The Runaways -- the movie

As in the band. With what's her name from Twilight as Joan Jett.

Will Malcolm McLaren be playing Kim Fowley?

(page took too long to load)

If only. Nobody else announced yet cast-wise.

As in the band. With what's her name from Twilight as Joan Jett.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, December 3, 2008 5:27 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

well, at least she can play the guy-tar, so there's that

was Meryl Streep unavailable?

let's hope this goes the way of the Shaggs movie.

Maybe they can get RPattz to play Lita Ford.

I sense the involvement of Olivia Thirlby somewhere.

Hope this is good.

I sense the involvement of Olivia Thirlby somewhere.

― The Wild Shirtless Lyrics of Mark Farner (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, December 3, 2008 6:10 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

would watch

paging whatsherface from Nick and Norah's

la lohan as lita ford

New York, NY, July 8 – St. Louis garage rockers Living Things are about to appear as one of their hero bands, the Ramones in the now-filming The Runaways, the biopic about the groundbreaking 70’s all-girl hard rock group led by Joan Jett. Kristen Stewart of Twilight fame plays Jett, with Dakota Fanning as Cherie Currie and Academy Award-nominated actor Michael Shannon as the band’s “Svengali” Kim Fowley.

In the scene, which is shooting this month, the Ramones are playing at Rodney Bingenheimer’s notorious English Disco nightclub in Los Angeles circa 1975. Living Things have already recorded a cover of "We're A Happy Family" for the scene.

In addition to having a useful resemblance in attitude to the punk progenitors, the band has a direct line into the production – singer Lillian Berlin is the husband of the film’s writer and director Floria Sigismondi.

“I love Joey Ramone,” said Berlin. “He is like the Elvis of punk. It's a mystical, exotic vacation to step into his shoes for a moment.”

Living Things are currently on the road in support of their latest album Habeas Corpus which was released earlier this year and has garnered substantial critical acclaim. The band also dropped an iTunes exclusive EP on June 16th based around their latest single “Oxygen” which is currently impacting at Alternative radio.

Living Things will continue touring throughout 2009 and will play a high-profile slot at Lollapalooza in Chicago’s Grant Park on August 8th.

The Runaways will hit theaters in 2010.

In addition to having a useful resemblance in attitude to the punk progenitors, the band has a direct line into the production – singer Lillian Berlin is the husband of the film’s writer and director Floria Sigismondi.

“I love Joey Ramone,” said Berlin. “He is like the Elvis of punk. It's a mystical, exotic vacation to step into his shoes for a moment.”

Wait, what?

with Dakota Fanning as Cherie Currie
with Dakota Fanning as Cherie Currie
with Dakota Fanning as Cherie Currie
with Dakota Fanning as Cherie Currie
with Dakota Fanning as Cherie Currie
with Dakota Fanning as Cherie Currie
with Dakota Fanning as Cherie Currie
with Dakota Fanning as Cherie Currie
with Dakota Fanning as Cherie Currie
with Dakota Fanning as Cherie Currie

like having a labradoodle puppy play a pitbull...

http://content6.flixster.com/photo/11/83/75/11837572_gal.jpg

the Ramones are playing at Rodney Bingenheimer’s notorious English Disco nightclub in Los Angeles circa 1975. Living Things have already recorded a cover of "We're A Happy Family" for the scene.

?? wtf? Rocket to Russia didn't come out until '77

what a disaster for movies

Definitely strong qualifying material for the Dept. of Grasping at Straws.

hey, dakota, come here...

http://www.cheriecurrie.com/CherieMarieCurrie.jpg

i'm being mean to dakota, but wasn't she, like, ten years old a minute ago?

hey, i agree
i think this is her begging her agent to get her something more "edgy" or whatever
your labradoodle comparison was totally apt

okay, i looked it up. she's 15. which, to be honest, is how old cherie was when she joined the runaways. but i still think she's too squeaky clean and too young.

