On Thursday January 28, 2010 I was lucky enough to take part in history. For the first time ever eight movies that were to premiere at Sundance were sent to eight different cities to be viewed. The new part of Sundance is called Sundance America. The Runaways was chosen as one of the select films to travel. Along with seeing the films, a special guest traveled to the screenings. I live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin but went to school in Madison. In Madison there is a Sundance theater and to my great surprise it was selected to screen The Runaways. Finding this out I was so excited and made plans to go see it. Because I was lucky to get tickets you guys get my personal review. I will try not giving too many spoiler since I personally don’t like them and it is not fair to the rest of you.
Lets start with the review and then go into the Q&A that happened with Cherie Currie after the screening.
My Review:
After all the waiting and anticipation I finally got to see The Runaways. I have to be honest, before Kristen and Dakota got the roles I did not know much about the band. I knew a few songs but that is about it. Once I started learning about the band and film, I became a fan.
The movie as a whole was amazing. The acting and music was great but I do have to say a few of the editing pieces were off. In the movie you can really feel the close relationship that there was between Joan and Cherie. Kristen and Dakota play the roles beautifully. There is a sense of protection that Joan had for Cherie, it was as if she tried to protect Cherie to the best of her ability considering they were both teens. There was a mutual admiration there and they had each other’s backs. Both Kristen and Dakota nailed the personalities and mannerisms of Joan and Cherie. When the camera catches the back of Kristen while walking I could almost swear it was Joan and not Kristen. The voice was also spot on. Kristen and Dakota are two of the best actresses of this generation.
The costume designer did an amazing job with the looks and getting the exact look the band had. A lot of that probably has to do with Joan and Cherie helping on set. ***Spoiler*** For those of you who were wondering where to get the Sex Pistols shirt from the trailer, you won’t be able to, its hand made by Kristen/Joan. From seeing video of the band performing, the clothing was perfect and matched what they actually wore.
For those of you wondering about the kiss between Kristen and Dakota, all I can say is that it is very sensual. There are a lot adult situations and I do not recommend it to those of you who are too young. It was the 70s and sexuality was very different back then. There was a lot of experimenting with everything, not just sex. There is a lot of drugs, alcohol and sex in this film. It is a different role for both Kristen and Dakota, but they hold their own well. Now I know that Kristen and Dakota are not the only actors in the film, but I figured you would wanna hear more about them than the others. For the manager, Kim Fowley, Michael Shannon was amazing. The guy was a total nut job and creep and Shannon portrayed it so well on screen. He went all out which sometimes doesn’t work when translating onto the big screen, but in this case it did. The other actors and band members were very much in the background. The band member who had the most screen time was Sandy West the drummer played by Stella Maeve. The story really highlighted Cherie and Joan.
The only bad thing that I can say is about the editing. There are some choppy moments with cuts and at times it is very dark. I do know that that comes with where they were filming and making it more real and true to form, but it is a little disorienting. Also the time frame was not well shown. ***Small Spoiler*** The film seems to only take place over a few weeks or even months, but in reality it was a few years. A few times the camera movement was jarring, but all in all a great movie.
The last thing I have to say about the movie is about the music. It is incredible, great song selections. I hope there is a soundtrack that comes out when the film hits theaters in March. Kristen and Dakota sounded just like Joan and Cherie. ***Spoiler*** Joan wrote all of the songs for the band and Cherry Bomb was written about Cherie at her audition. There are times that the music goes from Joan to Kristen and then back again and you cannot even tell. I only know because Cherie talked about it in the Q&A. I walked out of the theater with Bad Reputation and Cherry Bomb stuck in my head.
Now Im sure you have had enough of my ramblings, so here is some things from the Q&A with Cherie. I was lucky enough to ask the last two questions. They gave me a little crap about it but the first one was to clear up something she said earlier. Cherie mentioned that her mother had not seen the film yet, but she would see it at the Hollywood Premiere. With all of you guys in mind I asked when that premiere would take place. I am sorry to report that she did not know at that time, just that there would be on in Hollywood sometime in March. Here are a few other things she talked about.
When asked how she felt when she heard about the project Cherie answered that initially she cried and both her and Joan were pissed off. The fact is that it was so personal and invasive to them and it brought back some heavy old feelings. She then compared it to the Hudson airplane landing and Captain Sully “You can have a really good crew, but the whole thing can still fall completely apart and crash. It depends on who is in the cockpit. So despite the fact that we weren’t sure about the whole idea, or the fact that Floria was so inexperienced, we knew we had to grab on tight and be a part of it and guide it the right way. It was going to be done whether we agreed or not, so we knew we had to have it done right to the best of our ability.” They felt like they had no real control and just had to hope for the best. Things were changed due to Hollywood and making things more interesting. Some things in the movie didn’t really happen or were intensified. My second question was about this. I asked if her and Joan felt like they gained a little control back when they were on set helping Kristen and Dakota and giving pointers about what happened. She said that in a lot of ways yes, but a lot of it was still out of their hands.
Cherie also pointed out that the movie missed and changed some things that actually happened but it was overall it was pretty factual. Some minor changes without giving too many ***spoilers*** away is that she did win the talent show and sang a different Bowie song for it.
When asked about how she felt seeing the final cut Cherie said every time it gets easier. This screening was her third time viewing it and she is getting more comfortable with it. She mentions some scenes that are harder to watch were the ones with her father, but since the actor playing her father has blonde hair she can “mentally Check out” at those parts. “If the actor who played my father would have had black hair slicked back instead of blonde, then yeah that would have really bugged me and I wouldn’t have been able to handle watching it.”
The question about her relationship with Joan came up. To that Cherie answered that they are really good friends no, but still working on repairing old wounds. They started talking again 13 years ago. At that time Cherie though Joan was angry with her for leaving the band, but in reality she was sad and upset. As Cherie put it “Its great to have her back in my life.” Cherie said it really broke her heart to leave the band and she DID want to go back, but by the time she realized it, it was too late. She left the band because she was tired, they had been on tours for 2 years at that point with no break, and her family was falling apart. She said she wished they would have shown the time better, it seemed too fast in the movie to be credible that she was that exhausted”She would love to do future Runaways music with Joan since they have the rights and royalties now (thanks to Joan). Cherie sometimes even gets on stage with Joan and performs with her and the Blackhearts. so they have the freedom to.
There were lots of questions about how her family reacted to seeing the movie. Her mom has not seen the final cut but was on set during filming and super excited that Tatum O’Neal was playing her.
Cherie had great praises for Dakota and Kristen. Cherie said that she was floored by Dakota’s performance, and that Dakota is her “favorite actress of all time”. She was also amazed by Kristen’s performance and thought the singing that they both did was unreal. Her and Joan were in the recording booths with Kristen and Dakota helping them through the process getting their voices to sound just right (and it worked). Cherie was so impressed with Floria and overall loves the movie, but wishes there could have been a lot more included. For example, showing more of the girls downtime and the relationships they all had with each other.
The subject of her and Joan’s hookup was brought up. Cherie’s response was that it was the 70s. “Bisexuality and drugs were in at the time. We were fifteen year old girls who were best friends. We explored life together. It was something that happened, it was natural and healthy and normal.”
She also addressed the other members of the band. She started crying when Sandy West was brought up. Sandy was the band’s drummer who passed away in 2006. Sandy was the one who wanted the movie to happen more than anyone. She wanted their story to be shared. As a memorial to Sandy Cherie carved a mermaid playing guitar (pictures to the sides). The unveiling of the statue was on the first day of filming. ***Spoiler*** in the movie you can tell it was Joan, Cherie and Sandy that were the closest. They all had each other’s backs. There is a great scene where Sandy just backs up Joan and it is awesome, its the two of them against two really big guys. Both Joan and Cherie still spend many nights crying over the loss of Sandy. They worked really hard to keep her a part of the film. In the songs, they didn’t allow them to recut her drums at all for the film. Jackie Fox and Lita Ford were asked to have a hand in the film but Jackie wanted to look at the script before and have time to decide. It was too late by then and everything was already in motion so she threw a fit and decided not to be a part of the film. And then there is Lita who wanted nothing to do with the story because it was about Cherie. ***Spoiler*** Kim Fowley pitted them against each other in the media and Lita took it the hardest. A great quote from Cherie is that “Being Lita Ford doesn’t get you anywhere.”
There were some other questions and comments about woodcarving and her life now, but that is the gist of it. Cherie was great and very personable. She gave autographs to everyone who wanted one and took pictures with fans. She is super nice and I feel luck to have meet her. I loved the movie and will probably see it again. Im grateful to have had that experience and I hope you like my long write up about the event. Below is the autograph I got from Cherie.
xoxo
Carrie
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