Vincent Gallo

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by Stuart Alson

IFQ: I noticed setting up this interview that you have no publicist.

Vincent Gallo: Uh-huh. I have no publicist, no agent, no manager, no lawyer, no assistant, no helper, no stylist, no intern, no maid, no gardener, nothing. Oh, I have a dentist. I had a shrink but he died 9 years ago, right when I needed him most. As for friends I have one. She’s a girl. I like her a whole lot though she is a passive aggressive, makes a lot of excuses, and plays dumb.

IFQ: Usually I have to go through difficult publicists when I want to interview someone. It was nice dealing directly with you. I was a bit afraid though as you are so notorious.

VG: It’s true I may be a lot of bad things. Certainly I’m ugly, vindictive, and very unforgiving. Unlikable. In fact I’m so ugly I’m beautiful, so uninteresting that I’m fascinating and the reason everybody in the whole world loves me is because no one likes me.

IFQ: I know you are from Buffalo. What was your childhood like there?

VG: In my family’s home, I always shared a bedroom. When I was very young it was me, my brother, my sister and my grandfather who had a wooden leg all sleeping in one bed. Later as an early teenager, my brother and I shared a room. We had our own beds. Somehow they were even smaller than a single bed. Sort of like the size of a bunk on a train. Still, it was my own bed. My mother who was unusually clean and neat controlled the decoration of my bedroom. That meant it was decorated the way a greaseball mother from Buffalo would decorate a room that no children were allowed in. I was not permitted to have any toys or my guitar out. My hi-fi gear and all my records had to be tucked away, all hidden and out of sight. Somehow, a bedroom that had signs of life in it bugged her. Instead she thought it should look like it was ready for someone to live there. But they never actually came. I hated the colors in there. And there was carpet on the floor, which was bad if you wanted to push around hot wheels or roll around marbles. And my brother was always there. By the time I was 13, I was already jerking off 6 or 7 times a day, which I could never do in my bedroom. So I spent a lot of time outdoors in back alleys and behind trees. I had a full time job then. 4 hours before school and 5 hours after school, 5 days a week and then my weekend job 10 hours on Saturday and 10 hours on Sunday pumping gas.

If I went shopping with my mother I would always try to talk her into buying clothes for herself that I liked. Usually something that a skinny mannequin was wearing. She never took my advice. This bedroom thing really bugged me. I hated the design and I felt sick in there. My mother’s a really nice person. Very sweet, kind, kindhearted, funny, very generous, a really nice lady. But she would steal a lot of things. I became very good at it too, eventually becoming the best thief Buffalo had to offer. One day she decided to paint our house by herself with me helping. My father doesn’t do those kinds of things. He has the hands of a 21-year-old. Preserved, as they’ve been suspended without touching, lifting, fixing or moving things. Other than fumbling through his OTB tickets or shoveling food in his mouth, his hands are never used.

Anyway, it would be me and my mom painting the exterior of the house. The exterior of our house was made up of this weird ridged siding, which was common at the time. And available to paint it was this strange type of spongy black brush. There was a hardware store in Buffalo called Hector’s Hardware. They kept a lot of the sale paints outside in front of the store, just outside the door. While my mother kept the owner Jack busy, my job was to load several gallons into the car. On the way to the hardware store we discussed the heist and the subject of the color came up. I wanted gray. My mother wanted green. I suggested other colors but she wanted green. I didn’t want green. At this period in the early 70’s gray would have been very modern, but she wanted green. I begged her explaining that I didn’t even get to decorate my own room and could I please choose the color of the house. She said no and told me to steal green. I stole nine gallons. That house would stay green for 15 more years.

IFQ: I looked you up online. Your website is shocking and funny as shit. Why do you think so many journalists have written nasty things about you regarding your website?

