Interview: director and star of "Boondock Saints II"

Ten years ago, first time writer/director Troy Duffy made a small indie flick called “The Boondock Saints.” Few people saw the film during its incredibly short-lived theatrical run, and it looked certain that Duffy’s baby was doomed to the realm of obscurity. Yet somehow, despite all the tribulation, “The Boondock Saints” amassed a loyal following. Dazzled by the gun-slinging MacManus brothers, fans hungered for a follow-up, and Duffy was all too happy to oblige them. The sequel, “The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day” hits theaters Nov. 13.

A&E sat down with Duffy and one of the stars of the film, Sean Patrick Flannery, to talk about sequels, style and cult status.

Why did you want to make a sequel and why now after a decade?

Troy Duffy: I would have done it earlier if we could, but there was some pretty serious legal stuff. We sued the people that financed and distributed “Boondock Saints 1.” Wrapped into that lawsuit were the sequel rights. It lasted for five years and at the end of the day everybody we sued settled with us for undisclosed amounts.

Still, sequels have an iffy track record, so why make another film?

TD: Because of that fan base, man. If you’re lucky enough to have a fan base and they tell you what they want, you do it 100 percent of the time or you’re retarded.

So, where did the plot for the sequel come from? There’s a lot of background on Il Duce in this one.

TD: You just sit down and make shit up — from deep within the creative depths of my soul, sir, that’s where it came from. [Laughs] And part of it was a direct response to the fans. They were so curious about Il Duce, Billy Connolly’s character, and they had so many questions about him. I knew going in that we were going to answer those questions in the sequel.

You managed to get pretty much your entire cast back for the sequel. Did you have any trouble getting the crew back together?

SPF: Well, we’re friends anyway, so as soon as the lawsuit was over I found out about it. [Troy] called and he said, “We’re ready,” and I’m like, “Cool, let’s go.” There was no big negotiation; he [expletive]-ing knew I would do it. We all talked; everybody was like, “We’re game; let’s do it.”

There’s a new major character, Special Agent Eunice Bloom. Why didn’t you just bring back Willem Dafoe? Why bring in Bloom to perform the same task?

TD: Willem and I actually worked on a couple of drafts of this together. It just wasn’t working. After you put a guy in a dress, he goes over to the dark side and he murders, he’s kind of experienced the full character arc. What else are you going to do with him?

There’s an overarching theme of betrayal in “The Boondock Saints 2.” Was this in any way a response to “Overnight,” a less than flattering documentary about you?

TD: No. Betrayal has been a gold mine in film for many years, my friend. No, the documentary had no effect on the creative of this film, and it wouldn’t have because it’s basically a lie; it’s a deception. It’s just one of those things, man; it happened; it sucked. I made my movie and fans are loving it, so I’m happy.

The first “Boondock Saints” had a lot of preproduction troubles. How did the process differ this time around? Did you feel better equipped to handle the bullshit?

TD: In terms of setting up the deal, which was all the preproduction trouble we had in the first one, it went slick as Hell because of the fan base. The first time we didn’t have that. We were starting from zero. “Boondock” became a financial juggernaut because of the fan base, so Hollywood wanted to make this movie. This time around they were shoving a camera in my hand.

Why do you think “Boondock Saints” has such a following with the college crowd?

Sean Patrick Flannery: I think it’s the brotherly camaraderie; they’d do absolutely anything for each other. That, and also I think these guys do what everybody secretly wants somebody to do occasionally. I think you watch the news and you really do think, somebody should fucking kill that mother[expletive]er. I don’t know somebody that doesn’t think that, whether they’re black, white, male, female, liberal, Republican, whatever. There’s a moment in time when you look at the TV like, what the fuck? That guy should die. And these guys do that. So, it’s a little bit of a fantasy, but it’s a thousand different things.

How do you guys feel about the ‘cult’ label?

SPF: There isn’t a bigger badge.

TD: Cult is the coolest word in film. It’s the coolest [expletive]ing word.

SPF: It’s one thing for a film to make 100 million dollars with a lot of advertising, and a lot of push, and a lot pressure and a lot of big name stars. It’s another thing for a movie with no stars to make 100 million dollars when a studio just put it in Blockbuster with no advertising. That’s huge, man. There’s not a bigger badge. I don’t know many people that have “Jurassic Park” tattoos, but people got “Boondock” tattoos, you know what I mean?

I once read an article that said “The Boondock Saints” was all style and no substance. How do you respond to that?

SPF: There are people that will hail this as the most genius thing ever shot; there are people that will say it’s the biggest pile of [expletive]ing blown-up crap they’ve ever seen. There are people that look at a performance of mine and say, “That made me shudder, shake and cry,” and then there are other people that say, “I didn’t really believe that.” You hear it all, so you really have to discard pretty much all of that. You realize nobody’s ever going to bat .1000.

TD: If you suddenly became a huge writer tomorrow, you weren’t writing articles anymore, you were writing books, would you rather have the critics like you, and have your book be read pretty much solely by critics, or would you rather have millions of fans love you and think that what you did was truly special?

SPF: Films are made for people. They’re made for viewers, not for critics.

One last question: “The Boondock Saints 2” strongly implies a third entry; will you complete the trilogy?

TD: I wanted to leave the door open, for sure. As for having it written, it’s going to take years.

Would you do another one, Sean?

[Expletive] yes. Of course, man.