During Gallo 's artistic period in the 1980s , when he worked as a musician and painter in New York City , he also began experimenting with film . He made the short film " If You Feel Froggy , Jump " and appeared in the 1981 film '' Downtown 81 '' with painter Jean-Michel Basquiat . In 1984 , Gallo acted in '' The Way It Is '' ( 1985 ) by Eric Mitchell , which included actors Steve Buscemi and Rockets Redglare . After starring in the obscure 1989 film '' Doc 's Kingdom '' , he began acting in small parts in more well-known films such as '' Goodfellas '' , '' The House of the Spirits '' , and '' The Perez Family '' . French director Claire Denis hired Gallo to act in several films such as the short film '' Keep It for Yourself '' , the made-for-TV '' U.S. Go Home '' , and its follow-up feature '' Nénette et Boni '' ( 1996 ) . " In 1998 , his directorial debut film '' Buffalo ' 66 '' was nominated for , but did not win , an award for " Best First Feature " at the Independent Spirit Awards . Gallo made this drama for $ 1.5 M , serving as writer , director , lead actor , and composer/performer of the soundtrack . The release of Buffalo '66 " gained him a solid fan base . " In 2003 , Gallo starred in and directed the film '' The Brown Bunny , '' which chronicles a motorcycle racer 's cross-country road trip , and co-starred Chloë Sevigny . The film , which contained a scene of Sevigny performing unsimulated oral sex upon Gallo , received an overwhelmingly negative critical response to its Cannes premiere and became a media scandal , in part due to Gallo 's use of a still image from a sex scene on a promotional billboard . In part , the critical response discussed whether Sevigny had been pressured into performing a sex act by Gallo . According to Andrea LeVasseur of '' Allmovie '' , '' The Brown Bunny '' " premiered to much derision at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival . " Film critic Roger Ebert stated that '' The Brown Bunny '' was the worst film in the history of Cannes . Gallo retorted by calling Ebert a " fat pig with the physique of a slave trader " and put a hex on Ebert , wishing him colon cancer . Ebert then responded – paraphrasing a statement made by Winston Churchill – 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 and Ebert later made up , and Ebert ended up giving a thumbs up to the finished version of '' The Brown Bunny ''
2003 Cannes Film Festival
2003 Cannes Film Festival
Vincent Gallo