Tag Archives: The Runaways Movie

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Joan Jett at “Sound City” premiere

Sound City

Last Thursday, January 31, Joan attended the premiere of Dave Grohl’s Sound City documentary and walked the red carpet. She wore the same black leather jacket with the white lining that we saw her in at the Icons of Music II benefit in 2008 with Les Paul. I love that jacket! (Have you seen it anywhere else?)

From huffingtonpost.com: Dave Grohl, left, and Joan Jett attend the premiere of “Sound City”, on Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013 in Los Angeles. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP Images)

Lots of other celebrities were there too, I guess. 🙂

Sound City is a documentary directed by Dave Grohl about the legendary San Fernando Valley recording studio, which closed down in 2011. Music for The Runaways movie was recorded there, and the studio scenes in the movie were filmed there.

Visit the official Sound City website HERE. Read Rolling Stone’s review of the film HERE.

Videos:

1. Joan interview starting 2:57. Dave Grohl bought Sound City’s board when it closed, and Joan has recorded new material on it recently!

2. More cool Dave Grohl interviews – Joan’s not in this one, but you can see her shoulder in places (lol):

Read more and see more pics:

 

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US Fans: The Runaways movie is now on Starz!

The Runaways premiered last night on Starz. I fell asleep to it. 🙂

If you subscribe to Starz, check your local listings. It’s also on On Demand for many cable providers.

Read about The Runaways on Starz’s website HERE.

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Vote for “The Runaways” in the Teen Choice Awards

There’s still time to vote for The Runaways for best drama in the Teen Choice Awards!

Click HERE to vote. You either have to be a teenager to vote or be able to pretend to be one. 😉

The Teen Choice Awards air Monday, August 9, at 8 PM Eastern on Fox. They will be taped on Sunday, August 8th.

I REALLY hope The Runaways can win this. It deserves to win something!

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Kristen Stewart turned down money to keep her hair for “Eclipse”

I didn’t think I could love Kristen Stewart more.

Kristen told George Lopez on Lopez Tonight earlier this week that she was offered a lot of money to not cut her hair for The Runaways. But she turned it down to give Joan Jett, and her fans, an authentic, sweaty, rock-and-roll performance. That is so “Joan Jett.” 😀

Here’s the video. Wig talk starts at 5:24. The Runaways movie gets a big cheer from the crowd too. 🙂

Source

Thank you, Kristen! And BIG THANKS to Summit Entertainment for not going all “Tony Soprano” on Kristen for her choice. You all did a good thing.

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The Hillywood Show parody of “The Runaways”

The folks at The Hillywood Show are famous for their hilarious, spot-on parodies of popular movies, including Twilight, New Moon, and The Dark Knight.

They have turned their talents to The Runaways next, and shooting of the parody wrapped on June 8th. The video is due out this month.

I can’t wait!!

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2010 MTV Movie Awards: Vote for Kristen and Dakota

UPDATE: Voting for the 2010 MTV Movie Awards ends on Saturday, June 5, 2010. Don’t give up!

The nominees have been announced, and voting has begun for the 2010 MTV Movie Awards.

Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning have been nominated in the Best Kiss category for The Runaways, along with Kristen Stewart and some dude in that wolf movie (teehee). See the kiss in HQ and VOTE for Kristen and Dakota HERE.

That’s the film’s only official nomination. We all know Kristen and Dakota deserved to get nominated in the Best Female Performance category for their respective performances as Joan Jett and Cherie Currie, but they didn’t.

But we can vote in another category and pretend it’s for The Runaways: Global Superstar — Kristen Stewart. If you loved Kristen as Joan, I think we should vote for Kristen in this category to make up for her lack of a nomination for her Joan Jett performance. Pretty nice consolation prize, huh? VOTE HERE and vote often–Robert Pattinson is nominated in the same category. Kristen needs all the help we can give her! I like this idea so much, I made a badge and I’ll put it in my sidebar so it’s always visible. Please share this on all your sites!

The 2010 MTV Movie Awards will air Sunday, June 6 at 9/8c.

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Top 10 reasons to see “The Runaways”

Hello Daddy, hello Mom: You need to take your kids to see The Runaways.

