Above: Is this our first good look at The Runaways?

Though neither girl was alive during the 1970s or 1980s (both were born in the '90s), that's not stopping Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning from losing themselves in the time period and doing some serious rocking out for their upcoming flick The Runaways, which is a biopic about the women who breezed in and out of the famous band -- including Joan Jett (Stewart), Cherie Currie (Fanning), Lita Ford (Scout Taylor-Compton) and Sandy West (Stella Maeve), among others.

Just Jared nabbed a few photos from the set that show both Stewart and Fanning clowning around all retro'd out, sporting some pretty spectacular gear. It must've been fun to be in charge of wardrobe for this film because these ladies totally lit it up with style. I'm not entirely sure which girls are featured in the image above; I know Stewart and Fanning are in the back, and I think that's Scout Taylor-Compton in the blue and Stella Maeve up front, though I'm not positive so feel free to correct me. Check out a larger version of the image above down below along with a couple others, and more over at Just Jared.



The Runaways is due in theaters next year.

It looks like things are getting more interesting each day when it comes to the music biopic The Runaways -- and I'm not talking about Joan Jett making Kristen Stewart cry. No, instead, there is news that Alia Shawkat (who will forever be known as Maeby Fünke) is joining the cast as famed bassist and 'Bangle' Micki Steele ... or at the very least an approximation of Steele. Latino Review is reporting that Shawkat has joined the cast as an 18-year-old bass player named Robin (aka Steele), and judging by the photo above, you have to admit that Shawkat would be a great choice to play the sexy bassist. I mean, just look at those lips.

Rather than get into a long and convoluted explanation about the awesomeness that is Steele, here is a little primer: Steele was one of the first members of The Runaways when they were touring the club circuit in L.A. and was considered the 'feminine' one in a group of bad girls. By 1976 she had left the band after the addition of Lita Ford (played in the film by Scout Taylor-Compton) and Cherie Currie (played by Dakota Fanning). Steele would go on to join another famous girl band, The Bangles, and create music history by teaching the world about 'Manic Mondays'.

There has been no word on why Steele isn't going to be named in the film; possibly because the film makers didn't secure the rights to use her image, or maybe her split from The Runaways wasn't an amicable one. My guess is that the character of Robin will be based on Steele, but also be an amalgam of some of the other band members that won't be featured prominently in the film.

The Runaways is still filming on location in L.A., but will arrive in theaters in 2010.

It was only a matter of time. The Runaways are in place, production on the film is gearing up, and try as she might, Kristin Stewart wasn't able to keep her Joan Jett 'do under wraps; E Online caught a full glimpse of the new look. Why am I writing about a hairdo? Well, if there was one initial clue to discern how this Runaways pic would turn out, it's how each of the cast members look -- especially Stewart's Jett. And it's not bad. I can't go with good or great, because by this image (right), it looks more like a modern hack-job than a '70s mullet. But it's decent. At the very least, I doubt anyone will be thinking of Bella when Stewart grabs her guitar and hits the stage.

In a much less rockin' vein of news, The Hollywood Reporter posts that Brittany Murphy has signed onto a psychological thriller called Something Wicked -- no relation to that Wicked musical. We can't quite tell you what the premise is, because there are two competing summaries. THR says the flick is about a teen and his girlfriend (who is out of his league) whose lives become chaotic when her parents are killed. IMDb, on the other hand, says it's about a young couple prepping for marriage when gruesome secrets resurface. Either way, it looks like Murphy has but a supporting gig.

I guess the mediocre films have finally caught up with her, leading her away from the romcoms (at least that's a plus) and into B thrillers. But maybe The Expendables will help -- unless she gets outshone by Charisma Carpenter. Hmm... Is this the end of Murphy?

The last fox we've been waiting for is finally here!

