Alessandra Torresani cast as Lita Ford in 'The Runaways'

Back in March, we got word that Dakota Fanning had been cast as Cherie Currie, lead singer of 1970s band The Runaways. Now, largely unknown actress, 22-year old Alessandra Torresani has been cast as lead guitarist Lita Ford. Kristen Stewart as Joan Jett, Stella Maeve as the band's original drummer Sandy West, and Michael Shannon as manager Kim Fowley round out the rest of the principal cast.




It also looks like Torresani will begin shooting pretty soon:

Now, Torresani laughed, she has less than seven days to learn how to convincingly wield her axe.

"I learn the guitar starting [Monday], so that'll be interesting," she laughed. "I'm very nervous about it."

Torresani told us she'll be picking up the guitar as she meets Stewart, Fanning and Maeve for the first time and that the newly formed band has less than a week to rehearse. "I haven't met any of the girls yet. I'll meet them soon. I see them tomorrow, so that's soon enough," she grinned. [MTV via The Playlist]

I'm looking forward to this film even though I haven't actually seen Torresani or Maeve in anything. It still seems hard to determine the direction The Runaways will take, mostly because director Floria Sigismondi has never directed a feature film and two of the principal actors are relative unknowns, but perhaps that's what makes the project intriguing.