The film is rated R in the United States, but I’ve seen it three times, and I think that, with supervision, the movie is appropriate for 14- and 15-year-olds. Use your best judgment knowing your own kids, of course. See it yourself first. You are the parent, and you are in charge of your kids. Not me. But if I was in charge of the ratings board, I would have given The Runaways a PG-15 rating. (Which doesn’t exist, I know, but I think it should, especially in this case.)

  • There are two scenes of brief nudity, both of which are non-sexual and are mostly done for comedic effect. I think you’re allowed to do that in a PG-13 movie.
  • There is a lot of foul language, but simply hearing foul language isn’t going to turn your child into a degenerate.
  • These girls had a lot of sex at 15, and, while not downplayed in the movie, the sex is all implied. The only semi-explicit sex scene in the film does not involve any of the main girls.
  • These girls drank a lot and did a lot of drugs. But I don’t feel that the movie glorified the drug use or downplayed its negative effects. Kids drink and do drugs today, and pretending that they don’t will not protect them in any way. Talk to your children. Show them that they don’t have to self-medicate to find happiness. Show them that you love them. Help them to find what they’re good at and teach them how to dream. Teach them how to own their mistakes and fix them. And please forgive them.

*End of Public Service Announcement* On to the fun stuff!

Top 10 reasons to see The Runaways:

1. The music. Fans of The Runaways and Joan Jett are going to scream. (Not out loud, you’re in a movie theater!) Original versions of many Runaways songs are everywhere, and they sound awesome in a theater. Don’t rush out as soon as the credits roll. Stay until the last one, because if you don’t, you’re going to miss some great songs. I bounced and whispered along to the words. It would be nice to be able to see this movie in a room full of die-hards so I wouldn’t have to be so quiet.

2. Kristen Stewart. Kristen was born to be Joan Jett. One of my favorite Kristen scenes involves other characters talking in the foreground while Kristen’s Joan Jett is in the back of the room simply stretching and fidgeting. Kristen’s mannerisms as Joan are completely natural, and nothing seems like an afterthought or a put-on. Her singing and performances are authentic. Her voice does not match Joan’s tone-for-tone, but I didn’t want it to. I wanted to be able to hear Kristen’s inner Kristen-ness come through in her voice, and I did. A perfect sound-a-like performance would’ve been a slap in the face to everything The Runaways ever stood for. No one can honor Joan Jett’s individuality without first embracing her own. And Kristen definitely does. But there are a few things that Kristen does do spot-on, and they give me chills every time. A simple “How ya doin’?” gives me goosebumps.

3. Dakota Fanning. Dakota blew me away, pure and simple.  I can’t explain how without spewing a bunch of worn-out cliches, so I won’t. Her “Cherry Bomb” performance was brilliant. I wanted to clap and cheer with the crowd in the movie, but I couldn’t, so I just bounced up and down a lot. See #1.

4. The 1970’s. If you miss high-waist bell bottoms and polyester, this movie is for you. The film’s graininess puts you straight back to 1976. This is a great period film.

5. Stella Maeve. Sandy West’s story is the most tragic of all the Runaways, and is not depicted in the film in any detail. But every time Stella’s Sandy was on the screen I wanted to hug her. The pure joy she expressed while playing the drums was completely infectious, and I get the same feeling watching footage of the real thing. Read more about the real Sandy West HERE. Remember what I said earlier about talking to your kids? DO IT.

6. Hannah Marks. Hannah plays a friend of Joan’s, and she doesn’t have much screen time. But I thought she was cute.

7. Water guns and shower heads. *snicker*

8. Michael Shannon. Michael plays the creepy side of Kim Fowley well, but if you really pay attention, you can also see a bruised tenderness underneath. This film, as in real life, has no comic book villians. Just ordinary people, trying to be noticed in a world that ignores them. And succeeding.

9. The humor. Not everything in this movie is dark and depressing. I laughed out loud a lot, and so did the rest of the theater. Michael Shannon’s Kim Fowley delivers most of the funny lines, but the girls are funny too. See #7.

