GQ Germany - January 2012

Surprise - even though he wasn't on the cover, Vincent Gallo was featured in the German GQ :) He got a page under the header of "Heroes" which I think is actually quite fitting. It was basically about his style and things he likes, no new pics or anything.

Here's the translation:

Vincent Gallo

German Rock, Vintage Music Systems and Driving in Los Angeles: This is What the 50 Year Old Artist Likes

American Psycho or American Beauty? Vincent Gallo often portrays freaks in his movies - soon he will play the mystical Kaspar Hauser - and likes to work as a model. He told us, what he likes:

>>  In the 70s, Klaus Nomi told me all I know about style today. Not that I'd copy his way to dress. But his attention to details and the way he always used to express his personality, no matter what, impress me until today.

>>  Klaus Werner Fassbinder is one of my favorite directors. I had the honor to meet him in New York in the early 80s when he presented his movie "Querelle de Brest", which is a very poetic movie. I could easily identify with the gay subculture because I always felt like an alien in my hometown Buffalo.

>>  I had a terrible childhood. I shared a room with my two siblings, my grandfather and his wooden leg. My mother always kept everything very clean and painted all the walls in various colors. Until today I can't stand colored walls. My apartment in downtown Los Angeles is painted completely in white.

>>  There were two reasons to do the current G-Star-Raw-Campaign. First: The money. Second: The photographer, Anton Corbjin, already took pictures of half of my friends. He is a very nice guy.

>>  I know how tough it is to survive without money. When I escaped from Buffalo as a teenager, I had to survive in New York. I hooked up with women in clubs just to have a place to sleep. I finally found a new family at the Studio 54. I own my career to the people I met there.

>>  I try hard to avoid doing the whole red carpet thing. I don't even own a smoking.

>>  I'm fascinated by subcultures in authoritarian systems ever since I visited East-Berlin in the early 80s. I traveled to the East several times with my German girlfriend, Anna. One time when we were on the way back to the West, we heard loud music coming from Checkpoint Charlie - an illegal party. When we went in and I took a bottle of Coca Cola out of my bag and they freaked out - it was almost as if I'd brought illegal drugs along.

>>  I have a huge collection of old Hi-Fi equipment. Especially German preision engineering by Siemens, Telefunken und Braun from the 50s and 60s.

>>  I can't stand hip hop bands from california. I rather prefer German rock by Cluster, Popol Vuh and Neu! at the moment.

>>  Jean-Michel Basquiat and I were close friends but I don't own a single painting he did. I started collecting art quite late. At the moment, I but a lot by Jess, a young artist from San Francisco who does wonderful collages.

>>  Los Angeles is the best place in the world. Provided you like having to go everywhere by car. To me, that's a bit like yoga.

>>  I don't have an assistant, a lawyer, a spokesperson or a stylist. I also don't have a housekeeper, a gardener or anything like that. The only thing I have is a dentist.

G Star Behind the Scenes

Yay! Thanks to the always adorable Kacha2, I can now post a link to the G Star Behind the Scenes Video :)

Enjoy...he looks great, don't you think? Just weird seeing him model jeans as I recall him once saying that he HATES jeans and people who wear then - but then again, in Gallo-World, it does make sense ;)

It's Kaspar Hauser

The Kaspar Hauser movie is coming somewhat closer :)

You can find a - slighty strange trailer on youtube (nice ass ;)):



And a mention of the film here.

Once in a while, something happens...

Thanks to Kacha2, a new "article" about Mr Gallo can be found here

In the middle of New York Fashion Week, I headed New York's G-Star showroom to interview Vincent Gallo. The director/artist/actor/musician/everything is the face of the Dutch brand's autumn/winter men's campaign, and seeing his image blown up in black-and-white inside their building, you were reminded just how many different faces he's had in his 50 years.

Not just campaigns past with YSL and Calvin Klein (back when he, like Kate Moss, was accused of being the face of heroin chic), or any of the rest - this is also the guy caught on film with fellow artist onetime bandmate Jean-Michel Basquiat, and somehow documented breakdancing at the dawn of hip hop too. Richard Avedon, no less, said Gallo had the most unique face he had ever photographed. Whatever your view of what he actually does, Gallo's got an authentic patina of downtown cool few, if any, can match.

Waiting, alone, for our interview, in jeans and jean jacket just like the posters, he seemed to be inhabiting his latest role with enthusiasm. And perhaps he was, in a way, by being a most unlikely spokesperson - by being Vincent Gallo. He said that I'd have to follow certain conditions for our conversation to continue: not record anything, not quote him on anything, sign a contract guaranteeing I wouldn't reuse anything elsewhere, and allow him to record everything so he wasn't misrepresented.

After that, everything was easy. I put my pencil down, turned off my recorder and decided to just have a conversation with him for the 15 minutes that were alotted.

