The cast for filmmaker James Merendino’s forthcoming music-focused road feature is revving up.
Tanner Buchanan (Cobra Kai, He’s All That) and Peyton Elizabeth Lee (Wildwood, Andi Mack) have landed the leads in the movie Gasoline, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. Elliott Fullam (the Terrifier franchise), Finn Douglas (House of Cards) and newcomer Oscar O’Meara round out the cast for the project that Merendino, known for cult favorite SLC Punk!, directs from his own script.
Gasoline centers on Eric Casey (Buchanan), a young singer who, strapped for cash and struggling to maintain his sobriety, pushes his teenage brothers to hop into the family’s van and spend the summer of 1994 performing chaotic shows across the country. Along the way, Eric meets Ivy (Lee), a sharp-witted punk rocker who challenges his perspective.
The four actors portraying the band’s members are all real-life musicians. Buchanan is in charge of lead vocalist, Douglas plays bass, Fullam handles guitar and O’Meara is on drums.
Isen Robbins and Aimee Schoof serve as producers for Intrinsic Value Films. The story is based on real events involving the punk band Eight Buck Experiment, whose founder Evan O’Meara also produces the indie film. Kate Geller handled casting.
SLC Punk! was the opening feature at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival and included castmembers Matthew Lillard, Michael Goorjian, Annabeth Gish, Jason Segel, Christopher McDonald and Devon Sawa. Sony Pictures Classics released it that April, and the movie became a cult classic that spawned a 2016 sequel entitled Punk’s Dead. Merendino’s other features include The Invisible Life of Thomas Lynch and Amerikana.
“I’ve been looking for a character like Gasoline’s Eric Casey for the better part of a decade,” says Buchanan. “I grew up playing and listening to punk and metal, so the script connected with me from page one. It felt like it could have been written for me. And the fact that the lead cast are all also musicians and we’re actually going to be able to play real — loud! — music together is incredibly exciting.”
Adds Merendino, “I’m very excited to work with these actors. They’re all terrific, and I think Tanner is really going to bring this character to life. I didn’t just want great actors, though. I also wanted them to be a real punk band. I want that authenticity. And though I’m trying to capture the chaos created by impulsive behavior often associated with the punk scene, ultimately, it’s a story about a makeshift family of outsiders trying to survive in a broken America.”
Robbins notes in his own statement, “James has created something funny, dangerous and surprisingly moving. We’ve brought together four young actors who are also real musicians, which gives the whole thing an incredible energy. It’s a punk rock Apocalypse Now, only the river is a highway and the soundtrack is a lot louder.”
Buchanan is represented by Gersh, Linden Entertainment and Myman Greenspan. Lee is repped by Gersh and Artists First. Fullam is repped by CESD Talent Agency. Douglas is repped by The Carson Kolker Organization Ltd. and L’il Angels Unlimited.