10. THE MUSIC. No, I didn’t get high and forget that I already mentioned this. You need to hear this music, and you need to hear it in a theater. Despite the drugs, despite the sex, and despite the truck-driver cussing, these girls COULD PLAY. They’ve written some of the best rock-n-roll songs in the world, and this movie does an excellent job of celebrating that. Joan Jett’s passion for music gave her the drive she needed to eventually kick booze and drugs. She has never lost her focus on her guitar, and this film portrays that very well. The Runaways, as in real life, has no comic book heroes. Just ordinary people, trying to be noticed in a world that ignores them. And succeeding.

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Pittsburgh City Paper’s full-page ad for “The Runaways”

The Pittsburgh City Paper has a review and a full-page ad for The Runaways. The review isn’t online yet. I didn’t read it too carefully because I am still trying to protect myself from spoilers. I haven’t read any of the critics reviews, actually.

Full size @RunawaysFilm ad in The Pittsburgh City Paper (@PGH... on Twitpic

Have you seen any cool print ads in your hometown? How about TV spots? I haven’t seen any tv ads in Pittsburgh yet.

24 hours from now I’ll be at the midnight showing at the Cinemark Robinson!

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Why I NEED to see “The Runaways” in a theater

A rumor has been floating around since Thursday that The Runaways may not get its wide release expansion on April 9th like we’ve all been told. Somebody on Examiner.com tried to make us all feel better by claiming it was an April Fool’s Day prank, but that does not seem to be true.

Box Office Mojo is a site that gathers film statistics as reported by the film studios themselves. On Thursday, the site reported the early theater count estimate for The Runaways for the weekend of April 9th as 200, a far cry from the 1400 theaters we were promised. (Actually, I don’t remember if we were promised 1400 screens or 1400 theaters, but whatever. It’s still less.) Apparition has not publicly confirmed or denied this number, probably because it is Easter weekend and they might all be on vacation. (But that’s just speculation on my part.) The official theater count for April 9th won’t be updated on Box Office Mojo until Thursday, April 8th.

Box Office Mojo interpreted this number for us in the following tweet, which is what started the panic:

“‘The Runaways’ lost most of its theaters this weekend, but will be back to around 200 on 4/9. Nationwide expansion canceled.”

And this tweet:

“No missing zero. ‘The Runaways’ is no longer getting a nationwide release on 4/9, likely due to its poor showing so far.”

I don’t understand what they mean by “poor showing”. In its first weekend, The Runaways only opened on 244 screens and had the fourth-highest dollars-per-screen average of the top 18-grossing films that week. Fourth. How much better could it have done? The film cost $10 million to make, but you can’t earn all of that back in two weeks in just 10 cities. I always thought this “platform release” crap was a mistake, and that they waited too long to start the expansion. The Runaways is not a blockbuster like Alice in Wonderland or Twilight, so it won’t sustain a four-month run like those films do. But it should get a few good weeks in any market it appears in, especially in highly populated areas. The word of mouth about the film has been amazing, from critics and fans alike. This film is not a flashy spectacle. It’s a slow, gradual burn.

I’m sure some film executives in suits have a spreadsheet or a database full of “evidence” supporting their decisions, and I just sound like an hysterical loon to them. Fans are not people, right? Fans are just a potential zero in a bank account.

A lot of people are saying, “Calm down. You’ll get to see it on DVD eventually.” But that’s not good enough for me. This isn’t just another opportunity to consume 12,000 calories worth of hot buttered popcorn and pop (aka soda) while glaring at the inconsiderate bitches who light up the whole theater with their cell phones. I can do that at the 99-cent theater for a lot less money and aggravation.

For fans of The Runaways and Joan Jett, this isn’t just another movie. This is the story of one of the best bands, male or female, in the history of the world. The Runaways were marginalized as “jailbait rock” by an industry that had its head buried in one too many spreadsheets. The fans, like the band itself, were dismissed, ridiculed, and forgotten. This is our story, just as much as it is theirs.

In 35 years, it seems like nothing has changed.

I have personally waited 22 years for this story, my history, to be told. Some have waited longer. The Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning fans are just as passionate, and have their own stake in this. But we share this. We are a community. And we deserve to be heard. We deserve to be remembered. We deserve to be counted.