Yeah, needs a lot more junk coarsing thru those veins to pull it off right

http://omgstars.com/2009/06/24/day-two-on-the-set-of-the-runaways/

that scene where she runs and falls was filmed in east hollywood/los feliz. she passes by la luz de jesus on hollywood blvd.

http://www.laluzdejesus.com/

curious to find out what the deal is with the period scene

v v curious btw

Teaser trailer. Awesome.

great casting. Kim Fowley dude looks spot-on.

http://14.media.tumblr.com/pU1p3ehaPq40zi15XFZHTQo0o1_500.jpg

okay, i looked it up. she's 15. which, to be honest, is how old cherie was when she joined the runaways. but i still think she's too squeaky clean and too young.

― scott seward, Friday, July 10, 2009 6:30 PM (5 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

but weird that she is 5 years younger than all the other actresses (including the one playing her twin!)

great casting. Kim Fowley dude looks spot-on.

That's Michael Shannon.

when did trailers start saying "preview has been approved for appropriate audiences"

I don't think I'm the appropriate audience for this trailer

More pre-release create-a-buzz here's-a-story stuff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzvG2BFbc5E&feature=player_embedded

did people actually drink Mountain Dew in the 70s?

You lived in the seventies like I did, of course they drank Mountain Dew. Unless you were addicted to Fanta or something.

We were stationed overseas for a third of the 70s, and my grandparents used to send over Mountain Dew from the States because my sister loved it so much.

will there be G2G action in this?

pedo action would be more realistic tbh. Kim Fowley uber-creep

Seeing this next week.

How many of the Runaways have said K.F. behaved unethically twd them?

Maybe they can get RPattz to play Lita Ford.
― Nicolars (Nicole), Wednesday, December 3, 2008

14 months later this still brings the lolz

how did I not realize until just this moment that michael steele from the bangles was in the runaways?

The cinematographer for this did several Gaspar Noe films.

Will be interested to see if the band playing the Ramones have any lines; that's a tall order.

will there be G2G action in this?

yes, btw

michael steele from the bangles was in the runaways

and now he's running the GOP. what a career.

Video for "Cherry Bomb" is out: http://theplaylist.blogspot.com/2010/03/runaways-music-video-for-cherry-bomb.html

I take it this will be a 15?

It's "R" in the US. Teen drug use, implied sex, Kim Fowley rants, etc.

How many of the Runaways have said K.F. behaved unethically twd them?

Easier to list how many didn't?

This isn't addressed in the film (ie, KF is alive).

so, y'know, first half pretty damn fun, second half drearily familiar.

really? reviews make it sound like they make fowley out to be a real sleaze (which he was, unquestionably).

i feel like i'd feel dirty watching this, not in a good way.

isn't dakota fanning like 14? and the other girl can't be much older, no?

Fanning just turned 16; Stewart is 19, I think. They shot their love scene very carefully, as per the law.

you mean they used CGI?

No (budget was $10 mil).

To my ears, Michael Shannon has the Fowley manic cadences down pretty well. "Sing like you just found your sister fucking your boyfriend in your parents' bed!"

Fucking loved this movie. Shannon is fantastic, Stewart and Fanning are both pretty good. Lots of great music, dingy cinematic style, loud and sleazy. Yeah the ending is a little bit of a comedown but I'm glad the movie didn't get sweet and sappy at the end.

I drank a lot of Rondo in the 70's.

meh, it IS pretty sappy at the end.

It wasn't that sappy; they didn't meet up again in person, didn't exchange platitudes, didn't make up ... it could have been a lot cheezier. Anyways it didn't bother me that much.

stewart needs to stop. needed more sandy west.

you mean they used CGI?

― by another name (amateurist), Saturday, March 20, 2010 1:21 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

No (budget was $10 mil).

― Fusty Moralizer (Dr Morbius), Saturday, March 20, 2010 1:23 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark

i love that u responded to this like a real question

Saw this tonight -- I thought the actress playing Joan Jett was really amazing. They should've made the entire film about her imo.

you have such a weirdly selective set of cultural tuners man

<3

Me?

Dr. Mordius

I'm super confused.

i think hoos was just admiring that you didn't think of her as the chick from twilight b/c that is how most of the world thinks of her.

