Directed by Floria Sigismondi • 2010 • United States
Starring Kristen Stewart, Dakota Fanning, Michael Shannon
With this authentically scuzzy take on the rise of original punk girl group the Runaways, director Floria Sigismondi captures the mix of grit, glam, and adolescent abandon that propelled the band to fame amid the teenage wasteland of 1970s Southern California. It’s there that two friends—tough-girl guitarist Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart) and blonde-tressed singer Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning)—go from rebel teens to rock stars under the Svengali-like influence of impresario Kim Fowley (Michael Shannon). With their swaggering image and raw talent, the Runaways quickly earn a name for themselves even as the pressures of life in the rock ’n’ roll fast lane begin to pull them apart.
Up Next in Rock Biopics That Don’t Suck
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I’m Not There
Directed by Todd Haynes • 2007 • United States, Germany
Starring Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Marcus Carl FranklinHow can a film portray the many sides of the shape-shifting enigma that is Bob Dylan? Director Todd Haynes’s audacious gambit is to enlist six actors to play him in this innovati...
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Nowhere Boy
Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson • 2009 • United Kingdom
Starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Anne-Marie Duff, Kristin Scott ThomasBased on the memoirs of John Lennon’s half-sister Julia Baird, this revealing account of the future Beatle’s formative years vividly recreates the world of 1950s Liverpool,...
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24 Hour Party People
Directed by Michael Winterbottom • 2002 • United Kingdom
Starring Steve Coogan, Paddy Considine, Sean HarrisBlown away by an unknown band called the Sex Pistols, TV personality Tony Wilson (Steve Coogan) is inspired to invent a uniquely anarchic record label. Soon he’s promoting everyone from N...