~

WHAT CAN WE DO?

1. Call your local theaters and physically tell them that you want them to show The Runaways.

2. If you are lucky enough to be  near a theater showing The Runaways, go see it as many times as you can. Road trip if you have to. See #3. There’s a list of theaters that have the movie THIS WEEKEND.

3. Tell your friends and family. Get the word out. Use Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, blogs, and everything else you have at your disposal.

4. Follow @RunawaysFilm on Twitter, on their MySpace page, and their Facebook page. Tell them your location and tell them you want The Runaways in wide release. Add the hashtag #RUNAWAYSFILMWIDE to all of your tweets if you’re on Twitter.

5. Contact the head of publicity at Apparition:

Vicky Eguia
Vicky.eguia@gmail.com
Phone 818-521-2681 *fax 213-253-4615

Details courtesy of @BellasGuardian and KStew’s Global Army. This is publicly available information, so no one is being stalked. Please be respectful. This is not her fault. Going apeshit won’t help our cause. Send her the link to this blog if you want. 🙂

6. Click the picture below to join the demand for The Runaways on eventful.com. Don’t forget to clear the special offers check box if you don’t want them. This site is global, so it will work in any country or city. Eventful.com lets you create a widget that you can add to your MySpace, website, etc. If you have a blog that does not support flash or javascript and can’t use their widget, grab the graphic I made for the demand from here and just attach the URL to it when you add it to your site. I don’t even care if you credit me or not, just grab it and post it everywhere you can.

Any other ideas?

BellasGuardian
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Theaters showing “The Runaways” THIS WEEKEND!

Thanks to @RunawaysFilm, we have a list of lucky cities that get to see The Runaways a week early. Is yours one of them?

See It. Multiple Times. That is an order. 🙂

Click HERE for the list.

Theater Name City, State
Fairview Cinema 3 Hudson, NY
River East 21 Chicago, IL
South Barrington 30 South Barrington, IL
Cantera 30 Warrenville, IL
Century Evanston 12 Evanston, IL
The New 400 Theatres Chicago, IL
Landmark’s Century Centre Cinema Chicago, IL
Addison Cinemas 21 Addison, IL
Orland Park Cinemas 14 Orland Park, IL
Gurnee Mills 20 Gurnee, IL
Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar Austin, TX
Tinseltown 17 – Austin Austin, TX
Dobie Theatre Austin, TX
Arbor Cinemas at Great Hills Austin, TX
Mesquite 30 Theatres Mesquite, TX
Grapevine Mills 30 Theatres Grapevine, TX
Cinemark West Plano 20 Plano, TX
Legacy 24 Plano, TX
Angelika Film Center and Cafe Dallas, TX
Marina Pacifica 12 Long Beach, CA
Long Beach Stadium 26 Long Beach, CA
Broadway Cinemas 4 Santa Monica, CA
Burbank 16 Burbank, CA
Covina 30 Covina, CA
Los Feliz 3 Los Angeles, CA
Playhouse 7 Cinemas Pasadena, CA
Sherman Oaks 5 (3-7) Sherman Oaks, CA
The Grove Stadium 14 Los Angeles, CA
ArcLight Hollywood 15 Hollywood, CA
Glendale 18 Glendale, CA
Marina del Rey 6 Marina del Rey, CA
Atlantic Palace 10 Cinemas Alhambra, CA
Foothill Towne Center 22 Foothill Ranch, CA
Tower Plaza Temecula, CA
Ontario Mills 30 Ontario, CA
Block 30 @ Orange Orange, CA
Fullerton 20 Fullerton, CA
Century Stadium 25 Theatre – Orange Orange, CA
Island 7 Cinemas Newport Beach, CA
CinemaFusion 14 Anaheim, CA
Deer Valley 30 Phoenix, AZ
Tempe Marketplace 16 Tempe, AZ
Arizona Mills 24 Theatre Tempe, AZ
Corona Crossing 18 Corona, CA
Fiesta 5 Santa Barbara, CA
AMC Southdale 16 Edina, MN
Kerasotes Icon 14 St. Louis Park, MN
Lagoon Cinema Minneapolis, MN
Lakeville 21 Lakeville, MN
St. Anthony Main Minneapolis, MN
Oakdale 20 Oakdale, MN
Lincoln Square 13 New York, NY
19th Street East 6 New York, NY
Sunshine Cinema 5 New York, NY
Big Cinemas Manhattan New York, NY
E-Walk 13 New York, NY
Galleria Mall 16 Poughkeepsie, NY
Regency Cinema 6 San Rafael, CA
Marin 3 Sausalito, CA
Berkeley 7 Berkeley, CA
Van Ness 14 San Francisco, CA
Century Centre 9 San Francisco, CA
Camera 12 San Jose, CA
Nickelodeon Theatres Santa Cruz, CA
3rd Street Cinemas 6 Santa Rosa, CA
Palo Alto Square 2 Palo Alto, CA
Rose Twin Port Townsend, WA
Big Picture @ Redmond Town Centre Redmond, WA
Metro Cinemas Seattle, WA
Meridian 16 Seattle, WA
Grand Cinema – Tacoma Tacoma, WA
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Michael Shannon on Managing ‘The Runaways’

