The Brown Bunny

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The Brown Bunny
Directed by	Vincent Gallo
Produced by	Vincent Gallo
Written by	Vincent Gallo
Starring	Vincent Gallo, Chloë Sevigny
Distributed by	Wellspring Media
Release date(s)	August 27, 2004
Running time	93 min.
Language	English
Budget	$10,000,000^[1]
IMDb profile

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

1 Plot
2 Controversy
3 Notes
4 External links

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

A motorcycle racer (played by Gallo) undertakes a cross-country drive in search of his former, now deceased 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.

[edit] 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. Chloë Sevigny, already known for taking on controversial roles, had been a real-life girlfriend of Gallo's. After the film's release, the William Morris Agency dropped her as a client, claiming the scene made her unmarketable; she quickly signed with another agency and has continued her acting career despite fears to the contrary.

Despite the sexual controversy, the penis involved in the fellatio scene is largely rumored to be a prosthetic one.

[edit] Cannes reception

The screening of the film at Cannes, where audiences openly let their displeasure be known with loud boos and catcalls, was a fiasco, 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.

[edit] 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 popular 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. Roger Ebert then replied that enduring his colonoscopy would be more entertaining than watching The Brown Bunny.

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, Roger 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 an 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.

[edit] 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 a non-explicit image taken from the fellatio sequence, drawing complaints from residents and business owners. It was eventually removed. ^[2]