Lupin4th Visions: Vincent Gallo

Vincent Gallo (born in Buffalo, New York on April 11, 1961) is an American film actor, director, producer, screenwriter, singer-songwriter, and painter. Although he has had minor 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.

Both of Vincent Gallo's parents emigrated from Sicily. After his father kicked him out of the house at the age of 16,[citation needed] Gallo began living in New York City and from there traveled around most of Europe. As a teenager, Gallo was frequently arrested for petty crimes and for indecent exposure, and has reminisced in print about his compulsive teenage masturbatory habits.[1] While living in New York, Gallo was a go-go dancer at various gay clubs and has also admitted to prostituting himself to gay clientele. [2] " I did do sexual things for money. With men, I've never performed or had fellatio performed, but I did do jerk-off things. I would go in a peep booth and watch straight porn and get paid 5 or 10 dollars to have somebody watch me masturbate."[3] Since 2004, Gallo is known to be suffering from prostatitis.[4] 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. Buffalo '66, which he 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."[5] 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)."[6] 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 debut film Buffalo '66 was nominated for, but did not win, an award for "Best First Feature" at the Independent Spirit Awards [7]. Gallo made this drama for $1.5 M, serving as writer, director, lead actor, and composer/performer of the soundtrack. The release of Buffalo '66 "...gained him a solid fan base[8]." Gallo proceeded to act in the crime drama Freeway 2: Confessions of a Trickbaby, the drama Stranded: Náufragos, the thriller Hide and Seek, and the romantic comedy Get Well Soon. Gallo appeared in another Claire Denis film, a bizarre erotic/horror movie called Trouble Every Day. In 2003, Gallo starred in and directed the film The Brown Bunny. The film, which chronicles a motorcycle racer's cross country road trip, co-starred Chloë Sevigny. The film, which contained graphic sexual content and received overwhelmingly negative critical response to its initial cut, became a media scandal, in part due to Gallo's use of a still image from a sex scene on a promotional billboard. According to Andrea LeVasseur of the Allmovie, The Brown Bunny "premiered to much derision at the Cannes Film Festival."[8] 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.[9] Gallo retorted by calling Ebert a "fat pig with the physique of a slave trader" and put a hex on Ebert, wishing him colon cancer.[9] 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."[10] Regarding Gallo's alleged hex, Ebert quipped "the video of my colonoscopy is more entertaining than your movie," a comment that Gallo later claimed to find funny. Ebert responded favorably to Gallo's second edit of The Brown Bunny which stripped 26 minutes from the runtime, and the pair reconciled amicably thereafter.[9] A shorter, re-edited version of the film played later in 2004 at the Toronto International Film Festival (although it 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 the television show Ebert & Roeper, Ebert gave the new version of the film a "thumbs up" rating. In a column published at about the same time, Ebert reported that he and Gallo had made peace. Sony Pictures Entertainment acquired multiterritory distribution rights for 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 has drawn strong comparisons to Gallo, but the shows creators state the character is based on director Rob Weiss.[citation needed] Others say it is a composite of several different people including Quentin Tarantino and David O. Russell.[citation needed] In addition to sharing physical similarities, the fictional Walsh is portrayed as a writer/director and editor with control issues over his work. On a recent season 4 episode, a possible reference to Gallo is made when Walsh tells the Ari Gold character (Jeremy Piven) "Good thing I paint" after being threatened that he will never be allowed to direct again. Like Gallo, Billy Walsh is said to have a strong acting background, this being referenced in the first episode in which Walsh appears on the show in season 1.[citation needed] "Billy" is also the name of Gallo's character in Buffalo '66. 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[11] At the age of 16, Gallo moved to New York City and was a later member of the 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.[12]. 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.[11] 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"[11] . 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 friends John Frusciante and PJ Harvey 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 [1] third album, "The Gates of Hell," produced by fellow indie filmmaker, Joel Potrykus [2]. Gallo's most recent musical project is the band RRIICCEE, with Hole co-founder Eric Erlandson, which plays only improvised music. Gallo says they have no plans to record an album.[citation needed] Gallo also appears in the following music videos by other artists: Grounded by My Vitriol (2001). Cosmopolitan Bloodloss by Glassjaw (2003). 99 Problems by Jay-Z (2004). Bitter by Lit. Also, video for the songs Going Inside by John Frusciante, and Anemone by L'Arc-en-Ciel were directed by Gallo.

Actor

Tetro (2009)

Oliverio Rising (2007)

Dirt (2007-TV)

Moscow Zero (2006)

The Brown Bunny (2003)

Stranded: Náufragos (2001)

Get Well Soon (2001)

Trouble Every Day (2001)

Hide and Seek (2000)

Freeway II: Confessions of a Trickbaby (1999)

Buffalo 66 (1998)