He saw my cup of Jamba Juice and asked me what the smoothie brand was about. He then recommended a raw fruit juice place in the East Village (rather than quote him on the name, I'll leave you to find it yourself). He also spoke to me in some detail about the optimum temperatures for preserving such drinks' nutrients.

Next, he asked me where I was from, which led to a story about his experience in Montreal in the 1980s. Falling in love and motorcycle racing were both involved. Serious, Grand Prix bike racing was one of Gallo's early jobs in a trajectory that has seen him do almost every other one going. For all the attention his numerous exploits have got since, one thing that seems to have passed many people by is that, in the last couple of years, in films like Essential Killing and Coppola's Teatro, he's done some of the most acclaimed (and awarded) acting of his life.

Being interviewed, especially by the UK press, was one performance he said he just didn't want to go through. (I had asked him, as time ran out, what was behind his approach to our interview). That didn't mean he didn't like working with good people and nice clothes. It just meant that, once he'd done what they wanted, he liked to use his earnings to go on and do the things he wanted to. If I could even pretend to guess what on earth those things might be, he wouldn't have been Vincent Gallo.

 

Credits:

Text by Caroline Issa
Portrait by Anton Corbjin

Loosies Trailer

The trailer for "Loosies" is out:

Vincent Gallo - On a Bus. Seriously.

Huge Billboard on the side of a bus featuring Vincent :) Thanks to Kacha2 for the hint and the link:

http://evgrieve.com/2011/09/and-now-photo-of-vincent-gallo-on-side.html

GStar Video

Thanks to Kacha2 - there also is a vide for the new G Star Ads :)
http://www.gq-magazin.de/gq-tv/channels/419194/1416195/gq-onsite/vincent-gallo-fur-gstar-raw

Pictures from an Interview with Vincent by Patrick Hoelck

...more here: http://patrickhoelck.com/wordpress/?p=6657

Still looking for the actual interview...

G-Star Ads

Vincent Gallo "did" something at last :) He posed for some G-Star Ads, being the model he has always been and showing us he still looks quite good.

Curious to see more?

www.vogue.it/en/uomo-vogue/latest-on-fashion/2011/07/vincent-gallo-g-star

As there is almost nothing happening...

...it's probably worth mentioning that Jason Barr thinks Vincent Gallo writes his own Netflix reviews.

I think Jason Barr has too much time on his hands, but anyway...here is the piece of brilliance he came up with:

http://barrrheaven.com/2011/05/vincent-gallo-writes-his-own-netflix-reviews/

And what's that? A Picture from "Loosies"!

Thanks to a kind but anonymous poster, I stumbled upon this one and it's too important to get lost in the comment thread to here it is, a picture from "Loosies"

More pics from the film can be found here: http://www.celebuzz.com/photos/exclusive-photos-from-peter-facinellis-new-movie-loosies/loosies-2/

Ten Reasons Why Vincent Gallo is the Coolest Actor Around

Yep. Someone wrote down those reasons and, as it's rare that there is something positive written about Mister Gallo, I really want to include it here :)

Please also go and look at the complete thing - the writer has some nice clips and links included in the article :)

http://www.sabotagetimes.com/tv-film/ten-reasons-why-vincent-gallo-is-the-coolest-actor-around/

Ten Reasons Why Vincent Gallo Is The Coolest Actor Around

By Richard Luck
Posted: 26 March 2011

From doing his bit for Hip Hop to slapping up the son of a mafia boss to recover a $5 debt. There aren't many around like Vincent Gallo

His new film Essential Killing’s kick-ass, but then so do a lot of things about this enigmatic, idiosyncratic artist

1) He’s in GoodFellas. Check out the scenes featuring Henry Hill’s 1970s crew and you’ll spy a young Vinnie Gallo, as he was known back then.

2) He’s a real trooper. During what he described as an “undisciplined” improvisation on the set of Abel Ferrara’s gangster film The Funeral, an extra set about Gallo, knocking him unconscious, breaking his nose and loosening two of his teeth. A real pro, Vince didn’t have his wounds dressed until after the film had wrapped.

3) He used to play in a band with modern art superstar Jean Michel Basquiat. An acclaimed avant-garde musician, Gallo – who is himself a gifted artist – guested on a number of tracks recorded by Basquiat and his band Gray. HerE for your listening pleasure is I Wanna Go Back:

4) He helped put hip hop on the map. In 1984, using the moniker Prince Vince, the future star of Arizona Dream and Palookaville threw himself into B-boy culture, eventually earning the respect of the initially sceptical African-American community.

