Pop music has always had as many female singers as it has male singers but until the 1970s there had never been an all-girl rock band. This fascinating film tells the story of how the first female rock band was created by guitarist Joan Jett and drummer Sandy West. What they needed was a singer and they found Cherie Currie and an exploitative, relentless producer Kim Fowley. It was tough enough to break into the music scene at all, but for these girls who were still in their teens, it was ten times tougher, but they played the party and concert scenes in Los Angeles, and di so with such attitude and aggression that they became a breakthrough hit.

The film’s writer-director, Floria Sigismundi, insists that the film is not a conventional biopic. “I kind of didn’t want to do a documentary with a list of ‘and then they played here, then they got bigger, and this is what audiences thought of them’. For me it was more about how does it feel to be in the skin of a young girl in this experimental time.“The 70’s were very experimental” she continued “with David Bowie coming out and that whole androgyny thing and what that added to the pop culture. These girls were just at the very beginning of creating their identity at fifteen.  You’re just kind of like, “Wow, I’m in this body.  People are looking at me differently. I wanted to show what that means and how they felt about it.”

Kristen Stewart plays Joan Jett

“That was really important for me, those more subtle, tactile things and it had to be as authentic as possible, I really pushed the fact that the actors needed to play their own instruments” she said. For Kristen Stewart who plays Joan Jett and Dakota Fanning who plays Cherie Currie the bands vocalist, that was major challenge. “I got them into music lessons because I wanted them to know the songs inside out’ said director Sigismundi. It was very important to me, but when the film was release, nobody believed they played their own instruments.  I wanted it to be authentic and they had to own it” she said.
 

“The 70’s were very experimental” she continued “with David Bowie coming out and that whole androgyny thing, and what that added to the pop culture. These teenage girls were just at the very beginning of creating their identity, kind of like saying, ‘Wow, I’m in this body.  People are looking at me differently’. I wanted to show what that meant back then and how they felt about it.”

Dakota Fanning as Cherie

“I got them into music lessons because I wanted them to know the songs inside out” said director Sigismundi. “It was crucial and when the film opened, nobody believed they did their playing.  I wanted it to be authentic and they really owned it” she said.  Before shooting started, they had two weeks of band performances, all day and every day. I put them in front of live audiences, to show them how a real performance worked.  Dakota, as a singer, was competing with amps, drums, and there’s nothing subtle about singing against that. That physical kind of experience made the difference to her performance.”

Before shooting started, they had two weeks of band performances, all day and every day. I put them in front of living things and they played as a band to see how a real performance worked.  Dakota, as a singer, was competing with amps, drums, and there’s nothing subtle about it.  I think that physical kind of experience  “One thing that was important for me was not to make a caricature of the 70’s” said Sigismundi,  Because the 70’s were really far out in design.  There was a pattern in everything.  Curtains, carpets, couches, wallpaper and your clothing.  And your top was different than your bottoms.  It was insane.  And the colors… So for me it was like, “How do I make that feel real and raw to me. It kind of gave it that authentic feeling, it felt right.” 

 

Director Florai Sigismondi