"I don't know if people think it feels good if I sort of enjoy being disliked or unpopular, but I don't."
Not every conservative I met wants to break into Hollywood. Vincent Gallo is a New York hipster who makes independent films. He wrote, directed and starred in Buffalo 66 which premiered at the Sun Dance Film Festival. This Spring he attended a New York Fashion show with the president's daughter and now he's the G.O.P.'s newest heartthrob.
"I'm from the art world, music underground. The personalities in Hollywood are a joke to me, I mean, I've never been on a film set in my life and felt that I was part of the real, uh.. a real cultural group. The Republicans are portrayed as a bunch of mainstream white rednecks, religious fanatics and evil corporate leaders. You know, uh, it's simply not true. You know, I, I considered myself a radical, always, but a, an extremely conservative radical. I went to an event in school called "Father and Son Night" and the entertainment was a projection of NFL films, documentary, on Super Bowl three. The Jets against the Baltimore Colts and I got extremely caught up in the politics of what it meant for the Baltimore Colts lead by the extremely conservative, humble, incredibly gifted Johnny Unitas verse(s) the new, cocky, self-centered, alcohol-addicted, womanizing, flashy, hippy, counter-culture New York Jets. I hate them! And I fall in love with Johnny Unitas in a way that, I mean, he was my first true idol. He was the man that I would hope one day to be. My fantasy is not having the Republican party become more like me, my fantasy is becoming more like the stereotype of the Republican party. I wish that I looked li- more like George Will."
Is this is an act? Is Gallo just trying to get attention? I wasn't sure, so I asked him if he was really serious.
"It it would be easy, uh, to diminish me or shrug me off as a prankster. If people said I was a provocateur, it's only been something that's been used to diminish my work, and and my, and the quality of my work."
