The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

By Seán McCarthy NUJ

THE BOONDOCK SAINTS II: ALL SAINTS DAY is the much-anticipated sequel to the indie cult classic The Boondock Saints. The rollicking, jaunty, gun-touting saga continues with the action striking the big screen for filmgoers and fanatical Boondock fans alike this coming Friday October 30th. The film stars comedian and actor Billy Connolly among a host of greats. Speaking to the great actor and comedian on RADIOIRISH.COM I asked Billy Connolly what it was like to be back on the big screen playing the notorious vigilante who, in this the second installment of the saga, is known as "Poppa M":

"Ah the old IL Duce, he's delightful!" exclaims Connolly. "He's the nastiest man you could ever imagine meeting. He's a nightmare from hell. He's an assassin, he likes to kill people, and he sees it like he's doing the world a favour by killing bad guys, and the police kind of half agree with him. They're kind of semi on his side. "Poppa M" is a joy to play. I wear six nine millimeter guns on my vest, and I'm your worst nightmare!" Billy laughs whole-heartedly as he reflects on his character in the sequel. "I was in Boston last night and we got a standing ovation for the film. It was lovely."

THE BOONDOCK SAINTS II: ALL SAINTS DAY is the continuation of writer/director Troy Duffy's tough, stylized cutting edge saga of the MacManus brothers played energetically by Norman Reedus (Murphy MacManus) and Sean Patrick Flanery (Connor MacManus). The two have been in deep hiding in the quiet valleys of Ireland with their father "Poppa M" played by Connolly. All three are far removed from their former vigilante lives. When word comes that a beloved priest has been killed by sinister forces from deep within the mob, the brothers return to Boston to mount a violent and bloody crusade to bring justice to those responsible.

"There's a really bad guy who is out to get us," explains Billy. "And he kills a priest pretending that he's us and he leaves all the hallmarks that we usually leave behind; the crossed arms and coins on the eyes and all that. He's part of the Yakavetta crime family and we just killed his father ten years ago and so he's trying to lure us back and he succeeds and we come back and have to confront him and the rest of his cohorts. And it all works out rather bloodily and rather jollily," Connolly tells me. "It's a joy. I do a great deal in killing most of them myself."

With a new partner in crime played by Clifton Collins Jr. and a sexy FBI operative played by the ravishing Julie Benz (TV's "Dexter") hot on their trail, the Saints are back with a seriously stylish bang. There's something very fresh and original about everything you see and hear on screen; the music, dialogue and cinematography is to be applauded, nay awarded, and with a kick-ass screenplay written by director Troy Duffy, an all-star cast including Peter Fonda, Willem Dafoe and a mesmerizing performance from Judd Nelson as Concezio Yakavetta converge to make for a heart-thumping ride of a flick that punches you in the gut relentlessly and then recites you some poetry. It's brilliant, and the dialogue is ace. There's a great line delivered by Connolly at the beginning of the film where we hear the great Scot's voice provoke thought in excellent brogue about his twin sons, with a wisdom bound to touch the soul of any man:

"Peace, they say, is the enemy of memory. So it had been for my boys." I ask Billy Connolly what that means to him: peace is the enemy of memory.

"Yeah, I haven't found that to be truthful myself, but it sounds lovely" he chuckles back. "Peace is a rather pleasant concept. I think you carry peace with you in your heart. I think that's why peace is so hard to achieve in places like Northern Ireland or in the Middle East. It has to be desired, nobody can come in and give you peace. You have to make peace yourself. It's a rather joyous concept. It has to be in your heart first."

THE BOONDOCK SAINTS II: ALL SAINTS DAY opens with the MacManus twins deep in hiding in Ireland with their father, the enigmatic and notorious IL Duce from the first film (now known as "Poppa M"). The MacManus family has been living on an isolated sheep farm, as fugitives due to the slayings they religiously and notoriously perpetrated on Boston's criminal underworld a decade before, including the very public execution of the city's biggest crime lord. But the brothers have never forgotten the city they left behind, and when word that a beloved Boston priest has been slain and the killing made to look as though the Saints are responsible, Connor and Murphy cut their hair, dig up their rosaries and guns, suit up in their signature pea-coats armed with their 9mm and bid goodbye to their ailing father and smuggle themselves back to Boston to hunt down the real killers. Once again, they mount a violent and bloody crusade to bring justice to those responsible. This time they are aided by a Latino named Romeo, whose connections with the powerful "underground" Hispanic mob will help the brothers wreak revenge on the real killers.

