Stars says being and sounding like The Runaways was no walk in the park

Mar 17, 2010 10:40 GMT  ·  By
Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart as Cherie Curry and Joan Jett in “The Runaways” film
   Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart as Cherie Curry and Joan Jett in “The Runaways” film

After working together on “The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning are again in the same project, the bold and loud indie “The Runaways,” depicting the road to fame of the group with the same name, the first all-girl rock band ever. Not only do the two actresses take on Joan Jett and Cherie Currie, the founders of the band, but they also perform their songs for the official score.

Speaking with MTV News, the two young stars reveal that this film was a challenge on more levels. On one hand, they had to portray these rock chicks who knew little restrain, while on the other, they also had to sound like them on the official soundtrack album. The latter was certainly the hardest to pin down since they had to pay attention to how Jett and Currie were while on stage and how they sounded in the recording studio, and then try to replicate that sound to perfection.

“We both were really concerned about getting the music right; they have a very distinctive sound, it’s not just about singing and trying to sound good, it’s trying to sound like them – especially Joan, for me. That growl that she does is something that I love so much; it was cool to have Joan and Cherie there on set everyday, because there are so many things you couldn’t know about their lives and we didn’t want to fill in the blanks with stuff we just made up. They were both really open with us, they’re sensitive people, and this was the most loaded part of their lives. For Joan, it kick-started the rest of her career, it was a big deal. The prep, making sure it was authentic, was a big deal,” Stewart says.

“I think that meeting Cherie [was huge], and seeing her perform before I filmed and watching a lot of the ‘Live in Japan’ videos. I worked on being able to sing her songs and being the performer that she was, because she was so iconic and did a certain thing each time she performed. With ‘Cherry Bomb’ especially, it was a set routine, and I wanted to make sure I got that right for all the people that are going to be comparing,” Dakota adds.

Another huge challenge the film presented to the two stars was that of having to do away with their girlie image, which was particularly trying for Dakota. However, their roles in “The Runaways” do not necessarily represent the image audiences should keep of them, Fanning says, but rather a sign that they’re ready to move on to more diverse characters.