Joan Jett really doesn’t need to give a damn about her reputation; with a seminal band, a slew of hit singles, and now a movie (The Runaways, out nationwide today) and a book (Joan Jett by Todd Oldham) under her belt, she’s one of rock’n’roll’s most iconic figures. We caught up with the Philadelphia-native to find out what it’s like to see yourself on the big screen.

Is it weird watching a movie about your life?
It’s pretty surreal, I’ll tell you. It’s not an every day experience. I always thought that we had broken down barriers, but I had never considered a movie.

Was there an actress that you really wanted to play you?
I never really considered that it wouldn’t be [Kristen Stewart], she just had the right energy. When I met her, she seemed really into it and dedicated, and wanted to hear everything I had to say about the Runaways. I asked her if she was going to cut her hair, and immediately she said, “Yes! Of course!” And I thought that showed great commitment, because she had really nice, long, beautiful hair, and to chop it off into a shag is a big deal.

Did you have to work a lot with Kristen Stewart to get the vocals right?
She had the vocals down, so that when we went into the studio, she just sang. We had a little bit of discussion, maybe she asked me here or there about a note, but that was it. She just did it. We spent a lot of time together, just hanging around. We’re a lot alike, anyway, in the way we move through space. We all have different ticks, but [Kristen and I] do the same things. Like, we’d be sitting there in the same room at the same time doing the same things without discussing it, and then look up at each other and burst into laughter, because we were the only ones that saw it. You couldn’t really explain it to anyone, because they wouldn’t get it unless they saw it. [Making the movie] was very pleasant, very satisfying. It could have been horrible! An actress who didn’t give a shit? Who wasn’t invested? I felt so blessed that she cared so much.

How true-to-life is the movie?
I think it gives you a sense of what we went through, the struggle we went through. Of course, there were a few things that were embellished here and there. I didn’t wear leather all the time—I wore leather jackets, but I didn’t wear leather pants. Another one: The soundcheck thing [in the movie] where the guy band wouldn’t let us soundcheck with them, and we got in a fight with them, pretty much happened like that, but then I didn’t go backstage and pee on his guitar.

Was there anything that you thought should have been in the movie?
We got arrested in England once, that would have been a great scene. There was a riot in Scotland, that would have been a great scene. Everyday was a movie with the Runaways.

When the Runaways broke up, did you think that you would ever have a comeback?
I felt like all of L.A. was laughing, so I just had to get out of there and start fresh. I’m not sure about the exact number, but we got rejected by 23 labels, I still have all those letters. They heard “I Love Rock’n’Roll”, “Bad Reputation”, “Do You Want to Touch Me”, and “Crimson in Clover”, four hits, and they all said, “You have no songs.” It shows you either [record labels are] prejudiced right off the bat, or they can’t hear hits, or they don’t listen to tapes people send them. Whatever the answer is, it’s scary that they’d miss not one, not two, not three, but four hits! So I had to do it myself. And now, because of that, I own everything. [Giant smile]
REBECCA WILLA DAVIS