April 27, 2007

It may finally be time for The Runaways to get their close-up. Joan Jett and longtime manager-producer Kenny Laguna will executive-produce a new film on the '70s all-girl teenage rock band.

"Neon Angels," based on Runaways singer Cherie Currie's unpublished memoir, will be written and directed by Floria Sigismondi, best known for directing music videos from Bj"rk, David Bowie and The White Stripes, as well as her photography.

The story will focus on the band - which included Currie, Jett, guitarist Lita Ford, bassist Jackie Fox and the late Sandy West, who played drums - and their struggle to be taken seriously as musicians.

"We certainly utilized to our advantage our image as teenage girls who wore titillating clothes," Jett told Daily Variety. "But we also became an excellent band and made it OK for girls to play rock 'n' roll. It got hard once people focused more on what we were wearing than what we were playing."

Though The Runaways never achieved superstardom in America, they were embraced around the world for the songs "Cherry Bomb" and "Born to Be Bad."

Based in Long Beach, Jett will balance the movie along with her summer tour and promoting her new signings to Blackheart Records - The Dollyrots, The Vacancies, The Eyeliners and Girl in a Coma.
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