5) His directorial debut is a real piece of work. Gallo’s intensely autobiographical Buffalo ‘66 features a career-best performance from Christina Ricci. The film also showcases great work from Anjelica Huston and Ben Gazara (Anatomy Of A Murder, The Big Lebowski), playing approximations of Gallo’s real parents, and notable cameos from Jan-Michael Vincent (Big Wednesday, Airwolf) and the then all but forgotten Mickey Rourke. Here’s what Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert (who later had a notable falling out with Vincent) said about the picture on its theatrical release:

6) He’s front and centre in one of the greatest of all movie scenes. In Emir Kusturica’s Arizona Dream, Gallo’s character Paul goes to the cinema to make out with his girl. While Paul explains to his woman why he won’t let her touch his face, Johnny Depp’s Axel occupies a seat behind the couple. “Think anybody fucking touches Johnny Depp’s face?” barks Paul from out of nowhere. Ever the consummate professional, Depp doesn’t so much as flinch.

7) He once had a cracking idea for a magazine feature. Asked by a British film publication what he thought might make for an entertaining feature, Vincent Gallo suggested the periodical find the worst journalist in London and then send them to New York to interview him. Secretly taping the conversation himself, Gallo would be as rude as he could, certain that the writer would twist his words. Then, when the journalist submitted their story, the actor would mail across his version of events, thus allowing the magazine to run the stories side by side. Alas, nothing ever came of this idea – here’s hoping someone eventually gives it the green light.

8 ) He was once asked to compile the coolest/creepiest of all top 10 lists. If you’re old enough to remember the late, lamented Neon, you might recall the time Vincent Gallo was asked to list the 10 women he’d most like to kiss. Besides Charlotte Gainsbourg (“She’s super special – a miracle”), Patricia Arquette (“She seems wild and kinky”) and Steffi Graf (“She had the best sweaty panties I’d ever seen in my life”), our man spoke at great length about his passion for the then 52-year-old Charlotte Rampling: “I sat next to her on a plane once from Berlin to Paris and I think it’s the only time I’ve ever been excited to see a celebrity in person. She looked beautiful. If she ever wanted to, I would like to just make out with her.”

9) He’s no shrinking violet. As he told Neon in May 1997, “I’ve walked into a Mafia club where the son of the big shot owed me five bucks and slapped him up in front of his father.”

10) He’s still pushing the boundaries. In his new film Essential Killing, Gallo plays a Taliban soldier who’s sent to Europe for interrogation. Directed by Jerzy Skolimowski whose Moonlighting helped make Jeremy Irons a star, Essential Killing is a fine film made extraordinary by Gallo’s compelling, near-silent performance.

Anyone interested in buying some real estate...?

Okay, the Gallo-Loft-Sales deserves a thread of it's own (after all, it brought us so damn much fun!)

So...if you think about buying it (maybe we can all chip in and share...? Anyone?) here are the details:

http://la.curbed.com/archives/2011/03/vincent_gallo_unloading_in_downtowns_toy_factory_lofts.php

And, more seriously:

http://www.redfin.com/CA/Los-Angeles/1855-Industrial-St-90021/unit-112/home/17239406

I'll go counting the suits now...

Could it be? A new Gallo song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYyWo0JL62g&feature=youtube_gdata

Watch it while it's there :)

Tidbits during the calm days...

It's been calm, so calm about the man recently but let's just be sure that there soon will be more news (at least I hope so!)

Anyway, some collected tidbits from here and there:

The Associated Press and several more list Vincent as a contributor to the soundtrack of a documentary about autism. Well - I'll believe it when it's out, especially when you look at the other people listed as involved. More here: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jQfxBZIOwbBLK2A_gcQxlXd79rVw?docId=ff449ba74a9b4462a31ef2dc987486a2


This guy here was in Portland these days and apparently they saw Vincent there - no photos or further information though http://www.air-debonair.com/2011/01/portland-part-2.html

And, because we always love interviews with Vincent no matter how old - Noisepop has a nice one up, even though it's old, it's still a nice read: http://portable-infinite.blogspot.com/2006/12/vincent-gallo.html

Twitter me this, twitter me that...

I personally don't really like Twitter to begin with. It's sort of weird and people either use it to exchange as if they were talking on an instant messenger (which is annoying to everyone else following them) or they only post links to articles, blogs and so on.

Anyway, the funny part about Twitter is probably that some stars do tweet. Others don't. Vincent, as you all might know by now, might.

In times of veryfied accounts and so on it's normally easy to tell if a star is twittering or not. There is one account, claiming to be le Gallo. Or being le Gallo. I personally thought it's not him, but after recent controversy I think it might be. Weird? Well, let's start at the beginning.

This account (http://twitter.com/vincent_gallo) started quite a while ago and even though I followed it, I wasn't too sure if it was Vincent or not, actually I thought it's rather not.

Then, as I thought, Mr Gallo confirmed these thoughts by telling the New York Post he wanted this "fake twitter account" to be shut down. The weird thing is, the Post "interview" that is quoted (http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/vincent_gallo_wants_twitter_impostors_I8qFYPxtERpXn3Wlu7OmBP) sounds...odd. Can't quite grasp it, but there are only a few quotes directly by him and if you put together what he actually SAID it could - and I say could, not must! - also be simply irony or his kind of humour. Plus, if we remember - the Post and Vincent Gallo don't really share a close and kind relation so why would he tell them?

Even weirder, the Twitter Account still exists and still claims it's the real deal. There even is an interview with him to be found here http://www.theawl.com/2010/11/an-interview-with-vincent_gallo that does sound a bit like Gallo to be honest.

Well, we'll probably never know the truth but in times of slow news, I'm interested to hear all your opinions on the matter - if you even care ;)

Some pics

Finally something new - seems like there are no reviews of the showas so far...

http://lifeofmyrick.com/post/1523401376/vincent-gallo-david-myrick

Muse Productions...

And, an explanation from the man himself on why he didn't talk to the press in Venice

Gallo began shooting this highly conceptual film without following any traditional program of production or pre-production, and instead began filming without any preparation or a traditional script, never allowing anyone from his cast or crew in on the film’s ultimate vision.

Vincent Gallo has forever rejected any explanation of the concept, story, process, or rumors surrounding the making of his new film, stating, “None of it would fit easily into tabloid format, and so writers and journalists would be forced into simplistic interpretations to avoid their own shortcomings and the shortcomings of the press in general.”

Though Gallo understands his silence may excite journalists and bloggers into easy brush-offs and perpetuate unsubstantiated rumors and hearsay, he still chooses to disconnect from the low frequency exchange required to communicate with the press.

Movieline on Essential Killing and, especially, Monsieur Gallo

Essential Killing: Dear Vincent Gallo, Why Do You Torment Me So?

Oh, Vincent Gallo! There’s no escaping you. You follow me from continent to continent, from festival to festival. Last week, in Venice, I saw your strange little picture Promises Written in Water (also playing here in Toronto), and while I wasn’t wowed, I couldn’t quite dismiss it, either. But while in Venice, I missed Polish filmmaker Jerzy Skolimowski’s Essential Killing, which netted you the Best Actor award there — in fact, you’ve got pretty much the only role, aside from Emmanuelle Seigner, who appears very late in the picture. So today in Toronto, I decided to check out Essential Killing. I needed to see for myself if you really deserved that award, you scalawag, you.


The answer is yes. Essential Killing is virtually a silent film, and Gallo gives a wordless performance as a Taliban or Al Qaeda tribal soldier (the picture spells out none of the details, only the essentials) who’s captured by U.S. troops. He’s stripped of his clothes, beaten and tortured. As he’s being transported with some other prisoners to another location, the truck in which the group is traveling crashes, and they’re no longer in the desert: They appear to have been transported to somewhere in Eastern Europe, or perhaps Russia. Gallo’s character scrambles away from the crash, now finding himself in a snowy landscape that’s completely foreign to him, and his captors pursue him as if he were an animal.

In this role, Gallo looks gaunt and haunted, even more so than usual. Skolimowski shapes the filmmaking around him quietly, the way you’d settle a blanket over a sleeping child. These snow landscapes, often replete with lonely or angry barking dogs, aren’t exactly becalming, considering that Gallo’s character is on the run for his life: Dressed in a bloodied white camouflage outfit — his wounds are numerous, including a bleeding cut on his foot incurred when he steps into a steel-jawed trap — he trudges, limps and, when he’s able, sprints through this dazzling white-tipped forest terrain.

What makes this performance so mesmerizing when — face it — so much of what Gallo does is just patently annoying? His character does some extreme things to survive: He claws at tree bark and chomps on it; he scoops some ants from a dirt hole and shoves them into his mouth; and, most shockingly, he holds a nursing mother at gunpoint so he can suckle here. Frankly, if you described these things to me before I’d seen the picture, I’d say that Gallo is the last person I’d want to see doing them.

And yet for once, Gallo — who I sometimes do like as an actor and as a filmmaker — shows no affectation. Perhaps because he doesn’t speak in the film, much of his energy is forced into his limbs and into the trunk of his body, and it has a lot to say, even in the context of its dogged exhaustion. This is a striking, primal performance, and maybe it’s an example of what can happen when a filmmaker takes one of an actor’s essential tools — his voice — away and pushes his focus elsewhere. Gallo has a reputation for being self-aggrandizing and annoying as a personality, but this performance overrides and whites out any personality quirks. In Essential Killing, he’s confounding and surprising, challenging everything we think we know about Vincent Gallo. In other words, he does what we always say we want actors to do, and what we don’t always allow them to do.