The Brown Bunny

The Brown Bunny is a film by actor/director Vincent Gallo that had its world premiere at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, where it played in competition. Critical reaction was so hostile that the film quickly became labeled the worst in the festival's history, and many journalists even questioned the entire festival's artistic direction in admitting it in the first place.

Plot

The film is a rambling odyssey about a motorcycle racer (played by Gallo) who undertakes a cross-country van drive in search of his former lover. The road scenes received especially heavy ridicule, consisting as they do of lengthy unbroken shots out the van's windshield, and one sequence in which Gallo parks the van and washes it, which plays in real time. Further ridicule was based on the fact that the film's cost was estimated at $10 million (it eventually grossed $356,734 in a limited U.S. release).

But the strongest outrage was reserved for the film's final scene, in which Gallo's character finally meets up with his ex-lover (Chloë Sevigny), and she performs unsimulated fellatio upon him.

Controversy

It is believed that the explicit final scene was the reason for Gallo's originally-cast actresses, first Kirsten Dunst and then Winona Ryder, to have been fired or walked out. Sevigny, already known for taking on controversial roles, had been a real-life girlfriend of Gallo's. Notably, after the film's release, the William Morris Agency dropped her as a client, claiming the scene made her unmarketable; she quickly signed with another agency and has continued her acting career despite fears to the contrary.

Cannes reception

The screening of the film at Cannes, where audiences openly let their displeasure be known with loud boos and catcalls, was a fiasco, reportedly bringing Sevigny to tears and prompting a humiliated Gallo to apologize for the film. Gallo added that the fact that several French critics were defending the film despite its unfinished state was "almost like salt in the wound."

At that time, many people predicted that this movie would never receive theatrical release in US.

Ebert spat and re-edit

Upon his return to America, however, Gallo took a defiant stance, defending the film and denying his apology. A war of words then erupted between Gallo and popular critic Roger Ebert, with Ebert writing that The Brown Bunny was the worst film in the history of Cannes, and Gallo retorting 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 "one day I will be thin, but Vincent Gallo will always be the director of The Brown Bunny." Gallo then claimed to have put a hex on Ebert's colon, cursing the critic with cancer. Roger Ebert then replied that enduring his colonoscopy would be more entertaining than watching The Brown Bunny.

A shorter, re-edited version of the film played later in 2003 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, Roger 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.

A shorter, re-edited version of the film also won an US theatrical distribution deal from Wellspring. The $10 million film only grossed $356,734 in a limited U.S. theatrical release. But the film still 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.

Billboard controversy

Brown Bunny also attracted media attention over a large billboard erected over Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, California in 2004 promoting the movie. The billboard featured a non-explicit image taken from the fellatio sequence, drawing complaints from residents and business owners. It was eventually removed. MSNBC. Controversial 'Bunny' billboard comes down.

Notes

External links

"Contrite Gallo apologises for pretension", The Guardian, May 23 2003.
"Playboy Bunny: Vincent Gallo proves he just wants to be loved", David Edelstein, Slate.com, 10 September 2004.
"The Brown Bunny", Charles Taylor, Salon.com, 17 September 2004.

2003 films | Mainstream films with explicit sex | Road movies | Films shot in Super 16 | The Brown Bunny