2. As a young artist living in New York Gallo became known for impromptu street performances. He would invite a select few guests whilst the rest of the viewing public remained completely unaware of what was taking place. These performances included The One Armed Man, Boy Hit by a Car, and Boy Cries in a Restaurant.
3. As an invited guest, Eric Mitchell watched Gallo perform on the streets of New York. As a result he cast him as the lead in his feature film The Way It Is (1985), landing Gallo his first appearance in a feature length film. 4. Here’s a random one; Mr Gallo proudly claims to own over 5700 video tapes and over 15,000 albums, telling us something about the man’s passion for the artistry of music and film.
5. In the 1980’s, Gallo reached the Grand Prix of professional motorcycling but did not win the championship. He is also one of the actual motorcycle riders in his own film The Brown Bunny (2003).
6. As if professional motorcycling was not enough for Gallo, in the 1980s he was also a breakdancer and appeared in the first televised hip-hop film Graffiti Rock (1984).
7. Following a less than flattering review of The Brown Bunny by film critic Roger Ebert, in which he labelled it “the worst film in the history of Cannes”, Gallo retorted by calling Ebert a “fat pig with the physique of a slave trader” and proceeded to place a hex on the reviewer, wishing him colon cancer!
8. Gallo produces art that is a social critique of celebrity, procreation, social agenda, and views of religion, race, and sexuality. Amongst this art, he includes his own sperm and sexual fantasies as conceptual works, which he advertises as merchandise on his website.
9. Gallo is a strong supporter of the Republican Party and has been seen at a New York fashion show with George W. Bush’s daughters Barbara and Jenna. Interestingly, and in his own words, Gallo considers himself a “radical, but an extremely conservative radical”.
10. Vincent Gallo has no manager, agent, assistant or intern and makes his films without producers, and with extremely scaled down crews. He self distributes his movies and is directly involved in his films´ sales for distribution. He also creates his own trailers and posters.
*Release courtesy of Organic Marketing
Russell Cook
