Toronto's Floria Sigismondi To Direct Film About The Runaways

04/19/07 6:30pm

Toronto visual artist and music video director Floria Sigismondi will write and direct a movie about the influential all-female '70s rock 'n' roll group, The Runaways.

Sigismondi, the wife of Living Things frontman Lillian Berlin, has directed videos for The Raconteurs, Christina Aguilera, Billy Talent, Leonard Cohen, David Bowie and Marilyn Manson, among many others. She'll use unpublished memoirs written by Runaways lead singer Cherie Curie as a resource for the drama, which will be titled Neon Angels after the group's song, "Neon Angels On The Road To Ruin."

Art and John Linson will produce the film, while former Runaway Joan Jett, her longtime manager and producer Kenny Laguna and Brian Young will receive executive producer credits. The R-rated film will be financed independently. No casting announcements have been made.

The Runaways formed in 1975, with controversial producer Kim Fowley playing a major role in putting the group together and helping shape their early sound. Their self-titled debut came out in 1976 and various lineups released three more studio efforts and a live album before breaking up in 1979.

"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."

Former Runaways bassist Vicki Blue directed a 2004 documentary on the band called Edgeplay: A Film About The Runaways that portrayed Fowley as an often-abusive sexual predator.