VG: I think the liberal mainstreamers in the press may be trying hard to eliminate antagonism and they may not have a sense of humor. In any case they seem to react harshly to things I say that they feel are offensive racially, religiously or regarding sexual preference. What is so odd to me is that if we are all equal and truly connected which I believe, then my remarks make no sense other than as humor. Yet my comments enrage so many who pantomime sensitivity in this regard. No hate group of any kind has ever reached out to me yet pet testing protesters, tree huggers, gay pride marchers and a few dark skins have threatened my life with hate like I have never known.

IFQ: In 2003 your film The Brown Bunny caused a ton of drama at Cannes. I was there at both your press screening and the premiere. So many harsh things were said about you during the festival. Is Cannes 2003 a bad memory?

VG: I feel no bitterness toward the festival and have some wonderful memories of my time in Cannes 2003. It is a beautiful city and is fun during the festival. The period I spent in Cannes representing The Brown Bunny was exciting, interesting and full of fun drama. I learned a lot and am grateful. Thinking back I was more upset when Buffalo 66 was announced as invited to Cannes in 1998 and then ultimately not invited or screened. I feel Cannes could have helped Buffalo 66 have a much better chance at a larger audience worldwide.

IFQ: I have interviewed Chloe Sevigny twice since the release of The Brown Bunny. Both times her publicist insisted I not ask her about the film.

VG: Chloe is not a very exciting person to hear speak so I am ok with not having her reflect on my film. As she is so self-serving, she probably chose to distance herself from the film since the Cannes pressure. Soon after Cannes she refused to do press with me and had the film removed from her bio. She must see something in distancing herself from me and my film that will bring her in favor with the mainstream.

IFQ: You and Roger Ebert had quite a rift over Ebert’s crude comments regarding The Brown Bunny. I was sitting next to him when he began singing out loud during the press screening for your film.

VG: Ebert, who is a great master of self promotion, did a wonderful job of using my film to promote himself and his show. Later on when the film surprisingly found a release, he was able to invent a dramatic re-cut rationale for salvaging the film. This way he could erase his “the worst film ever made” statement and play a new card. How easy it was for Ebert to use The Brown Bunny for fun and games when he thought it would disappear.

If I showed either the finished film or the Cannes print the same reaction would have happened as long as it was a film written directed and produced by Vincent Gallo in which Vincent Gallo was being blown. Had someone other than myself been credited as the director of The Brown Bunny, I feel the Cannes reaction along with Ebert’s may have been different. Had I directed the film but not appeared in it, I feel the reaction may have been different. Had I made myself publicly known as a homosexual, the reaction may have been different. Had a large American company presented The Brown Bunny in Cannes or had at least one judge been a friend or supporter of mine, the reaction may have been different.

IFQ: Are you coming to Cannes to support Erick Ifergan’s new film Johnny 316 in which you star?

VG: This time I won’t be attending. I’m not the director of the film. Erick Ifergan is. And I’m not the writer of the film. Erick Ifergan is. If I don’t attend there is a better chance that the film will come and go from Cannes without too much Vincent Gallo backlash and instead give Erick a chance to get a release.

IFQ: I was at the Majestic Hotel during Cannes 2003 and noticed Emir Kusterica walk by you and grunt a hello to which you made no reply. What was your experience like working with Emir during Arizona Dream?

VG: Emir is a primitive person.

IFQ: When are you going to make another film?

VG: I will start shooting in late summer. The film is called Stars. I have just cast the lead girl but I would rather not say more.

IFQ: I heard it was Asia Argento.

VG: Yuck. Fat chance. She’s not my type at all. I like nice, honest, talented people.

IFQ: What else are you up to?

VG: I am working on a musical project with Eric Erlandson formerly of the band Hole and Corey Lee Granet formerly of the band the Warlocks. Our band is called RRIICCEE.

IFQ: What kind of music is it?

VG: Please don’t ask that.

IFQ: Any chance at a Buffalo 66 Part Two?

VG: If I could get a hold of some of the lipo’d Christina Ricci fat I could clone it and recreate that sweet chubby girl, pick up at the bathtub scene where Christina begins by farting under water and my character Billy Brown has to hold his breath all the way back to the bowling alley.