You Have All Been So Good, So Here Is An Extra Heaping Helping Of Vincent Gallo!

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August 22, 2004
Interview by DEBORAH SOLOMON

Q Your new film, ''The Brown Bunny,'' which you directed,
wrote and starred in, is basically an art-house road movie
that ends with a singularly raw and controversial sex scene
between you and Chloe Sevigny. Why did you choose to end
the film that way?

It wasn't like the choice of the mustache on Robert Redford
in ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'' -- should he wear
it or not?

But you took this scene and blew it up on a billboard on
Sunset Boulevard.

I made the billboard so that the film would appear to be a
substantial event. One day the billboard is up, and five
days later it's down. There is no reason and no return
calls from the company. I'm so angry about it.

Who paid for the billboard?

I did. It cost $37,773. That
is more money than I made from ''Buffalo '66'' and ''The
Brown Bunny'' put together.

So where do you get your money from?

>From my luck in
purchasing things that turned out to be valuable in
retrospect -- houses and land. I scrimp and scrounge, and I
scrimp and scrounge.

But don't you live in that stylish new Richard Meier
building by the West Side Highway in New York?

I own the place, but I don't live there. The problem I'm
having is finding an emotional way to move out of my
300-square-foot apartment on Elizabeth Street that I've
been in since I was 16. I've spent more time resurfacing,
rearranging, cleaning and redecorating it than all the
other work I've done in the world put together.

I think of you as a poet of loneliness, somewhat in the
tradition of Edward Hopper. What do you think of his work?

When I was first exposed to Hopper, I was 16 years old. I
got it. I understood it. But his work was not what I was
looking at. To me, at that time, he didn't seem like a
radical artist. But I'm a fan now.

Do you find America lonelier than Europe?

I find Europe
the loneliest place in the world. To leave the cities in
Europe and move toward the suburbs or the countryside is
the most dark, dank, sad, drunken, cheese-riddled,
depressing thing in the world.

Why aren't you married?

Intimacy always creates an urge in me that I am missing out
on something.

You are. You are missing out on isolation. Do you cultivate
isolation for your art?

I don't think in terms of art. I think in terms of getting
things done, fixed, cleaned, finished, arranged. I am more
of a custodian.

You were fairly accomplished as a figurative painter in New
York when you decided to give it up.

I felt I was doing work without purpose.

What purpose
does film have?

It has a general purpose. Entertainment. I like to
entertain, even though it is me, myself and I who I am
entertaining. When I was doing artwork, I was not
entertaining myself.

I know you are fond of our president.

I relate to him in
that he has become easily unlikable. In a perfect world,
John Kerry would own a restaurant in Connecticut.

And Teresa?

It just makes you wonder how the money ends
up in certain places.

Have you met Bush?

I've met his daughter, Barbara. Zac Posen, the designer,
invited me to his show and said he would seat me next to
the Bush girl because I'm a Republican.

Why are you a Republican?

If we were going to see a show
of Dennis Hopper's photographs, do you think Richard Nixon
or Bill Clinton would be more sensitive to the work? I see
Nixon as an intellectual. I consider Bill Clinton a
huckster.

There are so few right-wing actors like yourself, now that
the generation of John Wayne has died off.

I agree with you. It is not an interesting group. But I
would rather have dinner with Newt or Dick Armey than with
Bruce Springsteen.

Perhaps you can speak at the Republican convention.

I
would like to. They haven't invited me yet.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/22/magazine/22QUESTIONS.html?ex=1094206820&ei=1&en=7e1c6be1bf8fb216

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 22 August 2004 19:39 (twenty-one years ago)

It just makes you wonder how the money ends
up in certain places.

Yes, yes indeed.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 22 August 2004 19:43 (twenty-one years ago)

"I find Europe
the loneliest place in the world. To leave the cities in
Europe and move toward the suburbs or the countryside is
the most dark, dank, sad, drunken, cheese-riddled,
depressing thing in the world."

"cheese-riddled" wins some sort of prize.

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 22 August 2004 19:46 (twenty-one years ago)

even though I am a Kerry supporter and will vote for him, this quote:

In a perfect world, John Kerry would own a restaurant in Connecticut.

had me howling hysterically when I read it.

― hstencil (hstencil), Sunday, 22 August 2004 19:46 (twenty-one years ago)

And maybe it would be a good restaurant.

Actually, wait a minute, he'd rather have dinner with Newt? Does he think it's 1995?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 22 August 2004 19:46 (twenty-one years ago)

I wouldn't mind having dinner with Newt except I'm afraid he'd start eating off my plate!

― hstencil (hstencil), Sunday, 22 August 2004 19:48 (twenty-one years ago)

he's just angry because he's about 5'2".

― lauren (laurenp), Sunday, 22 August 2004 19:53 (twenty-one years ago)

actually, "what year is it?" would have been a good question to ask him.

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 22 August 2004 19:55 (twenty-one years ago)

his opinions seem pretty misinformed

If we were going to see a show
of Dennis Hopper's photographs, do you think Richard Nixon
or Bill Clinton would be more sensitive to the work?

Hopper's a Kerry supporter. Nixon surely would have regarded him as a freak.

In a perfect world, John Kerry would own a restaurant in Connecticut.

Kerry has never owned a restaurant in CT. But he did start a cookie business that could have become like David's Cookies if he hadn't had more important things to do.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Sunday, 22 August 2004 19:56 (twenty-one years ago)

uh, gabbneb, did you see the first four words of the quote?

― hstencil (hstencil), Sunday, 22 August 2004 20:01 (twenty-one years ago)

That Hopper/Nixon/Clinton thing is just fucked up as a political philosophy.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Sunday, 22 August 2004 20:10 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd pay good money to see Barbara Bush blow him at the end of Brown Bunny, though.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Sunday, 22 August 2004 20:10 (twenty-one years ago)

hoppers?

― RJG (RJG), Sunday, 22 August 2004 20:12 (twenty-one years ago)

thank you, milo, for that disturbing image.

― hstencil (hstencil), Sunday, 22 August 2004 20:15 (twenty-one years ago)

No prob.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Sunday, 22 August 2004 20:16 (twenty-one years ago)

shall I send the therapist's bill to your home address?

― hstencil (hstencil), Sunday, 22 August 2004 20:17 (twenty-one years ago)

It would be worth it for that sweet sweet footage.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Sunday, 22 August 2004 20:20 (twenty-one years ago)

uh, gabbneb, did you see the first four words of the quote?

yeah, and I have no idea what it's supposed to mean. I understood it as some imagined more authentic expression of Kerry's personality, when he's already expressed it in a similar arena - but notably differently - in the real world.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Sunday, 22 August 2004 20:22 (twenty-one years ago)

must you always be a literalist, gabbneb?

― hstencil (hstencil), Sunday, 22 August 2004 20:23 (twenty-one years ago)

well, yes, but I don't think literalism has anything to do with it. is the perfect world supposed to be a punitive one for Kerry? excuse me for liking him.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Sunday, 22 August 2004 20:26 (twenty-one years ago)

oh gabbneb please re: "even though I am a Kerry supporter and will vote for him."

― hstencil (hstencil), Sunday, 22 August 2004 20:27 (twenty-one years ago)

forget a perfect world, if in this world we cannot poke fun at our political figures, even ones we may admire (tho Gallo doesn't), I don't wanna live.

― hstencil (hstencil), Sunday, 22 August 2004 20:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Nixon would have blown his top, fuming so hard about the photographic evidence of the degradation of "his" America. Clinton would invite Hopper to show them pictures at his library opening.

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Sunday, 22 August 2004 20:29 (twenty-one years ago)

http://graphics7.nytimes.com/images/2004/08/22/arts/zene.184.468.jpg

― hstencil (hstencil), Sunday, 22 August 2004 20:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Heh, it sounds like Gallo has more in common with Clinton than he thinks!

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Sunday, 22 August 2004 20:30 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd like to imagine Gallo meant "Edward Hopper's paintings" and that Nixon would connect with the loneliness or something.

'Cuz Dennis Hopper's behind-the-scenes celeb photos are pretty boring anyway. Anything to name-drop for Gallo, I suppose.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Sunday, 22 August 2004 20:31 (twenty-one years ago)

does dennis hopper really support kerry? i thought he was a big republican now.

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 22 August 2004 20:33 (twenty-one years ago)

A lot of Dennis Hopper's photographs from the 1960s and 1970s of LA and other various western scenes are pretty good.

― hstencil (hstencil), Sunday, 22 August 2004 20:35 (twenty-one years ago)

He put up a fucking billboard that cost more than the profits of his last two films put together?

Well, as long as he's not making another film with the money...

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Sunday, 22 August 2004 20:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Mike, I kiss you!

― Ricardo (RickyT), Sunday, 22 August 2004 20:38 (twenty-one years ago)

I've said it before, but I like ol' Vinny Gallo more every day

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Sunday, 22 August 2004 20:47 (twenty-one years ago)

oh gabbneb please re: "even though I am a Kerry supporter and will vote for him."

I still don't understand what you're saying. I was replying to Gallo, not you. I don't have a problem with poking fun of people for things worth poking fun of them for - kerry on a harley, for instance (even though he does ride a bike) - but this particular making-fun is totally incoherent to me until someone explains it better. Also, sorry for taking politicians seriously

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Sunday, 22 August 2004 20:53 (twenty-one years ago)

I've said it before, but I like ol' Vinny Gallo more every day

Me too, since he's not making another motion picture.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Sunday, 22 August 2004 20:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Actually I hope they DO suddenly invite him to speak at the convention and that he talks about the film in detail.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 22 August 2004 21:03 (twenty-one years ago)

It means he wishes that John Kerry were a nobody baking cooking instead of a famous and powerful politician. How is it incoherent?

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Sunday, 22 August 2004 21:04 (twenty-one years ago)

I guess I don't consider restaurant owners 'nobodies'. Why Connecticut?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Sunday, 22 August 2004 21:10 (twenty-one years ago)

I have no idea. The only person I've met who owned a restaurant in Connecticut was Bobby Valentine. Maybe Gallo's holding a grudge about the last Mets season with Bobby V.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Sunday, 22 August 2004 21:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Gallo's from there and I don't think he likes it much

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Sunday, 22 August 2004 21:18 (twenty-one years ago)

no wait, maybe he isn't

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Sunday, 22 August 2004 21:19 (twenty-one years ago)

chloe is!

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 22 August 2004 21:19 (twenty-one years ago)

he's from buffalo i think. actually my favorite gallo moment is his interview on some espn special about the Bills and their losing ways. he was pretty eloquent about it.

― ryan (ryan), Sunday, 22 August 2004 21:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Vincent is from Buffalo. To insult Connecticut as a New Yorker is to insult everything that is bland (even New Jersey has character). Neverfuckingmind.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 23 August 2004 02:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah - you gotta live here to get it. I've known some very cool and down to earth Conneticut natives - but generally, there's a very reasonable stigma.

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Monday, 23 August 2004 02:34 (twenty-one years ago)

CT = joe lieberman, moby, and insurance companies

NJ = jim mcgreevey, tony soprano, and petrochemicals.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Monday, 23 August 2004 02:51 (twenty-one years ago)

"I scrimp and scrounge, and I scrimp and scrounge."

― Al (sitcom), Monday, 23 August 2004 02:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Your new film, ''The Brown Bunny,'' which you directed,
wrote and starred in, is basically an art-house road movie
that ends with a singularly raw and controversial sex scene
between you and Chloe Sevigny. Why did you choose to end
the film that way?

Um, cuz I'd want the world to watch me have singularly raw and controversial sex with Chloe Sevigny?

― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 23 August 2004 02:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Aw, come on CeCe - it's not like choosing someone's moustache. Or something.

― Kevin Gilchrist (Mr Fusion), Monday, 23 August 2004 03:00 (twenty-one years ago)

actually, what kind of singularly raw and controversial sex were they having? some involve choosing one's moustache.

― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 23 August 2004 03:04 (twenty-one years ago)

um, uh, well I could make a bad joke.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 23 August 2004 03:04 (twenty-one years ago)

I thought I just did.

― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 23 August 2004 03:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Go ahead, hstencil! (As long as it's not about me)

― Kevin Gilchrist (Mr Fusion), Monday, 23 August 2004 03:06 (twenty-one years ago)

mine was about, uh, nevermind.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 23 August 2004 03:06 (twenty-one years ago)

out of curiosty, have any of you seen "the brown bunny"?

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Monday, 23 August 2004 03:22 (twenty-one years ago)

I kinda want to!

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 23 August 2004 03:24 (twenty-one years ago)

ditto

― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 23 August 2004 03:26 (twenty-one years ago)

not for that.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 23 August 2004 03:35 (twenty-one years ago)

hey, i'm from connecticut! but i was born in new york, and so was everyone in my family, so maybe i'm a ringer.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 23 August 2004 03:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Nutmeg State.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 23 August 2004 03:39 (twenty-one years ago)

that's just a plus. I'd want to see it even if it didn't have that. I didn't know it had that until this thread.

(x-post)

― CeCe Peniston (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 23 August 2004 03:39 (twenty-one years ago)

At this point, I'd really like to see it, just to see what the big deal is.

― Layna Andersen (Layna Andersen), Monday, 23 August 2004 03:42 (twenty-one years ago)

me too but I don't want to pay.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 23 August 2004 03:45 (twenty-one years ago)

His description of Europe strikes me as amazingly apt. I've definitely felt that before...

― Andrew (enneff), Monday, 23 August 2004 04:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Europe is pretty big - maybe everyone feelslike that away from home.

― Kevin Gilchrist (Mr Fusion), Monday, 23 August 2004 04:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Scott - was Dan born there too?

WEIRD. NEITHER of you are anything resembling what I think of when I think of Conneticut.

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Monday, 23 August 2004 04:04 (twenty-one years ago)

some friends in france saw it. one said it was "sexist." the other said it was "bazinian." they both liked it.

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Monday, 23 August 2004 04:24 (twenty-one years ago)

"Hell Is An Extra Heaping Helping Of Vincent Gallo"

― Dan I., Monday, 23 August 2004 04:29 (twenty-one years ago)

just ask Chloe.

er.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 23 August 2004 04:30 (twenty-one years ago)

haha bazinian!!!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 23 August 2004 04:33 (twenty-one years ago)

I can't stop laughing about "I scrimp and scrounge and I scrimp and scrounge."

― roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Monday, 23 August 2004 04:39 (twenty-one years ago)

"Le Réalisme cinématographique et le blow-job de Gallo"

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Monday, 23 August 2004 04:49 (twenty-one years ago)

four years pass...

― velko, Monday, 27 April 2009 09:31 (sixteen years ago)

I'm surprised no one bit 'poet of loneliness'

― invitation to rabies (╓abies), Monday, 27 April 2009 10:26 (sixteen years ago)

I'm actually really looking forward to Tetro!

― Gerard (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 27 April 2009 10:44 (sixteen years ago)

seven months pass...

http://7.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kukpue7CIi1qz6f9yo1_500.gif

― velko, Sunday, 20 December 2009 04:57 (sixteen years ago)

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