The Runaways has been a part of music history since its formation in the 1970s and left a legacy behind as an all-female rock act. The band’s journey to fame was brought to the big screen in the 2010 biographical drama of the same name.
In the film, Kristen Stewart portrayed the band’s guitarist Joan Jett. Jett shared her thoughts about Stewart’s performance in a 2010 conversation with Interview magazine, saying:
“Well, I found Kristen to be through and through, totally professional and just great to be around. I found us to be really, scarily similar, just in our physicality, the way we move through space. The first time we met was a little over a year ago, New Year’s Eve. She came to see us do a concert.”
She continued, giving further details of their first meeting:
“We hung out for the whole day, and I just dumped on her about everything I could think about The Runaways — I mean, the good, the bad, and the ugly. I told her all that stuff and how much it meant to me… [S]he is so authentic. The thing that came through to me was that it was important to her to capture it. She really wanted to nail it.”
Recalling how Stewart worked for her role, Joan added:
“When we were together prior to the start of filming, she was staring at me the whole time. And I was fine with it because I knew she was watching my posture, my mannerisms, everything I did, the way I hold my hands, just everything. And she really soaked it in.”
Jett also talked about their days on set, explaining:
“When we were hanging out together on set, it was like I had a mirror image. Even just sitting around, we’d do the same thing at the same time. It was just great — and it wasn’t creepy. It was wonderfully special.”
The film, written and directed by Floria Sigismondi and featuring Joan as the executive producer, hit theaters on March 19, 2010. Besides Stewart, Dakota Fanning starred as Cherie Currie and Michael Shannon as Kim Fowley.
You can see the trailer below.