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Vincent Gallo

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Vincent Gallo
Gallo in portrait.

Vincent Gallo (born in Buffalo, New York on April 11, 1961[1]) is an American movie actor and director, producer, screenwriter, and musician. Although he has had small roles in mainstream films such as Goodfellas, he is most associated with independent movies. Buffalo '66, which he wrote, directed, and starred in, is considered his most notable film. In the 1980s, Gallo worked as a figurative painter in New York City, performed in a rap duo and played in a band called Bohack. In the late 1990s, Gallo played in a rock band called Bunny, and in the early 2000s, he released several recordings.

Biography

Both of Vincent Gallo's parents had emigrated from Sicily. His belief is that "the only real Italians are from Buffalo" and that he has little in common with "those monkeys" who live in Sicily.[citation needed] After his father kicked him out of the house at the age of 16, Gallo began living in New York City, and from there traveling around most of Europe. He returned to New York under the name 'Prince Vince', his rapping alter ego.

Gallo has modeled, most notably for Calvin Klein, and been photographed by Richard Avedon. He first began painting, then racing motorcycles, and finally became an actor. He has directed two films, Buffalo '66 and The Brown Bunny. The latter was controversial as it contained a scene in which actress Chloë Sevigny performed oral sex on him and swallowed his semen. Buffalo '66, which he co-wrote, directed, and starred in, is considered his most notable work. Gallo is known for his outspoken views and claims, once stating: "I stopped painting in 1990 at the peak of my success just to deny people my beautiful paintings; and I did it out of spite."[2]

Films

During Gallo's artistic period in the 1980s, when he worked as a musician and painter in New York City, he also began experimenting with film. He made the short film "If You Feel Froggy, Jump" and appeared in a film called the "New York Beat Movie" (1981) with painter Jean Michel Basquiat. In 1984, Gallo acted in "The Way It Is" (1984), which included actors Steve Buscemi and Rockets Redglare. After starring in the obscure 1989 film Doc's Kingdom, he began acting in small parts in more well-known films such as Goodfellas, The House of the Spirits, and The Perez Family. French director Claire Denis hired Gallo to act in several films such as the "short film Keep It for Yourself, the made-for-TV U.S. Go Home, and its follow-up feature Nénette et Boni (1996)."[3]

Gallo acted in the film Arizona Dream, with Johnny Depp, in the cult comedy Palookaville, and in The Funeral, and had a lead role in the film Truth or Consequences, N.M. . In 1998, his film Buffalo '66 was nominated for, but did not win, an award for "Best First Feature" at the Independent Spirit Awards[4]. Gallo made this comedy drama film for $1.5 M and did most of the creative tasks (writing, directing, lead acting role, music) himself. The release of Buffalo '66 "...gained him a solid fan base[5]." Gallo's next films were the crime drama Freeway 2: Confessions of a Trickbaby, a drama entitled Stranded: Náufragos, a thriller called Hide and Seek, and a romantic comedy called Get Well Soon. Gallo acted in another Claire Denis film, a bizarre erotic/horror movie called Trouble Every Day.

In 2003, Gallo repeated the multiple creative roles he played in Buffalo '66 by acting in and directing the film The Brown Bunny. The film about a motorcycle racer's road trip across the US, co-starred Chloë Sevigny. Due to its graphic sexual content, and to Gallo's use of a still from one of the controversial sex scenes in a billboard advertisement, it became a media scandal, which provided the film with a great deal of free publicity. According to Andrea LeVasseur of the All Movie Guide, The Brown Bunny "premiered to much derision at the Cannes Film Festival."[6]

A war of words erupted between Gallo and popular film critic Roger Ebert in 2003 regarding Ebert's statement that The Brown Bunny was the worst film in the history of Cannes. Gallo retorted by calling Ebert a "fat pig with the physique of a slave trader." Ebert then responded, paraphrasing a statement once made by Winston Churchill that "although I am fat, one day I will be thin, but Mr. Gallo will still have been the director of The Brown Bunny."

A shorter, re-edited version of the film played later in 2004 at the Toronto International Film Festival (although it still retained the controversial sex scene). While not receiving the highest praise, neither did it garner the same level of derision as the Cannes version, and on the August 28, 2004 episode of Ebert & Roeper, Ebert gave the new version of the film a thumbs-up. In a column published at about the same time, Ebert reported that he and Gallo had made peace. Ironically, the outrage and hysteria surrounding The Brown Bunny meant it ended up being the most talked-about film of the festival. The $10 million film had the second highest per-screen average at the box office the weekend it opened, beaten only by an IMAX movie [4]. The film won approval from Sony Pictures Entertainment, which acquired multiterritory distribution rights of the film in February 2005. Sony Pictures Entertainment also released the film on DVD in North America in August 2005.

