10 Things You May Not Know About Vincent Gallo

Friday 1st April  sees the release of ESSENTIAL KILLING  the new indie  action thriler which sees Vincent Gallo play Mohammed a afghani rebel captured by the allies. Taken to a secret European detention centre and the van he’s in crashes and instead of a movie that highlights the moral and ideological implications of the “War on Terror” the movie becomes a issue of survival in strange land for mohammed.


I was able to catch the movie back at the Glasgow Film Festival and I didnt really appreciate the movie until I sat down and thought about the movie again. Really smart movie that doesnt fuss over what characters names are just the bare knuckled survival of  man played brilliantly by Gallo  a enigmatic wordless performance which won him best actor award at 2010 Venice Fim Festival.

The movie is out in UK on April 1st its directed by acclaimed Polish film director Jerzy Skolimowski (The Shout, Moonlighting).

Vincent Gallo is one of those highly underated actors who has that appeal you either love or loathe him. Possibly its what he been in, maybe his arthouse/independent movie choice  may not be appealing for some but below are 10 things about Vincent Gallo you may not know about, check them out….

10 Things You May Not Know About Vincent Gallo
Vincent Gallo is widely known for his work as an actor but as a young artist he poured the majority of his creativity and passions into music, working alongside graffiti artist Jean Michel Basquiat in Gray, a 1970’s experimental music project, and in rock band Bunny with Lukas Haas. Mr Gallo has been around the musical block.
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.

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.

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.


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).

As if professional motorcycling was not enough for Gallo in the 1980’s, he was also a break dancer and appeared in the first televised Hip-Hop film Graffiti Rock (1984).

Following a less than flattering review of The Brown Bunny, by popular 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! The Brown Bunny included an unsimulated sex scene featuring Gallo and co-star Chloe Sevigny.

Gallo produces art that is a social critique of celebrity, procreation, social agenda, and views of religion, race, and sexuality. Amongst the art he includes his own sperm and sexual fantasies as conceptual works which he advertises as merchandise on his website. On his website, Gallo also sells his services as an escort – $50k for the night or $100k for the weekend – females only.


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”.

In his latest role in polish director Jerzy Skolimowski’s Essential Killing, Gallo plays a Taliban soldier who escapes imprisonment and is forced to do anything to survive – including eating bark, ants and live fish – and that’s just the start. Essential Killing is released in UK cinemas from April 1.

Here’s The UK Trailer If You missed it: