SXSW Interview: ‘The Runaways’ Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning

Published by Jeff Leins on March 19, 2010

This morning during the South by Southwest Film Festival, I sat down with Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning to talk about The Runaways, their preparation for playing rockers Joan Jett and Cherie Curie, their friendship starting with The Twilight Saga: New Moon, the “controversial” kiss they shared in the film, and working with the great Michael Shannon.

Keep in mind this is a round table interview, so most of the questions aren’t mine (I snuck one in at the very end).  Be sure to check back soon for the interview with writer/director Floria Sigismondi, and click over and read my review of the film.  Thanks.

This movie is about girls getting a sense of empowerment and working in a field where girls aren’t supposed to do this sort of thing.  They’re supposed to almost let themselves be manipulated and have things charted out for them.  How were you able to relate to this as young actresses?  Do you feel yourself sometimes having to stand up for yourself?  Do you find it a struggle sometimes to take control of your careers?

Dakota Fanning: I mean, I’ve never… I’ve grown up always thinking I can do whatever I want and be whatever I want.  I’ve never… I don’t think I’ve ever gone through any struggle, like, compared to what they did.  Uhh, I definitely did when I started acting.  I didn’t get a lot of things.  People said I didn’t have enough hair and they said I was too blonde and like people didn’t want me in their movies.  I Am Sam was my first movie.  So yeah, I’ve experienced things like that, but nothing like they did.

Kristen Stewart: Um, yeah.  Joan [Jett] always says nothing has changed whenever she’s asked about, like… Just because she doesn’t see girls literally playing the kind of music that she plays.  I don’t think it’s necessarily because things haven’t changed.  I just think she’s really unique, and I don’t know if girls necessarily have that drive.  But we’re definitely put in boxes nowadays.  They’re just different.  I think it’s gotten better because, I agree, I’ve always grown up feeling like I could be anything I wanted as well.  And she didn’t.  So it’s different, but at the same time I think it’s still easier for a guy to have a little bit more personality and individuality.  It’s easier for them to be different.  People don’t, like, comment on it as much.

You mean you think like a guy could get away with saying something outrageous that if either one of you said it they would, “Oh, well.  You know.  That wasn’t very ladylike.”

Kristen Stewart: Yeah.  No, to a certain degree.  Definitely.

In the movie, you both sing at one point and do a pretty phenomenal job at it.  At what point was it decided that it was going to be done that way?  That you were going to have the opportunity to sing for yourself, as opposed to having maybe a sound-a-like come in a do it for you?

Dakota Fanning: Um, I don’t think it ever occurred to me to not do it myself.  I thought it would just be so not authentic and the easy way out, and I really didn’t want to do that.  So I always wanted to do them, but, you know, it was up to them to let me, I guess.  If I sounded good enough.

Was it hard to not only do the singing side of it, but to also be emoting and acting out as Cherie [Curie] would on stage and as Joan [Jett] would on stage?  And really, kind of, combining the two aspects of… It just seems to me like a whole new level of acting, and a lot of actors aren’t really… bold enough to attempt something like that.

Kristen Stewart: It’s funny.  You jump into something without realizing what you’re getting yourself into.  Uhh, we had two weeks to get ready.  It was like…  It just… We had to sort of just do it without thinking and just do it because we really liked it.  You know, we’re not performers.  Like I’d never… and she’s never… [points to Dakota] They have such a distinct, awesome sound.  It was cool.

What is it like to look out and see Joan and Cherie looking back at you.  It’s got to be a little bizarre, right?

Kristen Stewart: Yeah, it’s cool.  I mean, doing normal scenes with Joan felt more natural.  I was more comfortable with it.  I never ever ever got comfortable playing the songs in front of her.  Ever.  Um, but that’s fine. [laughter] It’s sort of like… you just have to forget she’s there until they say, “Cut” and then…  She was always really happy.  Even if, I think, if we were doing really badly she would always just say we were doing really well to make us do better.

Were there ever times when either one of you just sort of had these, “Oh wow” moments where you’re just like, “This is some crazy… stuff.”

Kristen Stewart: [laughs] Stuff.

Were you just like, “I cannot believe that this is what it was like or this is pretty amazing that they even survived this mentally or, you know…

Dakota Fanning: I think every day I kind of had like that…

Kristen Stewart: Yeah, I know.

