"Starring Kristen Stewart as Joan Jett"... doesn't that give you a feeling of dread?
Now, I’ve not seen the Twilight movie, and I may be way off base on this, but isn’t it basically a vampire meets girl love story, with the girl being played by a meek Kristen Stewart? Even if that’s not exactly how it is, I have a feeling that my approximation is close enough that the next piece of news I read is just a bit unnerving.
It seems that Kristen Stewart has just signed on to play a young Joan Jett for an upcoming film about the Runaways. This seems to me like a bad call, latching onto a kid who happens to be the hot new thing in the movies.
There have been some great punk biopics over the years, and they’ve had some good casting. Gary Oldman in Sid and Nancy was a really good choice. And Shane West’s portrayal of Darby Crash in What We Do Is Secret was well done enough to land him a spot fronting the Germs.
This Kristen Stewart choice, though? It's the sort of casting choice that stinks of a money grab with no thought being put into making a good film. It seems to me that somewhere, some studio guy said, “The kids love her, so no matter what we have her do, they’ll come buy tickets.”
It's not as though I'm even saying she can't act. I'm simply asking: was this a good match up in any way shape or form?
It’s a good thing that these people behind the Runaways movie didn’t get the idea for a Stooges movie when Harry Potter was large and in charge on the movie screen, or we’d probably now have to deal with Daniel Radcliffe portraying a young Iggy Pop as well (then again, there's a new film coming out, so I hope I'm not giving them ideas).
What do you think? Has Stewart shown enough acting chops over the course of her career to pull off portraying Jett, or is this really a way to get you, as well as ton of 14-year-old girls, into a theater to see the same movie?
Photo © Nicole Lucas
Comments
since you admit to knowing nothing about Kristen, here’s a little back story. She’s not the “hot new thing”, she’s been acting for over 10 years, mostly in indie flicks which is why you probably haven’t heard of it. Check out Speak, or Into the Wild, to see how freaking awesome this chick is. Her acting abilities are phenomenal. Judging her based on her Twilight fame is not the way to go. She is going to totally own this role, adding to her list of great movies!!
I hope you’re right, Allison. But even so, a lot of actors spend a lot of times on indie films before they break really big. Most do.
That being the case, it doesn’t prevent her from becoming “the hot new thing” when she does break big. And incidentally, I didn’t say I knew nothing about Stewart, I said I knew nothing about the Twilight film.
Like I said, I hope playing Joan Jett is in her range. Otherwise, it’s a disservice to both Stewart and Jett.
You are so right on! If Joan Jett was a monotone lifeless slice of burnt toast, then Kristen might be able to pull it off. I think that the muscles in her face must be paralyzed, because she can only seem to squint or open her eyes really wide, and sometimes we are treated to a combo! She SUCKS. She’s an emo douche bag who hates fame and status. She’s rude to her Twilight costar who is nothing but professional. She needs to fall very quickly on something very sharp.
Kristen’s no newcomer. She’s been in the acting business for almost 10 years. People just associate her with “Twilight” because it’s the most commercialized movie she’s done. Kristen usually starts in small little indie films. If you knew anything about her, you’d know she has been playing the guitar since she was a little girl and can actually sing. She even performed twice in “Into The Wild” and co-wrote a song for it.
When I first heard that Kristen was cast in Twilight I went out and watched as many films as I could get my hands on to see what kind of talent she had. She can definitely pull off this part … her role in Speak proves that plus she has also played a wide range of other characters … Twilight is only one of many films. I think we should give her a chance to show us what she is made of.