TROY DUFFY’S original Hollywood story was a fractured fairy tale. As recounted in the documentary “Overnight,” Mr. Duffy reacted to the instant success that came with a multimillion-dollar deal with Miramax for the thriller “The Boondock Saints” by abusing his friends, family and new corporate partner, doing it all on camera, and then alienating the filmmakers who had the footage. As Cinderellas go, he was the type who would smash the glass slipper and kick Princess Charming down the stairs.
Trailer: 'Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day'
Yet a decade later the glass slipper is on the other foot. “The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day,” the guns-and-rosaries sequel to the shoot-’em-up that almost never was, will be released on Oct. 30. Accessorized with Roman Catholic iconography and a smattering of Latin, it resurrects the fraternal assassins Connor and Murphy McManus (again played by Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus) to blow away a raft of Boston bad guys and channels Mr. Duffy’s dismay with a “self-help, 12-step, hippie generation” that would question vigilante justice. Gay jokes, Latino jokes and mayhem: Mr. Duffy is sure the fanboys will eat it up.
“I know my base,” he said.
It’s hard to argue with that statement: After Miramax cut him loose and a tiny distributor managed a feeble theatrical release, the first “Boondock Saints” went on to substantial DVD sales in seven different incarnations. (Bruce Nash of Nash Information Services said total domestic video sales have been around $50 million. Distributors generally do not release DVD sales figures.) Mr. Duffy got none of that money, thanks to his original deal, and a lawsuit over the rights to the property kept him tied up for five years. Meanwhile word of mouth (propelled by the Internet) was making it a cult movie.
Its formula � the familiar “Dirty Harry”-style appeal to the public’s indignation over crime and its affection for heroes who are “taking care of business,” as Mr. Flanery put it � made “The Boondock Saints” a guilty pleasure, one that spurs some of its fans to extremes.
“I’ve had a couple of people come up to me with my face tattooed on their arms,” said Mr. Flanery’s co-star, Mr. Reedus, “and I usually say, ‘I hope you were drunk,’ and most of the time they say, ‘Yes I was.’�”
The original “Boondock Saints” release, in early 2000, was handicapped by its timing, soon after the Columbine High School shootings and the short-lived outrage about violent cinema that followed. It took in a mere $30,471 at five theaters.
“Two boys dressed in black trench coats with guns hit a little too close to home,” said Julie Benz (“Dexter”), who plays the new film’s sexy nonlove interest. In its bloodletting and its liberal use of Catholic ritual, the sequel maintains the original’s tone.
“The first ‘Boondock Saints’ was a sort of pious gangster movie that freely mixed elements from Catholic devotions with brutal murders,” said the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest who is culture editor of the Catholic magazine America. “The ‘heroes’ are mistakenly convinced they’re doing God’s will by executing Mafia thugs, and are revered for their good works. While the first ‘Boondock Saints’ was a stylish film, I wonder whether, after so many suicide bombings by religious fanatics, a film about religiously inspired killings would be seen in the same way as the first one.”
Those issues, or the portrayal of Mr. Duffy in “Overnight” (A. O. Scott in The New York Times said he “comes across as an arrogant blowhard whose only unequivocal talent is for overestimating his own gifts”), did not keep any of the “Boondock Saints” principals from signing up for the sequel.
“He hadn’t learned an awful lot,” said the comedian Billy Connolly, who plays the lethal character Il Duce in both films. “But he was much more sure of himself.”
In making the sequel, Mr. Duffy said, he felt the fan support right on set. “Have you ever watched a movie,” he asked, “and even if it’s a small movie, you’ve said, ‘Somebody really, really cared about that’? I pick that up in films all the time. On ‘Boondock II’ that’s what happened. Every single technician and actor and craftsman who worked on this film went way beyond the call, because they felt that it was sacred.”
Blasphemous is how Mr. Duffy might describe “Overnight,” the documentary about him directed by Mark Brian Smith and Tony Montana, calling it “a cleverly orchestrated smear job from two guys with an agenda.” That agenda? That a disaster would sell better than a success story.
The targets of Mr. Duffy’s ire disagree. “We worked for eight years straight to craft a project about Hollywood, one that would shed light on what happened in the very best- and worst-case scenarios, about a young man given the opportunity of a lifetime,” Mr. Montana said of himself and his collaborators. “The proverbial keys to the kingdom were handed to Troy. The narrative of ‘Overnight’ changed as the protagonist and the events changed. We simply followed the organic themes.”
Todd Fossey, the producer of “Overnight,” added: “It’s hard for me to imagine, after Troy’s track record, that anyone would take him at his word unless there was some financial end in mind. I have to admit it is impressive that he got the sequel off the ground after making enemies of the likes of the William Morris Agency, Harvey Weinstein and nearly everyone else in the industry. It’s amazing what one can accomplish when they sell their soul.”
For Mr. Duffy the journey has been educational.
“I learned things about myself,” he said, “but it had nothing to do with that film. I’ve learned that politics need to be played in this business. I have learned that there will always be people who try to drag you down and the measure of a man is how he reacts to that. I’ve been gut-punched a million times and stood back up and kept moving forward, and now here I am coming out with the sequel.”
Anything else? “Yeah,” he said. “I learned that if your friends ask you for permission to follow you around with a camera, the correct answer is no.”
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