Dakota Fanning: Every scene… Usually in a movie you have like maybe the two big scenes.  Like your big moments.  But um, in this movie every little detail of every scene was so important, just because it’s someone’s life and someone’s story.  Because it happened.  You wish… We only had six weeks to do the movie and it was, like, really small and kind of rushed and it was, like, you’re doing… four really important scenes and it’s like, “Oh, you’re done.  There it was.”  Like, you did it –

Kristen Stewart: Like we had a half an hour to, you know –

Dakota Fanning: We would say that all the time.  Like, “Oh, there” –

Kristen Stewart: “There’s that.  We’re done with that now.  Yeah, that’s just going to be in the movie now.”  It’s not that it was arbitrary.  It was just… that’s sort of the nature of making a small movie.

Were any of those moments a little bit of pressure on you?  Like, “I could have done that scene a lot better if…”

Kristen Stewart: Oh my god, hell yeah.  I literally… We love watching the movie, but I still can’t… I can’t have objects like this in my hand while watching [holds up a pencil] because I will just be like “Argh!” [stabbing motion towards her leg with the pencil]

[Laughter] Well, did you have to focus a lot more in your preparation… were you more focused on Joan’s personality or getting Cherie’s personality or were you just really stressed about, like you said, playing the music in front of her?  Was there a lot of musical training going on, or do it as best as you can and move on?

Dakota Fanning: Um, there was… I mean, I had some voice lessons and I worked with Cherie on the songs and um… “Cherry Bomb.”  The “Cherry Bomb” performance was what I worked on the most probably, and that was filmed second the last day, so I had a lot of practice with that.  But Cherie’s personality at the time… like now her personality is really different from what it was then.  Like then, off stage she was like… kinda quiet and… There’s this one interview with her and she [quietly] “Talks like this.”  Like she’s really soft and insecure off stage, which is so different from her on stage persona.  So to kind of capture that vulnerability that she has and that innocence was really important.

And the guitar stuff for you?

Kristen Stewart: Yeah.  I played guitar before, thankfully.  So I had like six songs to learn.  It was less the songs because she plays rhythm guitar, it was power chords.  It was more the way she does it.  I mean, I don’t… look that.. I don’t do that.  I don’t have mannerisms, you know?  But she was with me every single day and we were able to see Cherie and her together too, which was also really helpful because they… When they’re around each other they go right back to when they were, you know, in The Runaways.  And, I don’t know, they sort of take on that same dynamic, which was really helpful.

There’s been so much hype around this film.  Joan Jett being such an iconic performer and the [gay] community has always kind of thought of Joan as part of the community.  The kiss is really an exciting moment in film for the community and I thought it was really gorgeously.  Then there’s not a lot of discussion from there on out about their romantic relationship, and I wonder if you could speak to that.  Also, do you think this is some kind of a love story as well?  Love for rock and roll obviously, but with such a strong relationship do you also see it as a love story?

Dakota Fanning: I don’t.

Kristen Stewart: I don’t either.

Dakota Fanning: I feel like it’s… not really romance between them.  I think it’s just they were really good friends and it’s just something that happened.  It’s not really talked about after, as you see in the film…

Kristen Stewart: Right, it’s really impulsive… I mean, it says something about who they are, you know, considering… I don’t know.  They just really love each other, but it’s not like… it’s not a romantic thing.

I think it showed there was a lot of boundary crossing in general, so I think it’s kind of what made sense too.  I mean you’re crossing boundaries into a male field.  It’s rock and roll.  So it seems like there’s just a general openness with the band and that’s what was portrayed.

Kristen Stewart: No.  There’s a freedom.  Definitely.  There’s an unabashed… [pounds the table with her fist] I’m… um… how do I say… Argh….

Passion for the music.

Kristen Stewart: Yeah!  Thanks, man.

[Laughter] You’re welcome.  It’s a rock and roll moment.  It terms of not being contained…

Kristen Stewart: That’s always how I thought of it.

Can you guys talk about the challenge of playing someone who actually exists in real life?  A lot of your other characters have been, you know, fictional and you can bring something unique to the character.  But you guys are playing somebody who you have to pay reverence to but also bring a little bit of yourself to it.