MTV reports that the last Cherry Bomb to fill out The Runaways is 22-year-old Alessandra Torresani. An actress who's popped up in a bunch of television shows (most notably: Caprica, the BSG spin-off), Torresani will play the tow-headed vixen Lita Ford. And with that, all the mainstays are accounted for. Rhythm guitarist Joan Jett is Kristen Stewart, drummer Sandy West is Stella Maeve, lead singer Cherie Currie is Dakota Fanning, and Torresani is lead guitarist Ford. There is, of course, the bassist to consider, but since a number of girls filled in (Micki Steele, Peggy Foster, Jackie Fox), it looks like they're keeping her off the main casting roster.

She doesn't have the musical chops yet (she starts learning how to play guitar on Monday), but I can definitely see that face belting out power ballads with Ozzy in a few years; she's got a decent Lita look. Speaking of the heavy-metal icon, Torresani will meet up with Ford soon to get the low-down and hear the stories.

Stewart is the easiest to imagine in this project, since she's already got an edge to her, but I think director Floria Sigismondi will be able to do something with this cast. As Jenni already pointed out, there's a killer group attached behind the scenes, so this can't become an ignorable fluff piece. It's got to be something worthy of the path paved by Girls Rock! ... right?

If not, there will be hell to pay.

Rewinding the past seven days of the wonderful world of independent films:

Deals. Twilight fans will have the opportunity to see Kristen Stewart in a different type of role later this year. In Udayan Prasad's The Yellow Handkerchief, based on a story by Pete Hamill, Stewart jumps into a stranger's car. She and the driver (Eddie Redmayne) are soon joined by a newly-released convict (William Hurt) as they travel through rural Louisiana toward a hoped-for reunion with the ex-con's beloved (Maria Bello). Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired U.S. rights and is planning a theatrical release, according to indieWIRE.

Hans-Christian Schmid's legal thriller Storm will also hit theaters later this year, indieWIRE says, courtesy of Film Movement. Kerry Fox stars as a prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague; she must convince a witness (Anamaria Marinca from 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days) to testify in order to convict a former officer of war crimes.

Box Office. Arriving with this year's Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in hand, Yojiro Takita's Departures took the #1 spot among indies. Set in and around a Japanese business tasked with preparing bodies for burial, the drama earned $8,327 per screen at the nine theaters where it opened in New York and Los Angeles, Box Office Mojo reports.

Also performing well in its debut weekend, Pressure Cooker grossed $8,151 at one theater in New York. The documentary, directed by Jennifer Grausman and Mark Becker, follows a high school culinary arts class in Northeast Philadelphia, where teacher Wilma Stephenson tries to help her students earn college scholarships. We've embedded the fiery trailer below.

After the jump: Outfest lineup, plus Transformers 2 in Los Angeles.

By all appearances, it looks like the gouging of Twilight fans is going to continue unabated. There I was thinking that $255 to attend a fan convention was a steep price, but as it turns out it can get much, much, worse -- because if a weekend talking Twilight just isn't enough, now you can get your own Twilight-themed vacation courtesy of Vancouver Twilight Saga Set and Sightseeing Tours. Their tag line is: "By Fans...For Fans," and if you believe their website, Twihards willing to make the trip to Vancouver are going to get an awful lot for their money.

The tours are run by self-proclaimed fans who will pick you up in a luxury car and take you on tailored excursions to relive moments from the film, visit sets from the latest installment, New Moon (just as long as you book your tour at the right time and aren't hauled off by security for trying to cut off a piece of Robert Pattinson's hair), or help you camp outside the cast and crew's favorite bars and restaurants for a photo op. They even guarantee that they will refund your money if you don't get to meet the star of your choice. Personally I would want to score a minute with Michael Sheen just to ask why exactly he agreed to be in this film, but that's probably just me.

So how much will all of this Cullen-goodness run you? Well, there is a sliding scale on the price tag, and it can get as cheap as $60 an hour or you can go for the Cadillac of tours and shell out two grand for a custom designed trip. With a price tag like that, you can guarantee that only the dedicated will be attending. But, at least unlike some other movie vacation-destinations, the Twilight fans don't have to schlep all the way out to New Zealand for their fan fix.

