‘Overnight’ Exposes Boondock Saints Director

Published by Jeff Leins on: November 7th, 2009

This weekend The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, a sequel to the 1999 cult favorite and DVD sensation, goes wide across the country.  It has been a decade since Troy Duffy’s first feature, and roughly five years since a documentary titled Overnight was released.  While some are revisiting the Boston brothers, I decided to check out the latter which Duffy recently told /Film was a “smear job.”

The scathing behind-the-scenes film chronicles the years surrounding his intial deal with Harvey Weinsten and directorial debut, portraying the Boondock Saints director as an obnoxious, arrogant egomaniac.  He spends much of the 82 minutes chattering away about his lofty ambitions and holding court as if he’s trying to convince himself of his talent more than even the lackeys leeching off his modicum of success.

News outlets heralded Duffy’s meteoric “overnight” rise and dubbed him the next Tarantino before he had even shot a single second of his movie.  It clearly went to his head.  He meets and parties with some of Hollywood’s most familiar faces at the bar he used to tend and now partially owns.  Then he rips the rest on camera, from Keanu Reeves to Kenneth Branagh to powerful producer Jerry Bruckheimer.

The documentary was made by a pair of Duffy’s ex-friends and thus has a bitter edge to it, but there’s no denying their amateurish cameras caught on tape at least one nasty side of the young, intense director as he nearly squandered the opportunity of a lifetime.  It’s an intriguing story, even if it’s a selective one.

Both of Duffy’s films have been absolutely destroyed by critics, seemingly unimpressed with his “deep cesspool of creativity.”  The first suffered from a minuscule theatrical release shortly after to the Columbine High School tragedy.  But Duffy’s die hard supporters have turned The Boondock Saints into a financial success, churning a reported $50 million in DVD sales and rentals over the decade.  Not bad for a first-time director and a budget of $6 million.

Here’s the Overnight trailer: