First the bad news; you can’t possibly make a biopic of The Runaways and expect it to come in at under ten hours. The good news is that screenplay writer Floria Sigismondi uses slices of the girls’ hectic four years as a band to show us what life was like, as a Runaway.
I’ve just read the screenplay and now can’t wait to see the movie, at a theatre near me, now.
The writer is taking some big chances that will alienate large chucks of the potential audience. She doesn’t hold back on the bad language, the use of drugs and alcohol which appeared to take over the young lady’s lives back in the mid to late 70’s. It might not be fun for young fans of Dakota Fanning when you hear her lines, if you’ve only followed her as a young teen fan. She’s grown up quickly in this movie.
There’s a lot of time spent showing the relationships between the girls and in particular, their possible lesbian relationships. What went on was private between the girls; it’s the music that counts. This movie doesn’t need titillation to send young teens rushing to see it for that reason alone. It’s the timing of the first great all girl band and the effect it had upon girls for the past thirty years since, that lays the groundwork here.
Kristen Stewart will have to act well to maintain the Joan Jett persona, especially as the screenplay calls for plenty of high attitude acting. Michael Shannon, who gets to play music mogul Kim Fowley gets to swear more than anyone else; in fact he doesn’t get to do much else, but I guess it’s all to do with his motivating the girls.
It’s odd that we get introduced to a new bass guitarist. One that didn’t really exist. It could be that rather than introduce four characters into the two hours, they felt the need to have one person play the bass throughout to maintain the audience’s ease.
It’s a good screenplay and I look forward to see how she directs it into The Runaways movie. There’s one point that stands out in this screenplay; the girls went through teenage years like almost no-one else will ever experience. The highs were so high that some of the girls have spent the last thirty years coming down.
Certainly, you can see how it became the launch pad for Joan Jett and Lita Ford. Nevertheless, I remain to be convinced that Joan Jett introduced her mega hit I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll to the band and had to wait six years for it to top charts all around the world as a solo hit. That’s perhaps where reality and the movie screenplay world differ to suit the motion picture style.
Drummer Sandy West would have just loved this movie. It’s where she wanted to be all her life. Sadly, cancer took her from her family and friends in 2006.
The new Joan Jett book and the Cherie Currie Book, Neon Angels are as well timed as the new Joan Jett greatest hits CD. With the screenplay, you have the full package, presuming you already have those six Runaways albums, now on CD.
Popularity: 8% [?]
Leave a Reply