I was looking to post something special for Easter, which is difficult because Hollywood doesn’t produce Easter movies like they do with Christmas. I started preparing a post on Jordan Peele’s Us, finding images of the rabbits, when I remembered that years ago I worked – very briefly – on a film that went on to have a bit of a controversial reputation. I was hired and given the script to what would be Actor/Filmmaker Vincent Gallo’s follow-up to Buffalo ’66. This would be an interesting and unique opportunity, I was told the film would be shot with minimal crew and most of it would be a road trip across America. I remember my girlfriend at the time was fine with it as long as I wasn’t making porn. After reading the script, I wasn’t sure what to tell her.
One of the highlights of my career was meeting Vincent Gallo at an initial Production Meeting. There were about ten of us in the room and he came in like a force of nature. Had I been recording the next 90 minutes I would have adapted the meeting into a one-man show which acting students would be using for audition monologues for years. Gallo ranted about the problems on Buffalo ’66 he wanted to avoid, his vision for Brown Bunny, why it’s so important to make this film, and his plan to instruct the crew before leaving the technical stuff to them so he can focus on giving the best performance possible. Even though his energy level was like the end of There Will Be Blood, he didn’t sound insane or scary. It seemed very important to him to get this right.
The controversial hotel scene with Chloë Sevigny would be shot first, followed by the road trip and then the party flashback. I was prepping the Hotel with another person – we were the Art Department, Set Dec and Props – when I was informed Gallo had a friend from New York who became available and I would no longer be on the film. It was important to Vincent to have friends around. For years, having The Brown Bunny on my resume gave me an excellent chance of being brought in for an interview.
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