Twilight star to play Joan Jett

source: hollywoodreporter.com

Kristen Stewart will portray rock legend Joan Jett in The Runaways, a biopic of the 1970’s all-girl band.

The film will focus on Jett’s relationship with singer-keyboardist Cherie Currie, and their band’s rise to fame and eventual dissolution.

Jett is executive producer of the project, which implies she had a hand in selecting Stewart for the lead role. I’m a little wary of a supposedly “truthful” biopic in which the subject has a role in the production. Although, Jett might be the kind of ‘anything-goes; let’s burn some bridges’ kind of lady.

Stewart is coming off of the mega-success of teen vampire flick Twilight, which opens in Australia next week.

A sequel to Twilight (New Moon) has already been greenlit, with Stewart and costar Robert Pattinson each receiving a $10 million raise for their involvement. Yikes.

Both The Runaways and New Moon are expected to shoot in 2009.