Cool interview with Michael Shannon, even though the chick giving the interview can’t say FOWLEY. He says some nice things about Joan.

The embed code isn’t working, so you’ll have to watch it HERE.

And Michael gets MAD PROPS for giving a shout out to Light of Day! Join the demand to get Light of Day on DVD!

Click here to demand "Light of Day" on DVD!

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TV appearance videos: Joan Jett, Kristen Stewart, and Dakota Fanning

OK, now I start the process of catching up on 20 days of missed blogging opportunities. This is going to take a while, so bear with me!

Here are all of The Runaways-related TV appearances made by Joan Jett, Kristen Stewart, and Dakota Fanning in the month of March. I’m doing it in chronological order, because I’m all librarian-like. I know I posted some of them before, but I want to have them all in one place, because I’m also all lazy-like. Enjoy!

Tuesday, March 9, 2010, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno:

Vodpod videos no longer available.

more about “joan“, posted with vodpod

Continue reading →

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“The Runaways” screening in Miami, FL, April 6th

Gen Art is having an advance screening of The Runaways in Miami, Florida, on April 6th:

Miami Screening Series: The Runaways

Tuesday, April 6, 2010
08:00PM
South Beach Regal
1100 Lincoln Road
Miami Beach, CA 33139
Gen Art invites you to an advance screening and after-party for “The Runaways”.

After-Party:
TBD

Read more HERE.

I’m so sorry that this blog has been FAIL all week. I started a new job and have a long commute. I hope to get caught up with my house stuff this weekend, so that I can then start catching up on blog business. I have 6 days of Google alerts and Twitter updates to pore through, but I’ll make sure that you get to see all the good stuff. Thanks for your patience!

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March is a busy month for Joan Jett and “The Runaways”!

I won’t get to see The Runaways until April 9th, when the film opens wide in the US, because I live in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia gets all the cool cultural events before us. But Pittsburgh still rules because we have Penguins hockey. I guess I shouldn’t be greedy. 😛

There’s still plenty of stuff to keep me busy this month, though. Here are all the cool happenings surrounding Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and The Runaways movie that I know about. I’m sure there are other advance screenings of The Runaways in other cities other than what I’ve listed here. If you hear of any, let me know in the comments and give a link. Thanks!

Most of these events have been mentioned elsewhere on this blog, but I just learned of the advance screenings of The Runaways in Dallas (March 18th) and Los Angeles (March 9th) today.

UPDATE1: The Toronto premiere on March 14th and the digitial download of the movie soundtrack on March 16th have been added.

UPDATE2: Kristen Stewart will be on Live with Regis and Kelly and Jimmy Fallon on March 16th. Dakota Fanning will be on Jimmy Fallon on March 17th. Source and Source.

UPDATE3: Kristen Stewart will not attend the Toronto premiere, but will be at the Los Angeles, New York, and Austin premieres. Source.

