Dakota Fanning: Runaway

Fifteen-year-old actress Dakota Fanning has signed on to play Cherie Currie in a film about all-female rock group The Runaways.

Currie was 15 when she joined The Runaways with guitarists Joan Jett and Lita Ford, drummer Sandy West and bassist Micki Steele (who was briefly replaced by Peggy Foster before Jackie Fox took over) in 1976.

The film was previously titled Neon Angel — based on The Runaways' song "Neon Angels On The Road To Ruin" — in 2007. It will be written and directed by Floria Sigismondi (The Raconteurs, The White Stripes), and production will begin this spring.

Kristen Stewart (Twilight) has already been enlisted to play Jett. It's still not known who will play the other group members or svengali producer and manager Kim Fowley.

The Runaways were the first successful all-female rock band and had a hit in 1976 with "Cherry Bomb." Their self-titled album and 1977's Queens Of Noise sophomore release made them stars, but drug problems, money and management fights prompted their break-up in 1979.

A documentary titled Edgeplay: A Film About The Runaways and directed by another of the group's bassists, Vicki Blue, was released in 2004.

Currie left The Runways at 17 after becoming addicted to cocaine. Drug abuse tragically destroyed the life of her father, who died of alcoholism. She eventually sought help for her problems and is now a solo artist, producer, actress and avid chainsaw carver. She co-wrote a 1989 book titled Neon Angel: The Cherie Currie Story about her childhood, The Runaways and her drug abuse.

Jett became a star both solo and with The Blackhearts, while Ford has also had a reasonably successful music career.