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Gasoline Alley centers on Jimmy Jayne (Devon Sawa), a Los Angeles tattoo artist who is behind the eight ball. Two detectives (Luke Wilson, Bruce Willis) tag him as the prime suspect int he murder of several women, and Jayne battles the odds to clear his name. Director/co-writer Edward Drake brings his lifelong love for film noir to Gasoline Alley. As a fellow noir enthusiast, this conversation was right up my “alley” (Drake’s references to The Big Sleep and The Third Man immediately won me over). Full video interview is below!
Edward Drake directs movies at a faster than usual clip, and his past several movies (Apex, Cosmic Sin, American Breach) starred Bruce Willis. The Die Hard star continues his work with Drake in Gasoline Alley, and it’s a collaboration the filmmaker does not take for granted.
“Bruce is one of the nicest kindest man I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and working with,” said Drake. “Every time, we try to get a little more cheekier and I think it’s one thing that perhaps doesn’t come across through some of the films but we are very conscious and aware of the films we are making. Everyone reads the reviews and hears the feedback. There is a lot of meta elements that are at play that are always permeating through the subtext. It’s our little way of nodding to Bruce’s legacy and doing the story and the characters justice. I can’t speak highly enough of the man. He’s a great individual.”
Check out our Find Your Film review of Gasoline Alley (I praised the heck out of it, my co-hosts Bruce Purkey and Eric Holmes had a different take):
Though Gasoline Alley has its share of solid performances (Luke Wilson as the sarcastic cop stands out and Kenny Wormald is convincing as a spoiled action star), a big part of its allure lies in the work of Devon Sawa. He is utterly believable as a man who is torn apart by his past and essentially eeking out an exist in the City of Angels. Jimmy Jayne’s demons don’t stop him from moving forward to wreak vengeance on his wrongdoers, and the film’s out of left field third act, which deals with an underground tunnel, knocks it out of the park.
“This is a noir, and you want to see the characters’ reckoning with their decision,” said Drake. “And Devin is one of the best actors I’ve ever worked with. He’s phenomenal. You can watch in his eyes as his character is making the decisions, as he is reckoning with the consequences with his choices. As soon as I met Devon, I just realized we had an opportunity to make something really special.”
Full interview with Drake is below. This is the first time in my 30 years of interview actors/filmmakers wherein The Third Man was discussed, so hats off to him. Would love to hear your thoughts on Gasoline Alley (now out in theaters, Digital, and On Demand). Feel free to comment below!
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