'The Runaways' director Floria Sigismondi mentions Kristen

Joan Jett has said that many of the scenes in The Runaways—especially the one where Joan confronts her manager—felt like she was reliving her past. What does that kind of reaction give you as an artist?

She slipped back in time! My god! There were so many walls she had to break down. I’m working in a man’s world too so we’re trying to change that. Canada’s doing a great job of it by highlighting all these female directors at TIFF. That’s what was so great about that scene. I thought it captured being told that you can’t. That was the spark of her courage. There was something beautiful in that scene where they were in the studio and everything was falling apart around Joan. She bangs on the window. She’s kind of pissed. She throws the beer bottle at the window. I loved the emotion that came through in that moment.

You’ve nurtured young talents such Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart at an early age. When you look back at your collaboration, what stands out?

Their confidence. I also felt like I needed to protect them. With Dakota, once she was inside the beast of fame, she was like, “It’s not for me.” Hollywood is more about stardom and celebrity than about art but she’s managed to find a good balance. When I was shooting The Runaways, paparazzi were whistling on the street and there were photographers everywhere. I’m shooting dialogue and they’d yell over it! It was awful! They get rough and tough if you don’t give them what they want. Dakota and Kristen were kids! It was mostly for Kristen. I don’t think she knew what was going on. I hired her before Twilight but it came out before The Runaways…I saw a beautiful film she did called Into the Wild. We were in some awful place in the valley—some Kardashian place—you’d look out the window and couldn’t do anything and couldn’t get out.

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