Alright, let's get the Twilight out of the way first. Entertainment Weekly has a couple of new images from the set of New Moon, and if anything, I suppose it's small solace that director Chris Weitz looks like he has this shoot on schedule for a November 20th release. For those of us who didn't know, this sequel concerns Bella (Kristen Stewart) and her divided love for both vampire Edward (Robert Pattinson - SQUEE!) and werewolf Jacob (Taylor Lautner). Maybe Kate Beckinsale should give her some advice on how to handle this...

Now, in somewhat related news, the rumor du jour as to which villain will play a part in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 4 has turned to Morbius, the well-meaning scientist (natch) who unwittingly transforms himself into a psuedo-vampire (no, thank you, Wikipedia!). The notorious showman plays coy when asked in this FearNET interview (that's hosted on... CHUD?), but then goes on about the appeal of vampires in a way that doesn't rule the possibility out...

Spider-Man 4 is scheduled for a 2011 bow, so let me use this as yet another opportunity to nudge you to support Raimi's very fun Drag Me to Hell this weekend.

I don't know why, but vampires are back in vogue (I once read it had something to do with bad economies, but that might be stretching it). So even though we all knew this was coming, today it's official: Robert Pattinson (better known as dreamy bloodsucker Edward Cullen) will be returning for the fourth and final Twilight film, Breaking Dawn. The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that Pattison is "committed to starring in the final outing to date but doesn't know when backers Summit Entertainment will begin production because of the actor's jam-packed shooting schedule." The final book in Meyers series centers on *spoiler alert* Bella and Edward's marriage and her subsequent pregnancy -- and let me tell you, I read the book, and it's pretty out there.

Parts two and three of the series are already in production in Vancouver, and as much as I giggled my way through Twilight (and brother, did I giggle), I have higher expectations for New Moon. But that has a lot to do with the addition of Michael Sheen and Dakota Fanning as the kind of vampire I'm a little more familiar with -- you know, the kind that are a little more bad-ass. In New Moon, Bella (Kristen Stewart) is struggling with the loss of her pigment-challenged boyfriend and growing closer to her childhood friend, Jacob. But don't worry girls, Pattinson's role has been beefed up in the second installment, and he told THR it was no easy task to make the role a little more exciting: "You're playing a figment in Bella's imagination so I was trying to do it in a 2-D way. I hope it doesn't translate onscreen as being boring." Pattinson's schedule is filling up, and he will take a break from all that 'glittering' to start work on the romantic drama Remember Me before heading back to Vancouver to start work on Eclipse (the third film in the series) in October.

After the jump; how Pattinson is trying to beat the curse of typecasting...

Click image below to view entire poster

Summit Entertainment has released the first official movie poster for The Twilight Saga: New Moon, which, as you can see above, is all sorts of mysterious and daunting and, like, "Pshhh, fine -- go with him; I don't care!" Thankfully the studio didn't throw up the film's title in a different font and, instead, decided to give us some actual characters this time. And it's not hard to figure out what the main to-do in this film is; the poster makes that pretty clear. Bella (Kristen Stewart) is devastated when her boo Edward (Robert Pattinson) up and bolts ... and so, naturally, she begins to grow closer to someone else. That someone is Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner), and Jacob comes from a long line of ancient werewolves.

(I know, right -- this chick Bella likes to swing with the weird ones, totally. Tell me about it.)

Of course, as Bella grows closer to Jacob (and the werewolves, who are the vampires' mortal enemies), Bella soon finds her loyalties tested ... and something tells us she can't just drop both these dudes for Kenny, the video store clerk and part-time Nintendo champion. (Note: The character of Kenny does not exist in the books, but I'd be glad to write him in for the next film if Summit will let me.) Check out the full poster below, and watch the MTV Movie Awards on May 31 to see the first full clip from New Moon, which hits theaters on November 20th.