The screen is filled with kick-ass gunplay and stunts throughout as the brothers take us on a roller coaster ride through the streets of Boston. Working the case are Boston detectives Greenly, Duffy and Dolly from the first film, who are sympathetic to the Saints (and complicit). They are joined in the investigation by the street smart and sexy FBI Special Agent Eunice Bloom, a protégé of FBI Special Agent Paul Smecker from the first movie. As the central action unfolds, the film reveals a deeper mystery that gives insight into the MacManus family's legacy of violence, with twists, turns and flashbacks to characters from the first film that help deepen the audience's understanding of the complexities behind the vigilantes' motives. As far as the MacManus twins are concerned, there's nobody on Earth more in tune to the true concept of peace and redemption than their father "Poppa M". Tough as nails, he's judge and jury combined when it comes to settling an old score, and Billy Connolly plays the part with remarkable ease and skill. Having grown up watching the great comic make us laugh on our television screens with his uniquely rude hilarious humor, it's no wonder to see Connolly nowadays balancing wit and wickedness with a wizard's skill in THE BOONDOCK SAINTS II: ALL SAINTS DAY. Indeed, I can't imagine any other actor in the role, now that I've seen his performance. I ask Billy Connolly if he thinks that us Irish and Scottish are still seen as perfectly suited to these tough guy roles in film, especially by an American audience. Does he think we Celts are born tough guys?

"I think there is an extraordinary lure in the Celtic man, the semi-mythical Celtic man who is the poet and the warrior in the same person. I think people find that very attractive, whether it's in James Bond or in anybody else. You know, you can be a great lover and a wild man, and I think people find that very very attractive, and the Celtic man has it in spades, you know. How many times have you met an Irish and a Scottish guy who is a bit of a drunk but who can give you loads of poetry and then when you step on him the wrong way he can turn into the fighting man in the bar. There's millions of them, absolutely millions. And I think women find it rather attractive. The wild man who is not afraid to show his tender side from time to time."

Production on THE BOONDOCK SAINTS II: ALL SAINTS DAY had been postponed several times over the years for various reasons, but the cast kept in touch with Duffy and remained committed to a sequel. Almost a decade later, the original producers and much of the crew from the first shoot were together again, working with a budget that allowed for more spectacular action sequences and stunts. When cameras finally started rolling in October 2008 on the long-anticipated sequel, it was like "a class reunion," says screenwriter/director Troy Duffy.

"Oh he's brilliant," acclaims Connolly. "He's an absolute joy. He has an Irish American background as well, as you can see from his name. And on the face of it he is a wild man, a rock and roll man with tattoos. And then you find out his father is an old man from Harvard, a literary man from Harvard who would give them tests every month. You had to read a novel a month and discuss it at dinner when he was growing up, you know? He has a seriously literary background. So 'he' is that thing, you know the poet and the warrior in the same man. I find him an absolute joy to work with. He has a very odd reputation because of a film that was made 'about' him, a very one-sided affair," says Connolly. He's referring to an independent documentary called Overnight (2003) in which Troy Duffy is conspicuously trashed over the original deal struck with Miramax in 1997 to direct the $15 million project "Boondock Saints" from his own script.

On working for Troy Duffy, Billy Connolly is adamant. "They thought it was going to end his career, but as you can see he convened making Boondock and every single person who was in the original came back to work for him. From me to Willem Dafoe, to Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus, everyone came back to work for him. And that answers any doubts or questions anyone might have had in their mind about him. He's a joy, an absolute joy"

Anyone who sees THE BOONDOCK SAINTS II: ALL SAINTS DAY will be able to make their own minds up about Duffy's film making talents. In my mind, they're not in question. This director knows how to make the screen rock, and if the crowds jamming the Regal Union Square cinema in NYC are to be heard, the final result was definitely worth the long ten-year wait. I've never heard an American audience so receptive to a film before. Prepare to laugh, clap, cheer and roar with exhilaration to the point of making some serious noise along with everyone else in the cinema. Great fun altogether, even when things get hairy.

"I love Canada. I love filming in Canada," says Connolly. "They've got a lovely fresh approach. It reminds me of filming in Australia. They've taking all the best of the American way of making films and have put their own sort of character on it. And they're a lovely fresh and jolly bunch, and it's a country I like very much, