20th century During Gallo's artistic period in the 1980s, when he worked as a musician and painter in New York City, he also began experimenting with film. Gallo created the short film "If You Feel Froggy, Jump" and appeared in the 1981 film
Downtown 81 with painter
Jean-Michel Basquiat. In 1984, Gallo acted in the
No Wave film
The Way It Is or Eurydice in the Avenues (1985) by
Eric Mitchell, along with actors
Steve Buscemi,
Edwige Belmore,
Mark Boone Junior and
Rockets Redglare. After starring in the obscure 1989 film ''Doc's Kingdom
, he began acting in small parts in more well-known films such as Goodfellas, The House of the Spirits, and The Perez Family. French director Claire Denis hired Gallo to act in several films such as the short film Keep It for Yourself, the made-for-TV U.S. Go Home
, and its follow-up feature Nénette et Boni'' (1996)." In 1998, Gallo released his directorial debut film, ''
Buffalo '66''. The film received positive critical reception and was nominated for an award for "Best First Feature" at the
Independent Spirit Awards. Gallo disputes Ricci's account, and in 2018, wrote "I still smile when I see a picture of her and when she insults me in the press it reminds me that we are connected in some way, and for that I am grateful. Christina Ricci was my friend during the filming of
Buffalo 66 and working with her made sense and felt natural....I insulted her jokingly one day to a friend and a sneaky gossip writer overheard me. Christina and I have not spoken since." In 2003, Gallo starred in and directed the film
The Brown Bunny, which chronicles a motorcycle racer's cross-country road trip and co-starred
Chloë Sevigny. The film, which contained a scene of Sevigny performing unsimulated
oral sex upon Gallo, received an overwhelmingly negative critical response to its
Cannes premiere and became a media
scandal, in part due to Gallo's use of a still image from a sex scene on a promotional billboard. Andrea LeVasseur of
Allmovie said that
The Brown Bunny "premiered to much derision at the
2003 Cannes Film Festival." Gallo retorted by calling Ebert a "fat pig with the physique of a slave trader" and put a
hex on Ebert, wishing him
colon cancer. In 2003, several media sources later reported that Gallo apologized to Ebert, but Gallo disputed this, saying "I never apologized for anything in my life...The only thing I am sorry about is putting a curse on Roger Ebert's colon. If a fat pig like Roger Ebert doesn't like my movie then I'm sorry for him." In 2004, Gallo and Ebert appeared to have reconciled, and Ebert ended up giving a thumbs up to a re-edited version of
The Brown Bunny. However, in a 2018 article, written after Ebert's death, Gallo accused Ebert's review of the re-edited version as being "far fetched and an outright lie." In 2008, Gallo was cast as the titular character in
Francis Ford Coppola's drama film
Tetro (2009).
2010s In 2010, Gallo won the
Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the
67th Venice International Film Festival for his non-speaking role in
Essential Killing. Gallo did not attend the ceremony to accept his award in person, leaving the duty to the film's director
Jerzy Skolimowski, who tried to get the actor to reveal himself, leading the audience in a chant of his name. Gallo was not in attendance. At the festival, Gallo's third feature film,
Promises Written in Water, debuted. It was also screened once at the
2010 Toronto International Film Festival. The film received polarized and mostly negative reviews from critics, though several positive reviews cited it as one of the year's greatest films. The film was nominated for the
Golden Lion. Gallo has stated that he has no plans to ever distribute the film and allow it to be seen again, as "I do not want my new works to be generated in a market or audience of any kind." He also added that allowing the film only ever being shown at two screenings was part of a deal he made with
Delfine Bafort, who starred in the film. Gallo explained in a 2011 interview that the film would be "allowed to rest in peace, and stored without being exposed to the dark energies from the public." As of 2024,
Promises Written in Water is not available to watch, and has not been screened since 2010. During the Venice festival, Gallo also released a short film, titled
The Agent, which was nominated for Best Short Film.
The Agent starred
Sage Stallone, and has also only ever been screened twice, with Gallo having no plans to re-release it to the public. Later that year, he appeared in
Julie Delpy's 2 Days in New York, in a cameo role as himself. In the film, Gallo appears as a
Mephistopheles-like version of himself, who purchases the protagonist's (Delpy) soul, after she puts it up for auction. Delpy wrote the role with Gallo specifically in mind, who agreed to the part after reading the screenplay. In 2013, Gallo's website listed that he had directed, written, produced, and acted in his fourth feature film,
April. It states that the film is 88 minutes long, stars Gallo as the lead character Seth Goldstone, and co-stars pornographic actor
Jamie Gillis. The film has never been released, leading to speculation about the nature of the project. That year, Gallo also co-starred with
Kōichi Satō and
Yoo Ji-tae in
Junji Sakamoto's film,
Human Trust.
2020s In 2022, Gallo appeared in
D. J. Caruso's thriller film
Shut In. Released by
The Daily Wire,
Shut In marked Gallo's first acting role since 2013. He was accused of being abusive and sexually inappropriate with 3 actresses auditioning for the film. In May 2025,
Lionsgate Films obtained the film, which was also retitled to
Golden State Killer. Speculation also emerged that the film may have been directed and written by Gallo himself, using a pseudonym. In April 2025,
Variety initially reported that Gallo would co-star with
Karla Sofía Gascón in
The Life Lift, a psychological thriller directed by Stefania Rossella Grassi. In May, Gallo told
Entertainment Weekly that he had only been approached, and has not been signed onto the film, alleging that the filmmakers leaked a "false rumor" to obtain financing. ==Music and modeling career==