Joan Jett loves rock n roll, not ex-bassist

By Eriq Gardner

Iconic rock musician Joan Jett has been feverishly putting together elements on a film called "The Runaways," inspired by the trials and fortunes of her late 1970s band of the same name. Jett is serving as executive producer on the project and has hired screenwriters, publicity people, and others.

But Jett's comeback hasn't gone 100% smooth. According to a lawsuit filed by Jett and her label Blackheart Records Group, the band's ex-bass player, Jacqueline Fuchs, has been a bit pesky, threatening legal action over the right to be paid for use of trademarks, ownership over the script, and the right to approve the film. Jett says this is nonsense and that Fuchs isn't even portrayed in the movie.

According to the complaint, Fuchs quit the band in 1977 shortly before the Tokyo Music Festival. At the time, Jett filled in on bass. The singer didn't really become popular in the U.S. until she embarked on a solo career in the 1980s, but her time in the band has inspired her to create a film. She recently told Billboard that the movie is "absolutely not a biopic. It's not fact-for-fact. What they did was basically take elements from the Runaways story and created a parallel narrative."

If so, Jett may wish to amend her complaint, which calls the movie "a feature film biopic, telling the story of 'The Runaways.'"

The film is slated to come out next year and star Kristen Stewart, Dakota Fanning, and Michael Shannon.