DakotaStew Interview With MacWire

The Mac Wire was lucky enough to get invited to the press junket for The Runaways where we got to interview all the major cast members. We interviewed Dakota Fanning (who plays Cherie Currie) and Kristen Stewart (who plays Joan Jett) together and it almost seemed like they were still in character— they kind of acted and dressed the same as their roles which took place in the mid-70s. We discussed getting into character and their take on what the real Runaways had to go through, including dealing with a fowl-mouthed bossy manager/producer (Kim Fowley as played by Oscar nominee Michael Shannon). This interview was "da bomb" for us— oops, make that a "Cherry Bomb"!

Q: How are you? Did you realize the dream of being rock stars in this film?

Dakota: I think I came as close as I will ever be to becoming a rock star in this film. I got out any desire I had! (Laughs.)

Kristen: I agree--I do not have it in me to be that sort of performer so this is the closest I will ever get to that.

Q; You were working on three movies together at the time! What was that like? Kristen: Yeah, they are all very different to me.

Dakota: Yeah, we weren't collaborating so much together on New Moon. (Laughs.) It was nice to walk into this film knowing her though--we were both so excited about the movie that we spent the first to days clocking each other. I was just like, "Let's do this!" So it was nice being able to know her first.

Q: The Runaways is so much about female empowerment--what women in your personal and professional lives do you idolize?

Kristen: That's a tough one, man!

Dakota: In my personal life it is my mom--she is my best friend and she has been with me everyday throughout when I started in acting up through now.

Kristen: I will have to say my mom, too, since she said her mom! (Laughs.) And that is true. I am really lucky that I have grown up with really strong women. There is a big difference there, which is not the case with The Runaways. Joan has a really cool mom which is why she is like she is but generally back in the day it was not like that...which is great. And Joan also is a role model. I do not have many female role models even though a lot of females have done great things. The people for me and definitely Joan and my mom.

Q: Kristen, who taught you how to play guitar for the movie?

Kristen: My dad kind of taught me how to play guitar when I was little and I have played ever since. I learned how to play Joan's songs by listening to them and I had this guy who taught me the songs and then she showed me how to play them like her.

Q: So you jammed with her a little bit?

Kristen: Yes, which is really, really intimidating--only on a musical level. I am not intimidated by Joan. She is really great and quite sensitive and gentle, oddly. But then you pick up an instrument and you do not want to be in the room. You are like, "Can I please leave?"

Q: When the Runaways first started they were inspiring their generation to go after their dreams and the female empowerment thing and everything. What do you think girls can get out of this film since it is a whole new generation that is going to go and see it?

Dakota: Well, I do not think a lot of people know that the Runaways were the first all-female rock and roll band--and a lot of girls my age don't realize there was a time when you couldn't do something. You were really looked down upon and it wasn't accepted because these days I think we were raised being told we could do whatever we want to do and be whatever we want to be.

Kristen: I think that girls think that back in the day it was not as easy for us and that there were restrictions but back in the day, girls were not only not able to be in bands but they were not able just to be. It was a totally different thing.

Q: Since Joan was an executive producer on this movie, was she always available to you to tell you what really happened back in the day and what kind of advice in general did you seek from her?

Kristen: It felt completely necessary for her to be there because I never wanted to answer any questions, I felt that I only needed to ask them. As an actor, you usually get to make up a lot but in this case I did not really want to do that because there was no reason. It was there; it was all real. So it was nice to have her around; if she wasn't there I would have felt like a fake.

Q: Is it easier to play a real-life person or a fictitious person?

Dakota: I think it is easier to play someone who is made up. Even though the characters become real people to you when you are making movies, having that person there and being able to tell me things is a whole different thing because you are not just responsible for yourself--you are responsible for what someone else went through. You basically have their experience and their life in your hands. It is the most crazy responsibility you can have when it comes to a film.

Kristen: It is funny. You always find a huge sense of responsibility but it is always better to play a character when they are well-written because then they seem whole. I guess if you think about it, it would be easier to play a real person because they are complete. You are not playing this figure or sketch of a person that somebody made up. You are actually trying to do something real but than at the same time how do you know a person for what they really are? Everything is just your perception of it--as long as they feel real to you, it does not really matter if they are real or not. It is a cool experience but I do not know if one is easier than the other.