^^^

I really really want to see this but I'm having a hard time not being turned off by Kristen Stewart as Joan Jett. Every time I think about all I can see is a KS slouchfest starring her looking bored or like she's got severe acid reflux. But Michael Shannon as Kim Fowley makes me want to get over my KS hate.

I knew she was the chick from twilight, but I haven't seen any of those movies and that whole Twilight thing has totally flown under my radar. So it's kinda more of a trivia thing for me and doesn't really mean anything.

^^^

KS was awesome! Like, really, really awesome. I thought this was a lot of fun. Michael Shannon was great but I have to say that KS's performance made me want to buy some Blackhearts.

I told my gf about my misgivings about being a middle-aged perv about JJ/KS and she laughed. I was relieved that there were a bunch of middle-aged men and (mostly) lesbians at the theater when we saw this.

May I just say that I thoroughly loathed the 70's. The art direction/set decoration in this were eerily evocative to me.

May I just say that I thoroughly loathed the 70's.

Not me. I HATED the 70's. Except for this stuff, of course:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b7/Rondo_Soda.jpg

This opened on 244 screens (wide in 2 weeks), did $1200 per, kind of a disaster. Message: kids don't care about the '70s.

http://headlineplanet.com/home/2010/03/20/repo-men-runaways-bomb-at-office-bounty-hunter-wimpy-kid-strong/

Never heard of Rondo, but looks suspiciously like

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3a/Solo_drink_Australia.jpg/438px-Solo_drink_Australia.jpg

<3 YOU PELOSI!

lol, wrong thread.

was she one of the bassists?

you know what kinda bummed me? that at the end of the film, they didn't tell the future stories of the other bandmates, particularly the badass Lita Ford.

The other band members barely registered.

the drummer a little bit

only bcuz of shower scene

fab scene, tho!

Morbs otm on this one - fun first half, Stewart is tops. Kinda sucks that it was an adaptation of Currie's book, she seems a bit useless compared to Jett.

No Lita Ford, no credibility.

also why the fuck did they cast Alia Shawkat in this? I'm pretty sure she didn't utter a single word. (extra weird given the inclusion of the scene where shannon/fowley reels off every bandmember's "qualities")

stewart is terrible

y'all are monsters

I didn't care that they didn't talk about the other band members. Shawkat's bass player was a fictional composite character, they actually had like 10 different bass players in the first few years.

So, presumably the fact that the certif legislated against the potential (teen) audience?

Jackie Fox is a lawyer and has an itchy lawsuit trigger finger anyway.

I never saw Twilight, but Kristen Stewart almost ruined Adventureland (a pretty good movie otherwise), where she looked and acted like a meth-addicted weasel. So I agreed with The Onion's assessment that she's a "dead-eyed talent vacuum." That said, I gotta give her credit for learning guitar for her part. She was actually fairly believable as Joan Jett, who is way more awesome than fucking Cherie Currie. Dakota Fanning, however, did a great job showing her transformation from an innocent Bowie fan to a jaded, drug-addicted wastoid narcissist within a period of 18 months. The giddy excitement of the first half was definitely ground to a halt by the excruciating, cliched drug-burnout melodrama of the second half. Michael Shannon was brilliant as Kim Fowley. Did anyone read Currie's book? I'm not sure if he was ever actually accused of molesting them, which would be worthy of imprisonment. Anyway, Shannon was sufficiently creepy. He often plays really intense, scary characters. I saw him in a couple theater productions in Chicago in the 90s - Hellcab and a Chekov play.

