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Vincent Gallo (born in Buffalo, New York on April 11, 1962) is an American movie actor and director starring in a number of independent movies. Gallo is also a recognized painter, male fashion model, alternative musician, motorcycle racer and breakdancer.

Gallo is known for his outspoken and highly-quotable views and claims, once saying "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."

Biography

Vincent Gallo, a man of many talents, was born in Buffalo, New York. He is a middle child, who was born in April 1962. Both his parents had emigrated from Sicily. He has said that "only real Italians are from Buffalo."

He has been in many bands, The Plastics, Pork, Bohack, Gray - in which Jean Michel Basquiat was one of his band members, and good friend. A bohemian dresser, he is also good friends with producer Rick Rubin, John Frusciante, and Johnny Ramone, among others. His father however, kicked him out at the young age of 16, he began living in New York City, and from there traveling around most of Europe, only to find himself back in the wild scene of New York, co-founding under the name, Prince Vince. He first began painting, then racing motorcycles, and finally became an actor. His most notable work is Buffalo '66 (1998), a sort of biographical movie he wrote himself, and the score, and of course, directed it. He's been in a band with Lukas Haas, called Bunny. Even though they are no longer together, he put out his own CD under Warp simply titled "When".

He's modeled also, most notable was for Calvin Klein. He was going to be in a movie about Charles Manson, playing the man himself, but clashed with the people behind it, something he is notorious for doing. A man who hates many, Vincent Gallo has an underground cult. He recently released "Recordings of Music for a Film", which is some of his older music work remastered. A lover of the finer things in life, he adores women, but can't seem to find the one he's looking for, and he will ever be known as the man of many talents.

Modeling, music and film

Vincent Gallo has modelled for Calvin Klein, been photographed by Richard Avedon, and was in a rock band with Lukas Haas.

He has directed two films, Buffalo 66 and The Brown Bunny. The latter was controversial as it contained a scene in which actress Chloë Sevigny performs actual fellatio on Gallo.

Music
Gallo formed his first musical group in 1971 at age 9. This band was called The Blue Mood. He played bass guitar in this band and sang. From that time forward he has been involved with numerous music groups that have embraced a number of musical styles. To date, he has released five albums, plus several singles.

Feud with Roger Ebert

A war of words erupted between Gallo and popular critic Roger Ebert in 2003 regarding the latter's negative criticism of The Brown Bunny at the Cannes Film Festival. Ebert wrote that The Brown Bunny was the worst film in the history of Cannes, and Gallo retorted 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 "although I am fat, one day I will be thin, but Mr. Gallo will still have been the director of The Brown Bunny." Gallo then 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. Later on, Gallo told Ebert that he had been misquoted, and he had actually wished him cancer of the prostate and not the colon.

A shorter, re-edited version of the film played later in 2004 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, 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.

Ironically, the outrage and hysteria surrounding The Brown Bunny meant it ended up being the most talked-about film of the festival—even more so than the eventual Palme d'Or winner, Gus Van Sant's Elephant, and Lars von Trier's highly anticipated Dogville—creating a mystique that some thought might enhance its likelihood of securing major U.S. distribution. This did not happen, however, and the $10 million film was a box office turkey, grossing less than $400,000 U.S. The film was not given wide release in North America, and was issued on DVD there in August 2005.

Website merchandise

Sperm

In early 2005, Gallo made a posting on his merchandise website offering his "disease-free" sperm for $1 million. Gallo, however, refused to sell it to anyone of "extremely dark complexion" and said "though a fan of Franco Harris, Derek Jeter, Lenny Kravitz and Lena Horne, Mr. Gallo does not want to be part of that type of integration." However, he offered discounts to blonde-haired, blue-eyed women or women with genealogical ties to "German soldiers of the mid-century." He mentions the potential size of the offspring's genitals if it is a boy, saying "8 inches if he's like his father."

He was also open to Jewish women because he thought if his offspring became an actor, "this connection to the Jewish faith would guarantee his offspring a better chance at good reviews and maybe even a prize at the Sundance Film Festival or an Oscar".

If fertilization was unsuccessful, Gallo said the purchaser had to pay for any additional attempts, but said he would "supply sperm for as many attempts as it takes to complete a successful fertilization and successful delivery."

In addition, Gallo said he would impregnate through intercourse for an additional $500,000, but would waive the fee for anyone that he found attractive. Purchasers were not allowed to use his surname for their child.

Escort

In early 2006, Gallo made another website posting offering his services as an "evening or weekend escort" and was open to any woman ("even black chicks") who would pay his fee of $50,000 for one night or $100,000 for a weekend, plus expenses, a "security fee" to be determined by the "details of an encounter and how much security I will need," and a $50,000-per-day fee if flight travel was needed. He required STD scanning, bathing, and grooming for all women - "Detailed photos of potential clients also required prior." He also advised his clients to watch The Brown Bunny "to be sure for themselves that they can fully accommodate all of me. Clients who have doubt may want to test themselves with an unusually thick and large prosthetic prior to meeting me. You may be surprised just how much you can handle and how good it feels."

Trivia

Gallo is a registered Republican.

He owns an old-fashioned style recording studio full of rare out of date equipment. He also records his albums to tape.

He has been romantically linked to Chan Marshall, Chloë Sevigny, and Paris Hilton.

Selected filmography

Actor

Writer/Director

Discography

Albums

Singles

External links

Websites

References

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1962 births | Alternative musicians | American alternative musicians | American film actors | American film directors | American male models | Italian American actors | Living people | People from Buffalo, New York | English-language film directors | Film actors

Vincent Gallo | Vincent Gallo | Vincent Gallo | ヴィンセント・ギャロ | Vincent Gallo | Vincent Gallo | Vincent Gallo

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Vincent Gallo".

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