Kristen Stewart: Yeah, it’s a totally different responsibility.  Because you always feel a huge pressure when you’re playing a character that feels whole to you because those are the only ones that I like to play.  So they feel like a real person that you would be letting down if you didn’t play them right.  But when they’re sitting right there and then, like, becoming one of your closest friends and role model and someone you really look up to it’s like… It’s a different thing, but at the same time like to have that… push… is really going to, you know, push you.  To have that drive is going to make you better.

Dakota Fanning: And also to see someone be so happy about like this experience and so supportive of it.  Especially for Cherie because a lot of people don’t know her story and don’t know maybe who she is.  So for me I was really excited to kind of let her relive that time in her life through the film.

How did those roles come to you?  Did you guys hear about the script or the film and you took interest in it?  Or did someone contact you because they thought you guys had the look or the ability?

Dakota Fanning: Yeah, I read the script.  They sent me the script and I wanted to do it. [laughter]

Just last night with Cherie, I asked her, “Did you have any part in, you know, Dakota Fanning?  Did that come to your mind?”  And she was like, “Oh no.  Now she was 15 and I was 15, but I never thought of her.  I mean, it was a totally different 15 back then.”

Dakota Fanning: Oh, yeah.  Totally.

Kristen Stewart: Um, yeah.  Floria sent me the script and I was initially, “Yeah I want to play Joan Jett for sure.”  Like I said you jump into something and then you realize after what a big deal it is.  And then when I met Dakota it was an extremely exciting thing.  I was like, “Oh wow, this is going to be really good.”

You guys really embodied them.  Do you feel like individually you’re anything like the character you got to play?  Personality wise.  Do you feel that same kind of angst that maybe Joan had for her music and your love for your craft?  And the same with you [Dakota], do you feel like you had some connection that you personally felt part of that role?

Dakota Fanning: I think Cherie and I are very different.  I think we were very different and grew up in a really different world.  I can relate to starting out young and being in this world as a young person, but I feel like I’ve grown up in a completely different time.  And the music industry and acting are so different.  And I’ve always had school and adults around, and my mom, whereas she was completely on her own.  I definitely can’t relate to that.  And personality wise, I think we’re a little bit different too.  I mean, Cherie is… Like now she is such an unbelievably strong personality.  She is such a force when she walks into a room and she’s not afraid to be that.  She’s not afraid to say exactly how she feels.  Like last night at the Q&A when she was talking about the band that it was based on she was like, “I think he’s like an old grandmother.”  But I would never say something like that and she’s completely unafraid of… saying something like that.  I love that about her and I wish I could be more like that.  But I’m not.

Can you talk a little bit about working with Michael Shannon?  Because he is an incredibly intense actor and a lot of ways it kind of seems like as Kim [Fowley] he’s sort of the glue that ties the story together as well as ties the band together and the reality of it.  But some of the scenes that both of you had with him are really incredibly intense and I would have to imagine that some of that was maybe more intense than you expected.  Some of that stuff just really blew me away.

Kristen Stewart: Have you ever met Kim Fowley?

I met him last night.  He told me if he had met me in the 70’s I would be Meatloaf.  But yeah he’s a very eccentric character.

Kristen Stewart: Yeah, I mean he’s great.  We expected… We wanted… We were like, “What’s Michael going to do?”

Dakota Fanning: Yeah, when you read the script and you see those paragraphs.  You’re like, “How is someone going to do this?”  I was happy I wasn’t the person who had to do that.  [Laughs] Yeah, but Michael Shannon.  He was really… I think with this character you have to be kind of in it all the time and he definitely was.  I don’t think we met the real Mike until after we were done.  He was, like, really in character most of the time.

Kristen Stewart: Yeah, it was so weird at the end of the day.  If you saw him around the trailers and stuff.  He’s like, “Hey Dakota.  Hey Kristen.”  It’s like, “Who are you!”

[Laughter] He’s not in your face screaming at you.

Kristen Stewart: Right.  Right.

Dakota Fanning: Yeah.  No, but he’s really amazing.

We’re really happy you guys could come down to South by Southwest.  Did you guys get to do anything kind of fun or Austin-like here?  Did you get to see any bands or eat any barbecue or anything like that?

Kristen Stewart: We did both of those things!  Um, yeah, we had some barbecue yesterday.  It was good.  And we saw Band of Horses and Broken Social Scene last night and Metric came on and played with them.  It was like… fucking… so amazing.  We had a great time.