I loved the live performance shots, which were way too brief. It sounded great in the theater, better than the inconsistent sound of their first couple albums. There were some nice scenes at L.A. clubs like Rodney's, with plenty of glam in the soundtrack, and even two Stooges songs. I don't recall seeing any live shot of The Ramones though -- was it cut or did I miss it? What really pissed me off is that the movie made it seem like The Runaways never even finished their first album with Cherie. Not true -- she was on both the 1976 debut and Queens Of Noise (1977). After Currie and Jackie Fox (with a supposedly 170 IQ, she probably had little interest in conversing with her mental inferiors, ha) left, Jett took over all the vocals on the tight and heavy Waitin' For The Night (1977), with Lita Ford contributing two songs. Fowley produced that album too. It wasn't until And Now...The Runaways (1978) that they were emancipated from Fowley, with mostly lackluster results. So the story was pretty incomplete, but it was based on Currie's book, oh well. Overall the movie did a great job giving a sense of what it was like in those crappy L.A. clubs and on the road, and dealing with hostile men in the headlining bands (Rush were one of the bands that were total dicks to them). Runaways rock!

I saw the movie Thursday night, and re-listened to all my Runaways albums. It's fun hearing songs after seeing them performed in the movie. Then over the weekend I played a random mix with them, The New York Dolls (the first band Joan Jett ever saw), her idol Suzi Quatro, and The Dictators, Radio Birdman, Kiss, Patti Smith, Ramones, etc.

Haven't seen the movie yet, but yeah, was hoping the spark of acting would take hold in Stewart (though I don't think there was anything to ruin in Adventureland).

Edgeplay, the Runaways documentary from six years ago, struck me as odd for Joan Jett's non-participation, and the lack of any Runaways music except live covers of other bands' songs. Are they all still sort of sectioned off in their little camps?

the article in this month's Spin about the movie is really good -- lots of stuff on set w/ the actors and Currie/Jett but it doesn't pull punches about explaining what was distorted or left out of the story and why

but Kristen Stewart almost ruined Adventureland (a pretty good movie otherwise), where she looked and acted like a meth-addicted weasel.

She gave it versimilitude.

she spends way too much screen time tucking her hair behind her ear.

btw is that spin magazine article online?

(this would be the first time i've read something from spin in i dunno seven or eight years.)

this was hilariously bad. Like requires-John-Waters-commentary level of camp badness.

great sdtk tho

Shannon as Fowley pwned every scene too, that guy was great.

I lol'd inappropriately at many "serious" moments - personal fave being the one where Cherie was SO WASTED (while trying to buy a bottle of vodka and two onions at the grocery store) that she forgot how to snap her fingers.

i enjoyed this movie

though it was weird that they sort of seemed to labor under some weird illustion that lita ford didn't become super successful in the 80s

the fowley guy went extremely hard and was insane, great stuff

I lol'd inappropriately at many "serious" moments - personal fave being the one where Cherie was SO WASTED (while trying to buy a bottle of vodka and two onions at the grocery store) that she forgot how to snap her fingers.

― modern eunuch-like crooning (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, April 8, 2010 10:21 AM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah I don't think this was a "serious" moment, reaction shots were all pretty standard comedy signifiers

also loved the Rodney Bingenheimer bits. I'm not knocking this movie, it was very fun, but it was totally ridiculous

also loved the Rodney Bingenheimer bits

That was uncanny.

so Shakey, yer saying it was a rock movie.

though it was weird that they sort of seemed to labor under some weird illustion that lita ford didn't become super successful in the 80s

Cherie's book, Joan's producer credit, no room for Lita.

Saw it last week. Generally liked the first half, thought the second half was conventionally draggy band-falling-apart stuff. The guy playing Fowley was over the top and around the bend, but from what I saw of Fowley in Mayor of Sunset Strip, the real guy's just as much of a wingnut. The guy who plays Bingenheimer seems to be doing Warhol; there are similarities, but I wouldn't call them interchangeable. The period music was pretty good, with no surprises that I can remember.

so Shakey, yer saying it was a rock movie.

lol yeah basically - not as good as the Doors or Velvet Goldmine tho (and it pretty clearly was aiming to be the lesbo version of the latter, just wasn't backed up by the requisite technical chops or creative flair)

the real guy's just as much of a wingnut

yeah def. Coincidentally just last week I was watching the clip with Fowley (and Joan Jett) from Tom Snyder's Tomorrow - the jacket he's wearing in that clip = Fowley's outfit in his last scene in the movie (bright orange with patches all over). Dude is bonkers, altho he's a bit restrained on the Tomorrow show. what with it being late night TV and all.

