In 1997, Troy Duffy was handed the deal of a lifetime.
It entailed $15 million cash, keys to the bar where he worked and a multi-million dollar record deal for his band, The Brood.
Duffy's story starts here...
He moved to L.A. to break into music. For cash, he took a job as a bartender.
One day he came home to find a dead woman being wheeled out of a drug dealer's apartment across the hall.
This stirred his inspiration for writing a screenplay.
Duffy rented a computer (he didn't own one), and wrote The Boondock Saints out of pure disgust.
Soon Harvey Weinstein, head of Miramax Films, came knocking on Duffy's door, holding a $15 million check for his script (among other perks).
But in the end...
Duffy's is not a success story.
By acting like a drunken, arrogant prick, Duffy earned the Hollywood blacklist.
Weinstein pulled the deal. And, zero film companies would work with him.
(For more depressing details, rent Overnight, which chronicles Duffy's rise and fall.)
After tap-dancing his script around town for months, Boondock finally got backed by a tiny, no-name production group.
Boondock did jack-squat in theaters.
Yet incredibly, by word of mouth, it sold over $6,000,000 on DVD!
Sucks for Duffy! According to his licensing contract, he doesn't see a dime for DVDs.
Look for The Boondock Saints 2 in theaters October 30, 2009.
See the trailer here:
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