years. edrted rn secret over three and hoanced hetvv/een festivals. producers; and orstr‘rhutor‘s for a couple more. tnrs; controversral and cornpellrng rthe x'xay you're cornr')eIIed to look at a car crashr frlrn comments; on the rnoyre husrness; hy “.‘Jét‘,’ of parnfui example. Boston-horn (f()‘.‘.llt7.()‘.'.’lt Los; Angeles; oarman. sornetrrne grunge hand
Duffy rnaoe traoe paper headlr'tes; when rn 1997 he was; offered a dream dea‘ hy Mrr'amax to direct his; own screenplay. The Boo/mock Saints. At the san‘e true he was; off Bred a record lane: oea; for hrs band. But by the end of the same year. both deals were off ralthougn the film was in the can) and Duffy was blacklrsted. largely due to he out-Of- control ego.
O‘.”(3/.'l.’§lll’7f hegar‘ as; a rags; t< -r;<:nes story. hut when Duffy 's; hel‘vayrour hecarne rn'oieraoie rctnnsnathg rn Montana and Srrtzt" heng (l(}ll!(}(f a cut of the pctentra‘ prof'ts . the former friends; (:or‘trnted frlrnrng and E‘;-.'."l(:l‘e{f tack to "take a rrches; to rags narratrye. There's; an element of rexenge 'n I. If?!“ the ‘rrrnntzmers; eortzng therr ‘ootage In a way that naghirghts Duffy 's; t>ad r>ef‘as.lo.rr — an one scene they cut tise audio. leasing tne 'na". rant ng srlently but. to" the most part. mm- suhgect SPAS turnself. Meanua'hzie. the housing that ernpoz'1ers; "monsters such as; Duffy gets; off -rgt‘t|y. But then. had Montana and Slllrlf‘ not kept narrox'.'ly ‘ocus;eo on therr l.lt‘.'.’lll:ll§l Target they too 'nrgh‘. have found thernsgeryes; unernpoyante. lM=zes; Frelderr I OF T. Glasgostr from Frr (‘5 Jul. See also "NO/"KIOSK and rel/rev.“ of [he Boondock Sat/Its.
DRAMA
THIRTEEN CONVERSATIONS ABOUT ONE THING
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TROPICAL MALADY (12A) 118mm 0.0.
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INTERVIEW
NEVER MIND THE BOONDOCKS Miles Fielder talks to the director of OVERNIGHT, an expose of out of control egos and madness in Tinseltown.
Tony Montana (pictured) moved to Los Angeles in 1992. In November 1996 he began documenting new pal Troy Duffy’s efforts to make it in the entertainment business. In April 1997 Duffy was signed by the all-powerful William Morris talent agency. Subsequently, Harvey ‘Miramax’ Weinstein, perhaps thinking he’d found the new Quentin Tarantino, offered Duffy 3 dream deal to direct his own script, a gangland drama called The Boondock Saints. Weinstein even bought Duffy the downtown LA bar he tended, Sloane’s. Then a record company offered Duffy’s grunge band a deal. But by the end of 1997 the film was in turnaround, the record deal withdrawn and Duffy was blacklisted, partly because that’s the way the cut-throat business works, but largely because Duffy’s rampant ego produced some spectacularly bad behaviour. It couldn’t have helped that he called Harvey Weinstein ‘a big fat cocksucker’. Montana and his co- director Mark Brian Smith filmed the rise and fall of Duffy over four years, and the result, Overnight, is like watching a slow-motion car crash.
‘There were red flags from the very beginning,’ says Montana. ‘In the fall of 1996 Troy told me: “I want to be a legend.” That’s quite a comment for somebody just starting out. He did everything he could to destroy his good fortune, through not only his behaviour towards other people but towards himself, the self-abuse with the cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, which we do not show in the film. He’s a shell of the guy I met in 1995.’
When Duffy refused to cut his friends a share of the potential profits, Montana and Smith decided to make the documentary an expose. There’s a certain amount of stitching up going on, but for the most part Duffy sinks himself. ‘I didn’t notice he had a borderline personality disorder until we started watching the footage,’ says Montana. ‘Towards the end of the film you see Troy, just after he’s yelled at a class of film students, pontificating. We cut off the audio and you can see in his eyes, he’s crazy.’
Finishing the controversial film and securing distribution is a whole other story. Suffice to say Montana and Smith spent three years ‘hiding from Troy and Harvey’, secretly editing the film before it played at Sundance in 2004. Montana says William Morris tried to sink it. Weinstein just ignored it. The US press, possibly seeing itself indicted along with the industry, chose not to believe it. Montana doesn’t know if Duffy has seen the film (but Troy’s not giving interviews).
And Montana himself? ‘We worked so hard,’ he says flatly, ‘when we got our conclusion it was anti-climactic. However, there have been key moments I’ve enjoyed. Like knowing that l was in the class of Sundance ’04. Even if I enjoyed them later I got to enjoy them, right?’
I Over/tight ls SHOW/Hg at GFT Glasgow from Fr/ 8 Jul. See The Boondock
Saints and Overnrg/rt rev/ew. page 46.
here for hrs; endearing 9002.) romance B/rs;s;fu//s.' Yours and hrs; nexsxest frlrn rs as; per'plexrng as; rt rs; heautrful. Dryrded rnto two parts. tropical Ma/ady tells; frrs;t|y the seernrngly rnnocuous tale of the relatrons;hrp l)et\.yeen a soldrer and a young yrllage hoy and rn the second part rt adapts; a folk tale about a soldrer huntrng down a shape shrftrng shaman. Both par s star the same actors; rn seemrngly drfferent hut oddly famrlrar roles; and both boast an excrucratrngly slow pace. God knows;
what rt all means; but rt rs all oddly s;atrs;fyrr‘rg and ryrrcal. touched as rt rs; hy the spurt of Prra Sudharn's; novels about the people of the Esarn drstrrct of Tharland. as; well as; works; by Conrad. (Benet and. of course. the lllllVUl'KIk Chrnes;e frlnrmaker' Zhang Yuen. Unlrke anythrng else you are Irker to see rn the near future. froprca/ Ittgrr‘gro't' rs; a dreamy. enrgrnatrc treat. rPaul Date.
I [Urn/rouse. tor/though from Sat to J://.
5- THE LIST 49