the one weird continuity issue that bugged me was that that whole sequence at the end with Joan mucking about her house trying to write songs gave he impression that she wrote "I Love Rock n Roll". which she did not

movie was terrible

the whole scene of Kim Fowley coming up with "Cherry Bomb" was like a made-for-TV movie level LMFAO awful

nah, I liked that scene, it was like a Rodgers & Hart fictional bio from MGM.

exactly how did it imply she wrote that song, Shakey? It only shows her reciting the lyrics to "Love Is Pain" in the tub.

after the bathtub scene there's another one where she's flouncing on a mattress with an (unplugged) guitar picking out the riff and mumbling the words and then the sdtk cued up the recorded version and cut to the next scene

I saw it a month ago, dunno.

saw this last night, enjoyed all the "music" parts -- no surprise it's by a music-video director. the drama/story stuff was ok, michael shannon was good, but my biggest problem was that the movie was way more interested in cherie currie than i am. i know, it's from her book, so what do you expect? but beyond a handful of actual classic tunes, what made the runaways matter was that they launched joan jett. and her solo career is almost treated as an afterthought by the movie. agree that kristen stewart wasn't so hot on the line readings, but she got joan's physicality nailed pretty well. she was fun to watch, just the way she moved, all shoulders hunched and everything.

what made the runaways matter was that they launched joan jett.

I thought the film took precisely this attitude in the last 15 mins. Which kinda made me wonder why we had such focus on Cherie in the first 90.

lita ford was barely in this shit

duh guys what mattered most was OBVIOUSLY that Cherie/Joan had an adolescent lesbo romance!

don't you guys know what sells tickets

saw yesterday. good fun if frustrating at points. further solidified joan jett as a badass.

liked the appearance of robert romanus (mike from fast times) as the guitar teacher. just looked him up on imdb and see that his first role was with cherie currie in foxes, so that's kinda cool casting.

totally forgot he was in Foxes too! yeah the two surprise-cameos in this were great

uh, what was the other -- oh, McEnroe's ex

lita ford was barely in this shit

yeah and didn't even get a mention in the what-happened-to-them roundup at the end, even though she sold way more records than cherie currie ever did.

pretty sure she never outsold Joan tho

I do kinda lol at how EVERYONE who sees this movie (and not just 80s metal fans) feel the need to cite Lita's omission tho. seriously, everyone I know has pointed this out.

i think because there are people who will see the movie and be like "wait, lita ford was in the runaways?" and then be surprised that nobody mentions that she became Lita Ford.

i mean, i think a lot of MTV kids were only vaguely even aware that joan jett was in the runaways, never mind lita ford. that was all ancient history by the mid-80s.

I didn't point it out, cuz Lita Ford's music sucks

even her powerballad duet with Ozzy?!?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy3fJ8Nmzyw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fckR5u2ukeQ

The Ozzy duet actually made the addenda to Dave Marsh's greatest-singles book.

can someone explain to me how it's possible that it's illegal for Dakota to get naked/do anything sexual in this movie, but having 12 yo Brooke Shields totally naked in Pretty Baby was a-okay...? did laws change or something?

She wasn't technically totally naked in that (flesh-colored G-string), but yes America's view on that kind of thing has changed. And perhaps the laws too.

all I remember is one long shot of Brooke fully nude reclining on a couch but she sure looked totally naked to me. wikipedia says subsequent releases have been edited to remove/reframe full nudity

I remember seeing the G-string in that scene, and I saw it fairly soon after it came out. But I don't think child nudity is illegal even today, it's only if there's sexual behaviour. Not that anyone could get away with a Pretty Baby type thing today.

lol, yeah. "sure, she's in a brothel, and she's naked, but nothing sexual is happening!"

This clarifies a few things:
http://www.slate.com/id/2158152/

"sure, she's in a brothel, and she's naked, but nothing sexual is happening!"

Things that happen in one's mind are not prosecutable.