I think something people my age forget about people your age is that… You were born in 1990 and you were born in 1993.

Dakota Fanning: Four.

Four.  You’ve spent half your lives in a country at war.  You’ve spent half your lives after 9/11.  How do you think that’s affected you?  Do you think about that ever?  Do you talk about it with your friends?

Kristen Stewart: Um, I have conversations occasionally.  It’s not like something we sit and labor on.  I think my parents were too.  Every generation has been at war.  Sucks.  Yeah, I don’t really have a lot more to say in this context.

Dakota Fanning: Oh, for me?  No, I mean, I feel the same way.  I’ve definitely had conversations about it and, I don’t know, I started out… I remember the day of 9/11 I had to do ADR for I Am Sam, so it’s been my whole…

Kristen Stewart: I was in homeroom in the sixth grade.

But do you think it gives you a different point of view than your characters at your age?

Kristen Stewart: Um, we live completely different lives.  They were very unaware of what was going on in the –

Dakota Fanning: They lived in, like, the bubble of Los Angeles and the Sugar Shack.

It seems like you have the ability to crash and burn just like anyone else your age, how do you handle that?  When you see people around you, and I’m sure you do, that are crashing and burning, how does that affect your personally?  Do you think this film is going to show people that we can all go that direction?  People your age could choose to go that direction, and have.

Dakota Fanning: For me personally, I know what I want to do.  It’s what I love, and I would never do something that would jeopardize that.

Kristen Stewart: Me too.  That’s how you stay grounded.  You know what you want.

Dakota Fanning: It’s just if you know…  If you have that conscious part of you that is always saying, you know, “Don’t mess it up for yourself.”  For Cherie, I mean, she ultimately just wasn’t equipped to handle that lifestyle and to handle what was available to her whereas Joan was.  And Joan still is and Cherie isn’t as involved in music anymore.  I think it’s just different people, different time, and different rules.

Kristen Stewart: Yeah, it’s just as cool to see her not be in the band as it is to see Joan choose to keep going.  It’s taking control of her life and not just doing the obvious.

Can you talk about what you guys have to look forward to besides the big and obvious?

Kristen Stewart: I don’t have a job.  (I’m losing my voice.)

Dakota Fanning: (Yeah, me too.)  I’m probably going to be working this summer, but I’m not sure yet.

You said the film was shot fairly tight in terms of constant schedule going and going.  I know in films like this there are certain scenes that will end up getting cut short for time.  Were there any scenes that were shot that you can recall that didn’t make the final cut and do you have any idea why?

Dakota Fanning: There were a lot of scenes that didn’t get to get filmed.  Which was heartbreaking to both of us.

Kristen Stewart: Yeah, it was horrible.  They cut two days off the end of the schedule at the end.  Like the second to the last week or something.

Was there intended to be any sort of follow up with Joan’s life maybe after?

Kristen Stewart: No.  No.  No.  It was just… I mean, there was one thing that really killed me.  She plays “School Days” back stage when they’re still with The Runaways.  Because The Runaways didn’t break up when Cherie left the band and it seems that way in the movie.  But there was a scene back stage and she’s like unplugged just doing “School Days,” which was so cool.  And the audience is screaming “Cherie.  Cherie.  Cherie.  Cherry Bomb.  Cherry Bomb.”  And she’s just like “That fuckin’ bitch at the chorus is dead!”  So that’s not in there anymore, and that would have been really good.

You two have such an amazing rapport.  I wonder how long you’d known each other before you came to the film.  And you were also amazing on stage and I wonder if you would consider touring and doing some music.

Kristen Stewart: Runaways tribute…

Runaways cover band.  There’s your next job!

Kristen Stewart: [laughs] We both sort of feel–

Dakota Fanning: We both sort of feel the same way.  That probably won’t happen.  [laughs] And then… We’ve know each other almost a year?

Kristen Stewart: Yeah, yeah.  We met on New Moon.  Well, we met a couple of times before we did New Moon, but then she only worked a couple of days.  It was always just very quick meetings and then The Runaways.  And now we’re really good friends.

Do either of you have aspirations of directing?  Or are you looking at just staying in acting?

Dakota Fanning: I do.  I want to be a director.

Kristen Stewart: Yeah, me too.

Dakota Fanning: Yes.

Thank you and congratulations to both of you.