Vincent Gallo opens up about the greatness of Bruce Willis
Vincent Gallo is a highly divisive figure within the landscape of independent American cinema. There is no critical consensus about the artistic merits of his directorial efforts like Buffalo ’66 and The Brown Bunny, with some critics classifying them as innovative masterpieces while others fail to see how anyone could reach that conclusion.
Gallo has never shied away from public controversies, even picking legendary fights with the likes of Roger Ebert. In recent years, the actor-director had endorsed Donald Trump’s presidency and claimed that he felt like Trump himself when The Brown Bunny was subjected to extremely poor reception at Cannes in 2003.
The polarising director took to Instagram yesterday to make another sweeping declaration, stating: “Bruce Willis is one of the best actors of all time.” The timing of the statement coincides with Willis’ recent diagnosis of aphasia which has contributed to his retirement after a run of extraordinarily mediocre productions.
In his post, Gallo provided details about the time when he got the opportunity to audition for a role in Die Hard 2 during the 1980s. At the time, Gallo’s acting career was in its nascent stages, and he was very excited about the possibility of garnering widespread attention through a part in a high-profile project.
“I was extremely worried about reading with this TV actor famous guy [Willis] as I assumed he would be wooden and fake,” Gallo admitted while recalling the audition process. “And I was not great at surface readings. I did not expect Bruce could go there, would go there and instead prepared to work in spite of him.”
Gallo wasn’t very familiar with Willis’ work and only knew him from a TV show that he hadn’t seen. Although he was sceptical and nervous, all his anxieties were tranquillised when Willis stepped into the room and read the scene with Gallo, which became one of his favourite memories as an actor.
The director added: “Here is what happened. Firstly, the guy was star from a mile away. He glowed in the room. And to this day my 15 minutes of running a scene with Bruce Willis was a real high point of any my experience’s with other performers. He was incredible. 100% honest natural and listening. It was so easy with him. That experience was surprising and very influential.”
