‘SLC Punk!’ Filmmaker James Merendino to Direct ‘Gasoline’ in Return to Rock Scene (Exclusive)

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The filmmaker behind SLC Punk! is going back to his roots for a forthcoming music-focused movie.

James Merendino is set to direct Gasoline, a feature set in the world of 1990s punk rock, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. Principal photography is expected to commence this August.

Merendino helms the project from his own script. Isen Robbins, Aimee Schoof and Megan Freels Johnston serve as producers for Intrinsic Value Films. The story is based on real events involving the band Eight Buck Experiment, whose founder Evan O’Meara also produces the indie film. Kate Geller leads the casting process that is currently underway.

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Gasoline centers on 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 their summer performing chaotic shows across the country.

“I was so encouraged by a new generation’s growing enthusiasm toward old-school punk that I felt compelled to tell a new story driven by chaos and impulse,” Merendino says in a statement.

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. The sequel starred franchise newcomers Ben Schnetzer, Hannah Marks, Colson Baker and Sarah Clarke.

Merendino’s other directorial credits include River Made to Drown In, Amerikana and The Invisible Life of Thomas Lynch.

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