Date Event
March 1, 2010 Rock ‘N’ Roll Comics Volume 1: Hard Rock Heroes released. Contains a short, unauthorized Joan Jett/Lita Ford bio comic.
March 9, 2010

Tomorrow!

 1. Release of Joan Jett and the Blackhearts Greatest Hits, on CD, iTunes Standard Edition, and  iTunes Deluxe Edition. The vinyl edition has been discontinued by the manufacturer, according to Amazon. I’ll remove the link in the sidebar today.2. Joan Jett and the Blackhearts perform on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

3. Advance screening of The Runaways in Los Angeles, California. All proceeds from this showing will benefit Rock’n’Roll Camp for Girls Los Angeles. Tickets will not be sold at the door! Buy them online here.
March 10, 2010 Kristen Stewart appears on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
March 11, 2010 1. Los Angeles red-carpet premiere of The Runaways.

2. Blackhearts guitarist Dougie Needles’ birthday!
March 12, 2010 Dakota Fanning appears on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
March 13, 2010 The Runaways advance screening in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
March 14, 2010 The Runaways premiere in Toronto, Canada.
March 15, 2010 Advance screening of The Runaways in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
March 16, 2010 1. Release of The Runaways: The Mercury Albums Anthology on Hip-O Select. You can preorder it from Hip-O Select, CD Universe, and Amazon.2. Release of Cherie Currie’s book, Neon Angel: A Memoir of The Runaways, on It Books. Preorder it HERE.

3. Digital download release of The Runaways Official Motion Picture Soundtrack.

4. Kristen Stewart interview on Live with Regis and Kelly.

5. Kristen Stewart interview on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.
March 17, 2010 1. New York City red-carpet premiere of The Runaways.

2. Dakota Fanning interview on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.
March 18, 2010 1. Premiere of The Runaways at South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas. Joan Jett, Kristen Stewart, Cherie Currie, Dakota Fanning, and Floria Sigismondi are scheduled to attend.2. Advance screening of The Runaways in Chicago, Illinois.

3. Advance screening of The Runaways in Dallas, Texas.
March 19, 2010 1. Limited release of The Runaways in the US and Canada. See list of cities HERE.2. Release of Todd Oldham’s Joan Jett book.
March 23, 2010 CD Release of The Runaways Official Motion Picture Soundtrack. You can preorder it from Amazon HERE.
March 27, 2010 Joan Jett and the Blackhearts show in Shelton, Washington, at Little Creek Casino. Website
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Joan Jett attending SXSW red carpet for “The Runaways”

The Runaways screening at the South by Southwest festival is on Thursday, March 18th, and the stars of the film, including Joan Jett, will walk the red carpet and attend the screening. From Larry Richman (@Larry411):

The Runaways will have a gala premiere at the SXSW Film Festival on Thursday, March 18 at 8:00 PM. I am happy to announce that confirmed guests walking the red carpet include Kristen Stewart, Dakota Fanning, Joan Jett, Cherie Currie, and writer/director Floria Sigismondi.

Read the rest HERE. Thanks Larry!

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Advance screening of “The Runaways” in Vancouver, Mar 15

There’s an advance screening for The Runaways in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on Monday, March 15, 2010.

The screening is hosted by Virgin Radio and they are giving away passes to the screening HERE. The contest is only open to residents of Canada, so be sure to read the rules and regulations carefully.

Good luck!

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Kristen Stewart says more nice things about Joan Jett

Pilgrim Joanie. *snicker*.

In another recent interview for The Yellow Handkerchief, Kristen Stewart was asked about Joan Jett and her work on The Runaways, and she had some pretty cool stuff to say about our Joanie:

“I don’t think that the Runaways are something that a whole lot of people know about, but I think that everybody knows who Joan Jett is,” Stewart reckons. “But it was really, really hard to become that icon. I don’t know, she’s like a pilgrim. She was the first woman to ever start a record label, but even before that, because it was the ’70s, nobody wanted to see a girl be that strong and play electric guitar and play it that loud.

“People should know where that came from. I’ve grown up feeling very entitled, like I can do whatever I want. But she didn’t have that.”

Jett was a producer of “The Runaways” film and was on set every day.

“It was initially intimidating, just meeting her,” Stewart admits.

