No one can claim that Jane Fonda is starring in her feature directorial debut, but this is an honor that Katie Camosy shared with Gaslit. The documentary follows the iconic actor and activist on a road trip through the oil and gas fields of the southern United States, visiting communities most affected by air and water pollution caused by the refineries that have taken over these towns.
Ahead of the film’s screening at the Raindance Film Festival, Camosy told Variety that the initial seeds of inspiration for the film came through his 10 years of work with Greenpeace, a leading environmentally focused network. The director joined the organization in 2015 as a video producer and went on to collaborate on Fonda’s “Fire Drill Friday” series. In 2022, they traveled to Texas to learn about liquefied natural gas. As a result, Camosy believed there was a clear story to tell about what was happening in the region.
Gaslit was the first full-length film produced by Greenpeace USA, and the director praised Greenpeace USA for supporting the documentary, saying, “At the same time, we weren’t trying to dictate what it was or wasn’t.” “That freedom allowed us to showcase people from all political walks of life,” she added.
Mr. Camosy spoke about the benefits of having Greenpeace’s support for this film, highlighting the network’s wealth of archival footage and expertise. “Greenpeace spent a lot of time in Texas and Louisiana in the 1980s and 1990s, and you can see footage from that era in Gaslit,” she says. “There were many amazing moments of discovery. I remember when editor Laura Franco Velasco found archival footage of Mr. Herbert from Mossville, who we had already interviewed in modern times, and it showed him with the cow he said he had lost. This kind of footage proved to be invaluable.”
Regarding bringing Fonda on board, Camosy said the two had “always worked well together” but that their relationship developed on “Gas Lit.” “We spent countless hours in pre-production, thinking through research and shaping the story through the communities we visited. Jane did a lot of her own research and always came to meetings with new questions and ideas. Our collaboration continued on set and during editing. I could see how important it was to her that we told this story properly and stayed true to the people in the film.”
“It’s pretty wild to direct an icon like Jane Fonda in her feature debut, but Jane didn’t care,” the director added. “For her, it’s all about putting in the work and getting the best results. I can’t think of a better leader.”
Asked about the level of publicity a name like Fonda would bring to a film, Camosy said having someone of “Jane’s stature” in “Gas Lit” “means a lot more people are going to see it than otherwise.” “In fact, Jane acknowledges this at the beginning of the film, explaining that her celebrity has put her in the spotlight and that she uses it to shine a light on the people and issues in Gaslit.”
The film, which also features celebrities such as “Nashville” star Connie Britton and singer Maggie Rogers, was Fonda’s own idea. “They are friends of hers, and Connie’s involvement made sense given her background in filming the TV series ‘Friday Night Lights’ and movies in Texas,” Camosy added. “Connie loved Texas and was shocked by how it had changed over the years. Maggie also wanted to see the region for herself and meet people like Joe Banner of Wallace, Louisiana, who is fighting the oil and gas industry to protect his community.”
Camosy reiterated that “the story of climate change is a human story” and said we are at a moment “when most of us distrust a multibillion-dollar industry, especially when our health and livelihoods are at stake.” “Fossil fuels are inherently tied to war stories and new technologies, and we’re seeing many people fed up with data centers and volatile energy costs.”
Twenty years ago, Camosy spent several months in London filming the British capital’s underground music scene for what he hoped would be his first full-length documentary. How does she feel about being able to present her long-planned directorial debut in this city? “I’m very emotional,” she says. “I’ve learned a lot over the last 20 years, but in many ways I feel like the same filmmaker trying to document specific people at a specific time and in a specific place.”
