A decade later, 'Boondock' director resurrects cult classic

Most cinephiles know the infamous rags-to-riches-to-obscurity tale of writer-director Troy Duffy.

The former LA bartender wrote the script for vigilante tale Boondock Saints while slinging beers and though the ultra-violent shoot-'em-up flick hardly made a dent at the box office, thanks to a very restricted 1999 theatrical release, it went on to become a massive success on DVD and VHS. (Remember VHS?)

Then, after rather public disagreements with former Miramax head Harvey Weinstein and a severely unflattering documentary – Overnight – that painted the young Hollywood upstart as an arrogant megalomaniac who bad-mouthed most of La-La Land, he all but disappeared.

It’s rather fitting then, that he comes full circle for his cinematic acquittal with the hotly-anticipated sequel Boondock Saints II: All Saint’s Day, and is ready for the big break that previously eluded him.

“We never got our shot, you know?” says Duffy, sitting across the table at a bar in Toronto’s trendy Yorkville neighborhood that couldn’t be more at odds with his no-frills and, ahem, frank persona. “This time we’re getting one. I feel like it’s vindication for both films. And this fanbase.”

Duffy describes hardcore Boondock fans as if they belong to a secret fraternity (“When they run into each in public, it’s some sort of weird connection. Suddenly they’re arm in arm, having drinks.”) and said that over the last 10 years they’ve never stopped asking him about part two.

And indeed he never stopped thinking about it, even though he wrote four scripts in between the first and second Boondock film. Because of a tedious lawsuit that held up sequel rights for five years, the process was a slow one, but the minute the case was closed, Duffy hit the ground running.

“It was like riding a bike, man. We got the boys back with the coats and the guns. Let’s do some s--t, you know?” he says, a smile creeping across his face. “It was like high five, is what it was.”

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Counting original cast members like Sean Patrick Flannery and Norman Reedus, who play the gun-happy, mobster-killing MacManus brothers, as friends, Duffy says it wasn’t really a matter of getting the boys back since they never left and were clamouring to step back into their iconic roles.

Audiences may recall Willem Dafoe giving an equally unforgettable performance in the original as hammy FBI agent Paul Smecker and comedian Billy Connelly playing against type as the murderous, mysterious Il Duce. Connelly returns, and his back story is fleshed out nicely for fans, but Dafoe’s stand-in is Special Agent Eunice Bloom (Julie Benz, channeling Holly Hunter and Sharon Stone) - a woman.

Audiences will be forgiven for doing a double take at a skirt being placed front and centre in this man’s, man’s, man’s world, but Duffy explains.

“It’s a curveball, it’s a new aspect. I found out a few years ago, we did a demographic study, that 50 per cent of our fanbase was women, which freaked me the f--k out because it’s such a male-driven film. What I came up with was that ultimately, there’s a certain sect of women out there that are sick and tired of weak men. They want strong men. They want John f------g Wayne back.”

Ergo, Duffy gives these women an equally strong, aggressive on-screen proxy who doesn't play anyone's girlfriend and has full agency in her decisions.

“And [Julie Benz’s character] isn’t a victim. I had to pull a scene where she was crying, because as soon as the test audience saw that, they lost respect for her. Her character, by that time, was so strong, nobody for any reason, could fathom her losing it, at all. [Even] if her mother was killed right in front of her....”

Duffy’s directness and love-it-or-leave-it mantra bleeds onto the celluloid in All Saint’s Day, where his old calling cards – slo-mo, gratuitous action shots, brash language, unchecked bravado and a knowing lack of cultural sensitivity – remain intact.

Locations have changed, a third "saint" is added (bug-eyed character actor Clifton Collins Jr.), winking cameos and Easter eggs come fast and furious but Duffy honours the first Boondock, and his fans, by making a movie in his own image, as un-PC and happily vulgar as it may be.

“I don’t like depressing movies. I want to see Rocky every time. When I [first] came out of Rocky, I beat the s--t out of my brother and I was like, ‘That was awesome!’” he says, laughing. “In a lot of ways, we’ve lost that pure thing: to just go to movies and have a good f------g time.”

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Boondock Saints II: All Saint's Day opens in select Cineplex Theatres November 13.