Update: A clip from the film has turned up online and we’ve embedded it below. In the scene, we see the first meeting between Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart) and Cherrie Currie (Dakota Fanning) as arranged by manager Kim Fowley (Michael Shannon). As expected, Shannon steals the show with his skeezy take on Fowler, while Fanning looks out of her depths, but we’ll wait to hear what the general consensus is after this screens at Sundance.
A host of new images from Floria Sigismondi’s “The Runaways” has been released over at Collider providing new looks at the majority of the film’s characters.
The first photo provides, from what we remember, the first look at the band as a whole which includes from left to right: Dakota Fanning as Cherie Currie, Alia Shawkat as fictionalized bassist Robin, Scout Taylor-Compton as Lita Ford, Stella Maeve as Sandy West and Kristen Stewart as Joan Jett.
The background of the first photo and this second photo brings us the potentially scene-stealing Michael Shannon as The Runaways’ infamous manager, Kim Fowley. Fowley founded and managed the young band throughout their career but his presence later came under question with accusations by the band of verbal, emotional and sexual abuse.
We might be reading too much into it but the next photo of Stewart and Fanning might be teasing the film’s reported lesbian encounter.
Due to problems with life rights of some former band members, the film was previously reported to not be a biopic of the band but is instead based on Currie’s 1989 memoir “Neon Angel: The Cherie Currie Story” and will focus on the relationship between Currie and Jett.
“The Runaways” premieres at the Sundance Film Festival on January 24th before hitting theaters on March 19th via Bob Berney’s Apparition.