Teen actors Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart first got to know each other on the set of The Twilight Saga: New Moon, the second film in the uber-popular vampire franchise that's made both of them famous among the Hot Topic set. But in this week's The Runaways, these Twilight alums reunite and throw caution to the wind as female rock icons Cherie Currie and Joan Jett, who met in 1970s Los Angeles and went on to form one of the most influential -- though notoriously short-lived -- female outfits in rock history.
We spoke with Stewart and Fanning in Los Angeles, where the two close co-stars shared a couch and plenty of laughs as they reflected back on their careers, their favorite Runaways songs, and their Twilight bond.
Jen Yamato: Both of you were new to the Runaways' music before you became involved in the film. What were your first reactions to their music and how much did it encourage you to sign on to the project?
Kristen Stewart: You read a script that seems all about the music and ... the end is sort of bittersweet, but it's definitely something to celebrate. It's a happy ending. If you listened to the music and it fell short, it would be like, why are we telling this story? The movie really is about the music.
Dakota Fanning: I loved the music, I really did. I didn't know it, but then I read the script and I watched all the Live in Japan videos right afterward. Just seeing "Cherry Bomb" and seeing Cherie perform it, I realized I wanted to do it. Now I've completely fallen in love with the music and it reminds me of such a great time in my life. I just pretend that I'm still making the movie when I listen to the music!
KS: The weird thing is that it sounds so much like a lot of other songs and bands, but you can hear that it's original. It just seems fresh, it seems new, it seems like it was their idea. And it's so young, when you listen to it, it's so obvious that 15-year-olds wrote this music.
DF: If you really listen to the lyrics, they're really funny.
JY: What are your favorite Runaways songs?
KS: I have a bunch of them. But I would say that my favorite is "Love is Pain."
DK: I like "Blackmail."
KS: Oh yeah, "Blackmail!" It's so weird. I like "Hollywood" -- there are a lot of them.
JY: Did either of you see your roles in The Runaways as a departure from characters you've played before?
DF: It's really different for me. Obviously, playing a real person -- I've never done that before. But the biggest difference was realizing that it's someone's life that you have now, and it's your job to relive it again. And of course, the subject matter was something different than what I've done. I was drawn to it for those reasons.
JY: You're both young, seasoned performers known for taking on challenging roles. This is rated R, your characters are boundary-pushers, and there are a lot of mature scenes in the film. Do you see this as a statement you're trying to make as an actor?
KS: I can't really plot out [my career]. It's funny, I'm always saying that musicians are so different from actors because they're making statements and they are themselves, they're public figures in such a different way. And movies can make statements, but it's not necessarily the actor doing it. You're helping, and film statements are usually less defined ... but I need to be so moved by something so blindly. That's how I do it.
DF: What I've done is what I've been drawn to and what I've been moved to do. Like Kristen said, it's hard to describe how you choose something. It's just a feeling that you know, and I happen to be drawn to more challenging roles.
KS: Plus, that's only if you're concerned about your public image and how people perceive you. But that is not why either of us do movies. So if people are saying we're a certain way, I'm not going to go out and make a movie that's the opposite of that just because. You know, you are who you are.
JY: You worked together on the Twilight films before co-starring in The Runaways. When and how did you first get to know each other?
KS: I guess it sort of just happens. We didn't think, we need a bond...
DF: On New Moon, we ended up in the "warming tent" together on our own --
KS: -- and I was really intimidated! She had her red eyes in at the time. [Laughs]
DF: And it just happened, and that was it!
JY: In The Runaways you portray such a particular, intimate, love-hate relationship between Cherie Currie and Joan Jett. Was that something you discussed at length beforehand, especially considering how their relationship changed so much over the years?
KS: Yes, one of the best things about having Joan and Cherie around was seeing Joan and Cherie interact, and it seems like they go right back to the way they were when they were young. That's sort of the key; that's what the movie's about, Joan and Cherie's relationship. And we have a different dynamic than Joan and Cherie, so it couldn't be the same thing.
JY: What's it been like to do so many Twilight films in such a short time and what are your thoughts on going back for more with Breaking Dawn?
KS: I really love going back to something; any time I jump into something it's because I really love it. It feels like a really indulgent thing to work on something for like four years, so it'll be weird for it to end, but I'm excited.
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Subject: Interview: Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning on 'The Runaways' 
Tue Mar 23, 2010 11:39 am