One of the all-time great Ebert quotes on this:
Gallo fought back, insulting Ebert for being overweight and even, strangely, put a curse on his colon. Ebert adeptly responded, "It is true that I am fat, but one day I will be thin, and he will still be the director of 'The Brown Bunny.'
Did Ebert ever become thin?
Gallo eventually went back into the editing room, and emerged with a new version of the movie. Ebert watched this new version, and afterwards was quoted as saying "It is said that editing is the soul of the cinema; in the case of "The Brown Bunny," it is its salvation."
Source- https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-brown-bunny-2004