My first taste of Vincent Gallo came in Emir Kusturica’s Arizona Dream, where he ordered, all googly-eyed, “two beers, two shots” (surprisingly, obsessively quotable). He was intriguing then, and Buffalo ’66, his debut as a writer/director (plus leading man and composer and about a gazillion other things), cemented it: This guy’s got the goods. There’s also a good chance he’s certifiable.
Witness certain “antics,” as when he wished colon cancer on Roger Ebert (like lobbing a spitball at a national monument) or offered up his sperm on the Internet for a cool million. “Extremely dark complexions” need not apply, however; he even goes so far as to offer a $50,000 discount to any potential buyer who can prove she’s of natural blond-hair-and-blue-eyed Aryan stock.
His actions and words toe so close to ludicrous, one hopes that Vincent Gallo as we know him – wildly talented, largely objectionable – is also some kind of performance-art piece à la Andy Kaufman.
Mark Fagan didn’t get a definitive answer on that one when he talked recently with Gallo, but he did get a lot of really interesting material. We’ve posted the entire transcript of their nearly hourlong conversation (pee now – it’s a long ‘un). Check it out here.
This article appears in November 23 • 2007.