Q: Kristen, since you have been a part of such a huge franchise (Twilight) so early in your career, how will it influence what you do later on and the kind of choice you make?

Kristen: Well, I think it is kind of put me in a position to have choices but I do not think it has affected my choices. Your job on a movie set is always going to be the same thing as an actor. It is not like, "Oh, I did a big movie so now I have to do big movies all the time." I do not have that--thank God. If I had to map out my career right now I would be so overwhelmed. I can pick films that move me in a certain way.

Q: Dakota, the character Cherie Currie was reflective of the time, she was pretty risque--she wore lingerie and leather pants and took drugs. When you first brought the script to your parents, what was their first reaction?

Dakota: My mom actually read it first and told me that I needed to read it. (Laughs.) So my parents know that this is something that I want to do forever and obviously, as you get older, there are different things that you can do in films and I think they accepted that I was probably going to be doing those things a long time ago. My parents get it--they understand and support me and the choices that I make.

Q: Can you talk about working with director Floria (Sigismundi) who mainly has experience doing music videos and who knows the industry so well?

Dakota: I think Floria is a really visual person and so I think that we knew that the look of the film was going to be really authentic and really be something different than people are used to seeing in movies and maybe that is because she does have the music video background. That was also especially helpful for the performance scenes of the film. She is very into music and her husband is in a band.

Kristen: And he does the music in the movie and it is so good. You do not even know when a song ends and the score picks up so it is all really good!

Q: The production notes on The Runaways said you got little insider details from Cherie and Joan and I wondered if there is anything you can talk about that you are proud of--like a little minor thing in terms of creating your character....like the way they held the guitar or their clothes or the dialogue.

Kristen: I think there are a few things we wouldn't have known or that we maybe read differently. Mine was that when I first read the script and read about Kim Fowley, I was like, "He is so annoying." (Laughs.) But she (Joan) was not threatened by him at all. So when he is yelling at her saying, "Act tougher," she is laughing at him. He is kind of irritating sometimes but he is an eccentric weirdo guy! She aspires to be such a freak. So that is something I would have played differently if Joan wasn't there.

Dakota: There was a moment for me when Kim Fowley and Joan approach Cherie in front of Rodney Bingenheimer's English Disco about auditioning or being in a band and the way it is written is kind of like Cherie is too cool for them and up against the wall and like, "You have to walk over to me!" But Cherie, in real life, was really starstruck by them and couldn't believe they were talking to her and she was so excited! She was trying to be cool but wasn't cool enough and trying to get a handle on the situation. So that could have changed such an important scene when all three came together.

Q: What were you most difficult scenes?

Kristen: The performances (scenes) were always big days. We were like, "Oh, we have to play tomorrow." Those were always the most difficult for me and then it was always hard for me when the band broke up.

Dakota: That was so hard because it was towards the end (of the shoot) and it was like we were really going through it.

Kristen: It was actually the second to last day of shooting and then "Cherry Bomb" was the last thing that we shot.

Q: What was it like performing those songs with Joan and Cherie there? It is one thing to embody a character and it is another thing to perform their music. What was that like?

Dakota: It was a completely different thing. Singing like Cherie Currie and doing a song like "Cherry Bomb" which is iconic to so many people is a huge responsibility for me.

Kristen: It was never something that was easy. I was constantly clocking her. i knew her really well at that point and interacting in the scenes and I wasn't nervous about Dakota and I as Joan and Cherie--but you don't know you could do something until you do it, especially the way we work. We do not rehearse a whole lot! It doesn't feel real until it is the real deal. When we did "Cherry Bomb," I remember we did a rehearsal before we actually shot it and I could not bring myself to even hold the guitar right because Joan was right there (giving me gestures). I thought at first she was mad at me and I was like, "Oh my God!" It was horrible and then it ended up being great. We kicked it ass!

Dakota: We were worried we were not going to do it right.

Kristen: We like, "We can't do this right now--we don't feel like it's real yet."

Dakota: They could just sing or pick up a guitar and it is different for them (since they were real musicians).

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