The Brown Bunny

The Brown Bunny
Directed by	Vincent Gallo
Written by	Vincent Gallo
Produced by	Vincent Gallo
Starring	Vincent Gallo, Chloë Sevigny
Distributed by	Wellspring Media
Release dates	August 27, 2004
Running time	93 min.
Country	USA
Language	English
Budget	$10,000,000

The Brown Bunny is a film by actor/director Vincent Gallo that had its world premiere at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.

Plot

A motorcycle racer (played by Gallo) undertakes a cross-country drive in search of his former lover. On his way, he meets different women, but is unable to form an emotional connection with them. In the film's final scene, Gallo's character finally meets up with his ex-lover (Chloë Sevigny), and she performs unsimulated, explicit fellatio upon him. It transpires that his lover is actually dead, having been raped and then having died years previously; the fellatio scene is a hallucination.

Controversy

Kirsten Dunst and Winona Ryder were both attached to the project and left for unknown reasons, though Internet speculation has mostly involved the final scene. Sevigny, already known for taking on controversial roles, was Gallo's ex-girlfriend. After the film's release, the William Morris Agency dropped her as a client.

Sevigny said of the scene, "It wasn't that bad for me, I have been intimate with Vincent before" in an interview from The Guardian. [1]

Cannes reception

The screening of the film at Cannes was a fiasco; the audience openly booed and made catcalls, 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 film 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. Ebert then replied that enduring his colonoscopy would be more entertaining than watching The Brown Bunny. Gallo, afterward, stated that he had been misquoted and that the hex had actually been placed on Ebert's prostate.

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, 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 a 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.

According to Ryan Werner (who had worked for Wellspring), this movie ended up being profitable for everyone involved, including Wellspring and Gallo himself.

Billboard controversy

The 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 an explicit image taken from the fellatio sequence, drawing complaints from residents and business owners. It was eventually removed.

Soundtrack

The Brown Bunny (soundtrack)

External links

• The Brown Bunny at IMDb
• Template:Rogerebert
• "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.