The character of fictional writer/director Billy Walsh on HBO's Entourage, originally believed to be based on series writer Rob Weiss, has drawn strong comparisons to Gallo.[citation needed] In addition to current physical similarities, the fictional Walsh has been developed as a writer/director and editor with control issues for his work. On a recent season 4 episode a possible reference to Gallo is made as Walsh tells the Ari Gold character (Jeremy Piven) "Good thing I paint" after being threatened to never direct again. Like Gallo, Billy Walsh has said to have a strong acting background, stating this in the first episode Walsh ever appeared in in season 1 of the show.

Music

Gallo played electric bass and sang in the mid-1970s in several adolescent garage bands such as Blue Mood, a progressive rock cover band named Zephyr (not the late 1960s band) which did one performance in New York State, and the Plastics[7] At the age of 16, Gallo moved to New York City and formed a band, Gray, with visual artist Jean Michel Basquiat (who was not yet famous). Gray played at clubs such as Max's Kansas City, CBGB's, Hurrahs, and the Mudd Club. A few of Gray's recordings appear on the soundtrack for the film Downtown 81.[8]. In the early 1980s, Gallo performed solo as the Nonsexuals, rapped in a duo called Trouble Deuce under the name Prince Vince (along with Nick Nice, who went under the name DJ High Priest).

Gallo played in a band called Bohack which recorded an album entitled It Took Several Wives.[9] When Bohack disbanded, Gallo turned his attention to acting, directing, and composing in films. He wrote songs for the soundtrack of the 1998 film Buffalo 66. He played in a rock band with Lukas Haas called Bunny, and Gallo put out his own CD under Warp Records, titled "When"[10] . Bunny did a Japanese tour and recorded an album for Sony with producer Eddie Offord. In Japan, for his 2001 When tour, Josh Klinghoffer and Carla Azar of Autolux supported him as his tour band.

In 2002 he released "Recordings of Music for a Film", which is a remastered version of his older music. He also did shows with Jim O'Rourke playing on bass. Gallo has also performed shows with Sean Lennon, whom he collaborated with on an album they completed in 2004, that has yet to be released. Nikolai Haas, Lukas Haas's younger brother, was a drummer for a few of Gallo's shows. Gallo also curated one weekend of the UK music festival All Tomorrow's Parties in April 2005. His friend John Frusciante appeared on the bill. Gallo selected Yoko Ono as a headline act, and also performed with her and her son Sean Lennon at this event.

In 2006 he contributed beatboxing on Zoozersadd's [5] third album, "The Gates of Hell," produced by fellow indie filmmaker, Joel Potrykus [6].

Website

In early 2005, Gallo made a posting on his merchandise website offering his "disease-free" sperm for $1 million. However he added that he "maintains the right to refuse sale of his sperm to those of extremely dark complexions. Though a fan of Franco Harris, Derek Jeter, Lenny Kravitz and Lena Horne, Mr. Gallo does not want to be part of that type of integration."[11]

He also offered a $50,000 discount to any woman "who can prove she has naturally blonde hair and blue eyes" and "anyone who can prove a direct family link to any of the German soldiers of the mid-century".[11] Gallo also expressed his desire to impregnate a Jewish woman, because "this connection to the Jewish faith would guarantee his offspring a better chance at good reviews and maybe even a prize at the Sundance Film Festival or an Oscar."[11] In early 2006, Gallo made another website posting offering his services as an "evening or weekend escort" and was open to any woman who would pay his fee of $50,000 for one night or $100,000 for a weekend.

Political ideology

Gallo's true political ideology is difficult to ascertain. He claims to be a supporter of the Republican Party, and has been seen at a New York fashion show with George W. Bush's daughters Barbara and Jenna[12] and also claims that his fantasy is "becoming more like the stereotype of the Republican Party"[13] He also wishes to look "more like [American conservative journalist] George Will."[14] However, his style is often deliberately controversial and tongue-in-cheek, which makes it difficult to decide whether the political beliefs he espouses are really his own. In his own words Gallo "considered himself a radical, always, but an extremely conservative radical".[15]

Selected filmography

Actor

Writer/Director

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

  1. ^ IMDB Biography
  2. ^ http://www.galloappreciation.com/print/flux.html
  3. ^ http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/filmography.html?p_id=90927
  4. ^ http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/filmography.html?p_id=90927&mod=awards
  5. ^ http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/filmography.html?p_id=90927&mod=bio
  6. ^ http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/filmography.html?p_id=90927&mod=bio
  7. ^ http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:3bfwxqlkldse~T1.
  8. ^ http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:acfoxql0ldje.
  9. ^ http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:3bfwxqlkldse~T1.
  10. ^ http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:3bfwxqlkldse~T1.
  11. ^ a b c Miscellaneous Merchandise
  12. ^ Party Girls
  13. ^ [1]
  14. ^ [2]
  15. ^ [3]
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