“Then I subsequently realized that I would feel like such a fraud if she wasn’t there. How would I have known any details without her? I just would have felt like I was doing an impression with black hair.

“I didn’t want to just mimic her, I wanted to understand what she was going through.”

And that was quite a lot, according to the movie: sexual and pharmaceutical experimentation; fights within the band, with its handlers and rowdy audiences; finding, maintaining and making a going concern of her own artistic voice.

Read the rest HERE.

I can no longer remember which Twitter friend clued me in to this, so thank you all!

The pic of Joan is mine, and the pilgrim hat came from Free Original Clipart at Designed to a T

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Joan Jett Q&A at ‘The Runaways’ screening at NYU

NYU’s Fusion Film Festival showed The Runaways this week, and Joan Jett attended and answered questions after the screening. No one knew she was going to be there.

The Runaways is the perfect fit for the Fusion Film Festival, a movie about strong women written and directed by a woman, Floria Sigismondi. It’s a great tale of girl power and rock and roll; set in 1975, it’s pretty much an Almost Famous for girls. Kristen Stewart plays Joan Jett, a shy badass who starts the first big all-girl rock band.

Read the rest HERE. I hope someone publishes a transcript or, better yet, a video!

I only care about the Q&A. The review is lackluster, to use the reviewer’s word, and this quote irritates me:

The acting is lackluster, but as a female filmmaker, it’s nice to see an empowering tale of strong women succeeding in a male dominated profession. That said, I do wish we could see a story of strong females without them having to be bisexual or lesbian. While Joan and Cherie did have a relationship in real life, it would be nice for filmmakers to show that women can be strong and independent without relying on the tired crutch of the badass lesbian character to garner attention for their films.

UM… It happened. It wasn’t something they made up to “get attention for the film”. It sounds like the reviewer thinks the movie would send a stronger message if these details had been left out. Why? I am married to a man, and I fail to see how the depiction of lesbian and bisexual characters in film threatens the perceived strength of straight women. If you need reassurance, go rent What’s Love Got to Do With It.

End of rant.

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Updated Joan Jett/Runaways schedule for March 2010

Multiple Sarcasms, the movie starring Joan Jett and the Blackhearts in drag as the “night club band”, may not be released in March as originally planned. The IMDB page still lists the release date as March 2010, but Moviefone now lists the release date as May 7, 2010. The official website still just says “Spring of 2010”. I’ll keep you posted if it changes again.

Here is the updated schedule for all of the Runaways/Joan Jett stuff coming in March:

March 1st:

  • Release of Rock ‘N’ Roll Comics Volume 1: Hard Rock Heroes, which contains a Joan Jett and Lita Ford comic. You can pre-order Volume 1 at Amazon HERE. The Runaways will make an appearance in Volume 9, SMASH! A Punk/Alternative Retrospective. Read more about each volume HERE. Since I originally posted about this, Jay Allen Sanford, one of the minds behind the original Rock ‘N’ Roll comics, told me that a full-length comic dedicated to Joan Jett, Lita Ford, and The Runaways was in the works by Bluewater Productions, but Bluewater has not made the official announcement and no release date has been set. Rock ‘N’ Roll comics were originally published in the 1990’s, so if you already have those comics, it doesn’t look like these will be anything new for you.

March 9th:

  • Release of Joan Jett and the Blackhearts Greatest Hits, on Vinyl, CD, and now iTunes. You can preorder all three now. The iTunes version is a Deluxe Edition with a bonus track and music videos! (At first, I wasn’t going to buy this because I have all of these songs, but the music videos on iTunes are calling to me. I think I’m going to buy that one.)

March 16th:

  • Release of The Runaways: The Mercury Albums Anthology on Hip-O Select. You can preorder it from Hip-O Select, CD Universe, and Amazon.
  • Release of Cherie Currie’s book, Neon Angel: A Memoir of The Runaways, on It Books. Preorder it HERE.

March 19th:

  • Premiere of The Runaways movie in the US and Canada.

March 23rd:

  • Release of The Runaways Official Motion Picture Soundtrack. You can preorder it from Amazon HERE.