'Runaways' Director Floria Sigismondi Calls Movie Release 'Surreal'

Posted on Mar 30th 2010 1:30PM by Jenny Charlesworth
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It's been a little over a week since 'The Runaways' hit theaters, but writer-director Floria Sigismondi is still grappling with the idea that her coming-of-age music flick, based on the rise and fall of America's first popular all-girl rock band, is out there for the world to see.

It's still very surreal," Sigismondi tells Spinner. "It feels kind of weird now that people can see and I can't change it. But it's my baby," she adds with a laugh, "and I love it for all its quirkiness!"

One would assume the glowing reviews the film has so far amassed would bring the Canadian-raised auteur some comfort, but apparently Sigismondi, who's made her name directing music videos for superstars like Marilyn Manson, David Bowie, Björk and the White Stripes, isn't keeping tabs on the favourable headlines.

"I actually don't read anything," she reveals. "I'll read it if anyone brings it to me or goes, 'Here, look,' but I actually don't go searching it."

It's probably a smart move in the end. Sigismondi already has enough people to please with her cinematic take on the iconic '70s band without having to worry about what some movie critic has to say about her first foray into the world of feature films.

"There's lots to contend with," she admits. "There's the fans, then there's the real people, then there's the story that revolves around their lives... you can never do everything, all I've got is an hour and forty minutes."

"I wanted to do a more personal story about these two girls," Sigismondi continues. "And get to the heart of it more than necessarily a biopic [would], where it's like, 'We played here, then we did this. There was already a [Runaways] documentary made, so I definitely didn't want to take that perspective."

By focusing on the dynamic relationship between tough girl guitarist Joan Jett and lead singer Cherie Currie, she was able to sidestep (at least moderately), potential plot snags arising from the refusal of Runaways guitarist Lita Ford to legally sign off on the project and the band's rotating cast of bass players.

"I always wanted to do the story of Cherie and Joan, that's what I was excited about," Sigismondi says, providing insight into her decision to include a composite bass player character in the film rather than devote time to an aspect of the Runaways' story that would take away from her real focus.

"In my work I've always been drawn to the dichotomy of two completely different things. You put them together and you see what happens and that's Cherie and Joan," she says. "They were the salt and pepper -- they had similar characteristics, but they were also very different people."

On the topic of her previous projects, Sigismondi jokes that compared to making music videos that hit somewhere around the four minute mark, the task of putting together a full-length film like 'The Runaways' was, well, "lengthy."

"That was the one thing I had to get used to, but it was very exciting," she says. "I'd been wanting to do a movie for years now, but this just seemed to be the one. I learned tons and I really got the bug, I'd like to make another one."