I can't wait for this movie!
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