When I saw this "...most people know that sex acts in mainstream movies are almost always mimed. " in the slate article ("almost" is a hyperlink) I knew it would be Brown Bunny. I think the Slate article understates the law when it says total CGI child sex is OK if it's not an identifiable child. I think if it looks like a minor it's not OK.

hey dudes, there's a song that was playing when they're in Rodney On The Rocks club in the beginning. slow stompy glam. i can't remember what it was and it's not on the soundtrack. any clues?

hmm don't recall what was playin at that particular scene. I recall recognizing pretty much every song in the movie tho. sorry

here's all the songs in the movie
http://reelsoundtrack.wordpress.com/2010/04/06/the-runaways-soundtrack/

this is the song i was asking about
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mvq5SLhGkQ

This movie was ok but there was a lot left out. Felt kind of incomplete.

don't know if this is linked above in this thread, but susie bright wrote some about what got left out:

Let me make something clear that the movie only hints at: The Runaways band would not have happened, could not have been conceived, without the Underground Dyke Punk Groupie Slut culture that stretched from the San Fernando Valley to the bowels of Orange County.

What is wrong with saying that? Do dykes never get to claim anything? Is the historical lens going to stay coated with Vaseline and excuses FOREVER?

I'll tell you why dyke rock'n'roll legacy is important. Because in order to stand up to the shitheads who tried to keep young women out of EVERYTHING, you had to NOT GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THEIR SEXUAL APPROVAL.

I'm kind of confused what she exactly feels what was left out - joan jett was clearly a bisexual lesbian with underground dyke punk groupie slut friends in the film. did she just want at one point for joan jett to be like "I would be nowhere without dyke culture!" or something?

with all the personal anecdotes, it sounds like she wanted it to be a movie about her and her friends instead of the runaways.

Do dykes never get to claim anything?

what i learned from susie bright is that dykes get to claim tommy james songs?

No Kari Krome, no credibility, I guess.

well she says "the movie only hints at," which is true. it's candid enough about lesbianism/bisexuality within the band, but there isn't really any sense of a gay cultural context outside of it. (the only real glimpse of it is toward the end, when joan's house is full of drug-addled punks and dykes.)

Susie Bright is terrible. ugh.

lol jaxon that song is teh awesome (was one of his bigger hits iirc) and also Joan Jett covered it on one of her first records.

this was great.

Have you seen DF on the cover of marie claire?

Dakota Fanning 'I'm not a little girl anymore'

Dude, you totally look like a little girl.

http://igossip.com/photos_2/july_2010/21352_Dakota_Fanning_Dakota_Fanning_In_Marie_Claire.jpg

thought this was pretty great also. dont know much abt sigismondi other than her video background but i loved the look of this and feel like she did a really good job w/ the script...idk, lots of biopic type shit that doesnt work for me is cuz of lack of conflict & drama but that is actually what i liked most abt this & it all felt realistic (note - i know basically zero info abt the facts here other than Foxes is a rad movie)

<3'd so much this sequence of cherie in her kitchen

http://i54.tinypic.com/11m99i0.jpg

I didn't point it out, cuz Lita Ford's music sucks

― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Monday, April 12, 2010 9:35 PM (9 months ago) Bookmark

except for...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BivrNCltLrc

Wish she'd gone in this direction as a solo artist.

Special Features
Commentary with Joan Jett, Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning

^has anyone listened 2 this? i streamed via netflix so..

it's all up on youtube, pretty laidback and foulmouthed.

thx. i enjoyed hearing dakota say 'i think there were too many cunts'

i watched this again and am starting 2 think dakota shouldve won best actress 4 this

http://i52.tinypic.com/20hwlft.jpg

finally saw this and have to join the chorus of people wondering what the hell was behind the shortchanging of Lita in this movie. What the fuck? It's not just that she had success after the band, she was the 2nd most important member of The Runaways itself.

lol this was on TV last night, so silly

much like the band

Shannon as Fowley is f'in brilliant tho.

movie is pure camp start-to-finish, Shannon just happens to be the best actor in it

every time this comes up I think someone has optioned the Marvel comic