Although writer-director Allison Anders adapted the story from the young adult novel Don't Look and It Won't Hurt by Richard Peck, she drew on her own difficult childhood as the daughter of an itinerant single mother for this story of a waitress raising her teenage daughters in a rural New Mexico trailer park. Although not widely seen by general audiences, enthusiastic reviews and positive attention on the film festival circuit assured Gas Food Lodging would not be just another overlooked gem of American independent cinema. Noting its wry humor and sympathetic characterizations, Time Out called it “delightfully oddball and strangely sane,” while The New York Times’ Janet Maslin said, “Anders keeps her film expertly balanced between quiet despair and a sense of the miraculous.” Brooke Adams, previously known for her work in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) and The Dead Zone (1983), plays the mother, with Ione Skye and Fairuza Balk as her daughters. In a 2001 interview, Balk said the film was closest to her heart because of the similarities between her and the shy loner she plays. She won the Independent Spirit Award for her work here, while Anders garnered two prizes at the Deauville Film Festival and Best New Director from the New York Film Critics Circle. Also in the cast are James Brolin as the girls’ long-absent father and Skye’s brother, Donovan Leitch Jr. Adding to the family atmosphere of the production are the director’s daughter, Tiffany Anders, and Balk’s mother, Cathryn, in minor roles. Anders mined certain harsh details of her early life for a later picture, Things Behind the Sun (2001). In recent years, she has directed a number of television shows and holds a distinguished professorship in the Department of Film and Media Studies at the University of California Santa Barbara.
by Rob Nixon
Gas Food Lodging
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Allison Anders
Brooke Adams
Ione Skye
Fairuza Balk
Donovan Leitch
Chris Mulkey
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Slice of life about a single mother and her two teenage daughters living in a trailer park on the edge of the desert.
Director
Allison Anders
Cast
Brooke Adams
Ione Skye
Fairuza Balk
Donovan Leitch
Chris Mulkey
Julie Vera
Carlos Rivas
Michael Gillis
Laurie O'brien
M Eisel
James Brolin
Shirley Smith
J Mascis
Inese Brunins
Cathryn Balk
George R Parker
Louise Tollson
Adam Biesk
Hamlet Arman
Bill Kemp
Mariah O'brien
Carmen Gonzales
Marabina Jaimes
Diane Behrens
Sissy Boyd
Robert Knepper
Rocio Segura
Jeff Miller
Jacob Vargas
Carlos Cestero
Leonard Leal
Nina Belanger
Tiffany Anders
Josie Lynne Adams
Leigh Hamilton
Jeffrey Mcdonald
Graci Lund
David Landsbury
Julie Condra
Wayne Anderson
Crew
Barry Adamson
Carlos Adley
John Warren Albright
Lylie Almeida
Allison Anders
Wayne Anderson
Carmen Bailey
Gregg Barbanell
Kevin Benson
Susan L Bertram
Sharon Bialy
Robin Bishop
Stephen R Brown
Jan Buckingham
Pavel Cantu
Peter Carlstedt
Nick Cave
Pamela Choules
Steve Christopher
Kim Chuisano
Kim Chuisano
Matthew J Clark
Robert Paul Coburn
Carl-jan Colpaert
Gregory Conway
Linda Corbin
Paul J. Coyne
Rosemary Cremona
Janet Cunningham
Jim Cypherd
Lawrence N Dasilva
Larayne Decoeur
Jeff Delucia
Lisa Denker
Bob Deshaine
Albert T Dickerson
David Dowell
Rudy Estrada
William Ewart
John Farrar
Fabio Fernandez
Don Fleming
Mark Fosson
Mark Fosson
Jim Gillam
Jim Gillam
Michael Gillis
Jim Goldthwait
Dominique Gomez
Rich Gonne
Tracy Granger
Todd Grove
Clifford Gynn
Dan Hassid
Christoph Henkel
Gerald R Heppler
Phil Hetos
Anita Ingle
Jesse Jackson
David Jobe
Robin Johnston
Dina Juntila
Stanley Kastner
Jeff Kirshbaum
Jeff Kirshbaum
Yasmin Le Bon
Dean Lent
Kate Lewis
Phillip Linson
Richard Eric Lopez
Lorelei Loverde
Lorelei Loverde
Debra L. Manwiller
Leonard Marcel
Angelo Martinez
J Mascis
Greg Maselli
Susan P Mccarthy
Sam Mccutchen
Marty Meeks
Jeff Miller
Michael Millikan
Tim Monich
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Brion Pacassi
Richard Pagano
Richard Peck
Mickey Petralia
Jeff Rea
Mr. Boyd Rice
Mr. Boyd Rice
Jerry Ross
Joan Rowe
Carol Rutter
Cari Schaefer
Christy Sheldon
Charles W Smith
Steve F.b. Smith
Renegade Soundwave
Renegade Soundwave
Jane Ann Stewart
Robert Strauss
David Sylvian
Crime & The City Solution
Crime & The City Solution
Steve Thomsen
Karen Tobin
Karen Tobin
Jeff Turner
Charles Vincent
Gregor Von Bismarck
Thomas Wages
Yvette Walsh
Michael Weaver
Carla Weber
Patty Weiss
Cj Wells
Seth Willenson
Victoria Williams
Victoria Williams
Ellen Worley
Trudy Yee
Rachel Young
Film Details
Technical Specs
Articles
Gas Food Lodging
Gas Food Lodging
Quotes
Trivia
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States 1992
Released in United States February 1992
Released in United States January 1992
Released in United States July 31, 1992
Released in United States October 1991
Released in United States on Video March 31, 1993
Released in United States September 1992
Released in United States Summer August 14, 1992
Shown at American Film Market (AFM) II in Santa Monica October 21-27, 1991.
Shown at Berlin Film Festival (in competition) February 13-24, 1992.
Shown at Boston Film Festival September 14-24, 1992.
Shown at Deauville Film Festival September 4-13, 1992.
Shown at Montreal World Film Festival (out of competition) August 27 - September 7, 1992.
Shown at Seattle International Film Festival May 15 - June 7, 1992.
Won American Film Critics' Prize, Deauville Film Festival 1992.
Allison Anders was named best new director by the New York Film Critics Circle (1992).
Feature directoral debut for Allison Anders.
Began shooting January 14, 1991.
Completed shooting February 14, 1991.
Donovan Leitch and Ione Skye are real-life brother and sister.
Released in United States 1992 (Shown at Montreal World Film Festival (out of competition) August 27 - September 7, 1992.)
Released in United States 1992 (Shown at Seattle International Film Festival May 15 - June 7, 1992.)
Released in United States 1992 (Won American Film Critics' Prize, Deauville Film Festival 1992.)
Released in United States January 1992 (Shown at Sundance Film Festival (in competition) in Park City, Utah, January 16-26, 1992.)
Released in United States February 1992 (Shown at Berlin Film Festival (in competition) February 13-24, 1992.)
Released in United States on Video March 31, 1993
Released in United States July 31, 1992 (Film Forum; New York City)
Released in United States Summer August 14, 1992
Released in United States September 1992 (Shown at Boston Film Festival September 14-24, 1992.)
Released in United States September 1992 (Shown at Deauville Film Festival September 4-13, 1992.)
Released in United States October 1991 (Shown at American Film Market (AFM) II in Santa Monica October 21-27, 1991.)
