Pics from JT Leroy and a new one from Chanel

KNOOP: And, for both 'JT' and 'Savannah', Kristen really embodied her research into the dual characters. She's a master at copying gesture -- she would do this mouth thing, and I was like, "That's me!"
KELLY: We got to do a bunch of test shoots, and Kristen worked on this particular kind of smile that Savannah does herself, but which becomes more exaggerated when Savannah is dressed up as JT. I remember sending a photo of that moment to Gus Van Sant, because he had met Savannah as JT, and he couldn't believe that it was Kristen. He was like, "That is Savannah, you're playing a joke on me." So I was like, "Oh my god, we're doing something right!"

My only gripe with the "shapeshifter" segment was that I wish Kelly and Knoop would have gone into greater detail as to exactly how Kristen was able to impersonate JT and Savannah besides simply mimicking Savannah's smile. My brother is good at mimicking other people's smiles--yet that in itself doesn't make him a good actor. Perhaps they could have been more descriptive as to how Kristen became this character via JT and Savannah's distinct mannerisms and idiosyncrasies. Perhaps they didn't want to reveal any spoilers and opted for generalizations about Kristen's acting so that we may have to wait until this film is released to see if Kristen really nails the role and is spot-on in her portrayal. My primary bone of contention is that Kristen puts in too much leg work to have her acting go largely unnoticed by the casual observer and moviegoer largely because she flat-out refuses to churn out overacted and contrived performances. Kristen's fans, especially aficionado's such as yourself Carved, won't let any of Kristen's subtle and nuanced expressions go unrecognized. It takes a keen and discerning eye to be cognizant of her mastery of microexpressions--yet unfortunately for non-fans, the end result is somewhat less obvious and fascinating than the painstaking means by which Kristen takes to achieve in becoming a character.

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"Kelly: I first met with Kristen about two years ago, and she really truly understood the material. She asked a lot of questions I hadn’t even thought about. The nuances that she brings to this character are really incredible—it’s almost hard to talk about. She’s such a precise, detail-oriented actor, and she never stopped getting to know the character, just like you never stop getting to know a person."

Similar to what I was telling Carved, I had hoped that they would have gone into greater detail as to why they believed that Kristen embodied the role.

Case in point, here are a few excepts of an interview of Joan Jett going into specifics regarding Kristen's performance in The Runaways: http://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/joan-jett-the-runaways/#page3

MCDONNELL: How was it working with Kristen Stewart, who plays you in the film? What did you tell her? How did she study you?

JETT: Well, I found Kristen to be through and through totally professional and just great to be around. I found us to be really, scarily similar, just in our physicality, the way we move through space.

But she is so authentic. The thing that came through to me was that it was important to her to capture it. She really wanted to nail it. So I gave her all The Runaways music that I could find; I gave her tapes of me talking. . . . When we were together prior to the start of filming, she was staring at me the whole time. And I was fine with it because I knew she was watching my posture, my mannerisms, everything I did, the way I hold my hands, just everything. And she really soaked it in. When we were hanging out together on set, it was like I had a mirror image. Even just sitting around, we'd do the same thing at the same time.

Here is the audio of an interview where JJ states similarly:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsgOw7pfeu4

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And here's some excerpts from an MTV interview where Joan Jett goes into further detail about how Kristen embodied the role: http://www.mtv.com/news/2551716/joan-jett-talks-kristen-stewart-in-runaways-shes-definitely-doing-her-own-singing/

Joan Jett Talks Kristen Stewart In 'Runaways': She's 'Definitely' Doing Her Own Singing

Kristen is known for how deeply she gets into the psyche of her characters, and it seems she took that to the next level when playing Joan.

"She'd listen to my accent and watch my body language. She's an actress of weight, honesty, integrity and depth, and she's very serious. She takes it as art," Joan said.

In earlier interviews, Kristen had said she wasn't sure if her actual singing would be used in the film, but Joan excitedly confirmed that it would be.

"Oh she's singing. She's definitely doing the singing," Joan said. "During the filming, she was playing guitar. We went through it, I showed her the positions that I play, because some guitar players will use different hand positions as the chords. So I showed her how I played it. She picked it up really well. I'm a lefty too. Not guitar-wise, but in my handwriting. So she switched that up too. She's writing with her left hand. She really, really embodied it."

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