Director Vincent Gallo HFP/Lagardere Photo Archive

THE DIRECTORS: THE BIG BUFFALO
Vincent Gallo

Cannes
Vincent Gallo, writer-actor-singer-director-composer and purveyor of "disease-free sperm" (Gallo once put his junk on sale online for $1 million), is no stranger to outrage and controversy. Following the success of his film directorial debut, Buffalo '66, Gallo did the bulk of the work on his next project, The Brown Bunny, a road-trip flick across the midwest and down memory lane in which motorcycle racer Bud Clay (played by Gallo) revisits his sexual past. Most audiences have forgotten Gallo's spat with critic Roger Ebert (who dubbed the film "the worst movie ever made"). All they remember now was Chloë Sevigny performing unquestionably the most memorable fellatio scene in big screen history.

The Sexessentials: The Brown Bunny

On whether or not a prosthetic replaced Gallo's penis in the oral sex scene:
Thank you for wondering whether it was real or not. You must have been impressed.

On The Brown Bunny:
When I said it's not autobiographical, what I meant was that this is not a display of Vincent Gallo's idea of sex, Vincent Gallo's idea of a relationship, etc. What makes a film personal is that there are points of view that I have personal feelings about. There are experiences that I've shared. There are conflicts that I understand. I build those into a whole character, into a whole narration. I hope the work transcends my reasons for making it. So, to sit up here and talk about my film as if I had intellectual control over it, as if I had complete objectivity and a complete sense of what it is I wanted to say, I think it would be dishonest and unrealistic. But, my best work, the best things that I'll ever do in my life will be far more interesting than me and my reasons for doing them.

On the sexual aspect of the film:
I was not interested in eroticism or pornography or anything like that. But, I had a long-time concept that what people do physically in their sexual behavior is extremely contrasting to what they think they're doing or how the impression is emotionally or in their thoughts. When you see the most basic performances or activities that people do sexually, I find it bizarre or odd when I look at it. I mean, if I look at it in eroticism or in displays that are meant to be exciting or titillating, it has one reference. But, when I see myself accidentally or I look down, and when I look at things, I find it quite unusual. I thought that in making a movie and including this graphic scene, when I wrote the script, I couldn't imagine this scene in any other way. I couldn't understand how I could separate the concept of watching what people do physically and understanding what they're going through emotionally. I didn't see a way to separate them. I wasn't motivated to separate them. I never thought about separating them. I'm not personally an exhibitionist. I don't like to be naked or looked at in any way. I don't photograph myself that way. I don't like the idea of men and women together, physically detached from intimacy.

Vincent Gallo and Chloë Sevigny in The Brown Bunny HFP/Lagardere Photo Archive

On his co-star Chloë Sevigny:
From the minute Chloë comes into the movie, from the minute I see her presence in the movie, I'm extremely moved by her character, by her performance and by the level of intimacy and privacy that we're able to get to in the context of the narrative that I wrote. She didn't ask to see a script. She was completely supportive all the time on the film and very fascinating as a performer. I was really engaged in the scenes with her. I was traumatized after we stopped working together because the character was so in love with her; I fell in love and was weeping for a long time.

On the title of the movie:
The most beautiful way that I see the world is when I see deer and bunny — when you see them on the golf course or in the backyard or in the forest or in the desert. When I see a deer or a bunny, I feel like that's a safe place, a very nice place to be, because they're very fragile. And, if they can live there, then it must be a safe place. Wherever they exist is where I want to be.

On writing the script:
I'm always serious when I'm being provocative. The truth is always there. I grew up in a family where no one really went to school. My parents do not read; there was no book. I never read a novel in my life. I read parts of The Godfather. I've read one Salinger piece. I've read from a few books here and there. Fiction, never read a script in my life. Never read Buffalo '66, clearly never read The Brown Bunny. I've acted in 35 movies, never read a script. But, I could listen for hours and hours and hours. The written word is very inefficient to me.

MORE SEX ON FILM...
The Virgin: Daniel Waters
The Old Hand: Brian De Palma
The Dirty Dutchman: Paul Verhoeven
The Crossover: John Cameron Mitchell
The Punk Rebel: Larry Clark
The Buttoned-Up Brit: Richard Eyre
The Sophisticate: David Cronenberg
The Motherfucker: Christophe Honoré
The Shocker: Gaspar Noé