The Vintagent Selects: The Brown Bunny

THE BROWN BUNNY (2003)

Run Time: 1:33:00
A Film By: Vincent Gallo
Key Cast: Vincent Gallo, Chloë Sevigny, Cheryl Tiegs

FILM MAKERS

The Brown Bunny is a 2003 independent erotic romantic road drama film written, directed, produced, photographed, and edited by Vincent Gallo. Starring Gallo and Chloë Sevigny, it tells the story of a motorcycle racer on a cross-country drive who is haunted by memories of his former lover. It was photographed with handheld 16 mm cameras in various locations throughout the United States, including New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Ohio, Missouri, Utah, Nevada, and California.

Following a world premiere at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, the film garnered a great deal of media attention because of an explicit scene where Sevigny performs un-simulated fellatio on Gallo.

Roger Ebert called the film “the worst in the history of Cannes.” He posted on his website “The audience was loud and scornful in its dislike for the movie; hundreds walked out, and many of those who remained only stayed because they wanted to boo.” Vincent Gallo responded that Ebert was a “fat pig with the physique of a slave trader.” Ebert paraphrased a remark of Sir Winston Churchill and responded 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, to which Ebert responded that “even my colonoscopy was more entertaining than his film.”

It should be noted that the version screened at Cannes was much longer than the final version. Ebert later gave a re-edited version his signature “thumbs up”, awarding the film three out of four stars.