Hot on the heels of Twilight’s box office killing, Kristen Stewart has been cast as rocker Joan Jett in 2009’s The Runaways, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The biopic focuses on Jett’s all-girl band of the same name, which rocked its way to moderate success Stateside and even greater stardom abroad in the late ’70s. This is the second "edgy" role Stewart has taken on since starring in the vampire flick. Perhaps not wanting to be typecast as gawky teen Bella Swan, Stewart will play a stripper in the upcoming Welcome to the Rileys. She talked with EW earlier this year about frequenting a strip club in New Orleans to prepare for the role. ”I danced on the bar there three nights this week, and my legs are covered in bruises,” Stewart said. ”Hopefully, the Twilight fans won’t totally freak out.”
Well, Twilight fans, are you freaking out? Do you have any qualms about Stewart playing the guitar goddess — or a pole dancer for that matter? Or are you happy to see her branching out into new, challenging roles? And for you Joan Jett fans, is Kristen badass enough to embody the role?
More Twilight News:
Twilight opening weekend ensures New Moon will rise
Kristen Stewart talks Twilight
EW.com’s Twilight Central
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Personally, these biopics that usually butcher the actual facts of what went down so that it makes for good film are tiresome. And really? Joan Jett? She has had about as much significance on the music scene as say, Tone Loc. And i bet he’d make a much better story.
I think actors who play iconic characters should always try to branch out and “hone their craft”.
Okay, they’ve got Joan’s part cast. What I want to know is who will be badass enough to play LITA FORD?!?!?!
At the risk of having too many Kristens in the mix, might I suggest Kristen Bell?
she can’t act! she was terrible in pretty much everything i have seen her in, she shows no emotion, jsut terrible
I wasn’t overly impressed with Kristen as Bella. She was alright. As for her other roles, neither of them sound remotely interesting to me. Still, good for her. She should branch out and do other things.
I heard Joan Jett is actually involved in the making of the movie so hopefully it will be fairly factual. As for Kristen Stewart, I can see the resemblance.
I think she’ll be great. The real question is what does Joan think about it?
Kristen Stewart was horrible as Bella Swan. She showed no depth and was completely one dimensional. Not wanting to be completely owned by a book is one thing, showing no emotion is another. Without the efforts of the rest of the cast, namely Robert Pattinson, Twilight would not have sailed to the opening weekend that it had.
Luckily, I’m able to separate actors from their roles – hence I’ll be going to see Rob Pattinson in Little Ashes regardless of his homosexual love scene. It won’t diminish my love for Edward one bit so I can’t imagine Kristen Stewart’s tough girl roles making any real impact either.
I agree with Mells! You have to sererate actors from their rolls or you will go insane!
I can say I will see either of the movies Kristen is in but I am sure she will do okay.
From a male perspective, I’m excited to see Kristen Stewart pop into the role of Joan Jett.
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i actually thought the bella role was a little wishy-washy for such an edgy young actress (DON’T HURT ME!! lol!)..i was surprised she was cast..so i think these will be GREAT.
LOVE her as joan..and yes, i’d like to hear what ms. jett has to say, too
This must of been the role she was really excited about getting. I watched an interview for Twilight and she was talking about how she just got a role that she was really excited about, and hadn’t ever been this excited about a role, but couldn’t say yet what it was.
I think it is good that she is branching out in different roles.
I think it’s a horrible move. She is certainly not edgy enough to play Joan Jett, so I can only see this happening because the filmmakers want to make money. However, casting a girl who starred in a hit movie does not guarantee success for a film.
She looks more like Cherie Currie
Well, at the least, maybe Kristen can improve her acting skills before the next Twilight movie is filmed.
when are they going to make the janis joplin pic? I’ve heard about this for what, a decade. anyone know? i have no idea who kristen stewart is, I’m 30 and have no clue to what/why twilight is so popular.
Nothing I’ve seen her in tells me she can pull this off. This is a great example of “stunt casting.” I’m sure if producers really looked, they could find at least 5 young actresses better suited to tackle the rock icon.
OK, you all need to lay off Kristen, because she IS a good actress. Bella is a twit, she played her well. If you’ve ever seen Kristen in any of her other movies, she was great in all of them. This “bad girl” role as Joan Jett will be good. Especially since Joan is working on the movie too.
Ugh! Joan Jett actually hand picked her, I heard! Bad choice! Kristen Stewart always manages to look pissed off and bitchy for some reason… and I haven’t liked her in anything I’ve seen her in (which was only Into the Wild)–didn’t want to see Twilight cuz I can’t imagine her as a leading lady.. I’ve seen Joan in concert and she radiates sex appeal.. nothing like Kristen Stewart.
This is actually a very, very shrewd move on Stewart’s part–rather than be pigeon-holed into an icon role she’s defining herself differently now, in the early stages (Much like Radcliffe making waves onstage while he’s still contracted as HP). I’m a Jett fan and haven’t caught Twilight madness so I’ll reserve judgment until the biop is released. It’ll be interesting to see if Stewart has the chops for it–apparently she does her research as evidenced by the gent’s club role–but I think she’s a little green yet to have gained any sort of craftsmanship. Any casting news yet on Ford or Benatar?
Now this is one Kristen Stewart flick I’ll go to see.
She HAS been branching out her whole career. It’s not like she began playing teen girly rolls forever. She’s always been edgy. Into the Wild, maybe?
Ummm, pete? do you have any clue what you are talking about? Joan Jett has had an enormous influence on the music scene, considering the doors she opened for other female artists! She broke the rules, early on. Now, it is more common place to see women playing guitar and playing and rock n roll, but when she did it, it was not. To compare her to Tone Loc, is incredibley short sighted and ignorant.
yes, kristen stewart looks like joan jett, but the advantage stops there. there’s no way this kid can handle being joan jett. no way.
I haven’t seen enough of her work to really judge, but I can see why they chose her. Plus, she’s in the spotlight right now for starring in a #1 movie. As for the stripper role, she made it sound edgy in her interview w/ EW, but in other interviews she said that it’s really a sweet movie she thinks “Twilight” fans will enjoy. She plays a 16-year-old stripper who is a very damaged girl and James Gandolfini’s character tries to help her.
Ah, that must explain why Kristen Stewart was caught smoking weed on her stoop a week or so ago! She was just researching the part of a rock star!
She has more in common with Joan Jett than she does Bella Swan. Trust.
“Nothing I’ve seen her in tells me she can pull this off. This is a great example of “stunt casting.” I’m sure if producers really looked, they could find at least 5 young actresses better suited to tackle the rock icon.” — Word. Quoted for truth.
I believe Kristen will be able to do a fantastic job as Joan Jett. I heard she plays a mean guitar and she somewhat has that raspy voice.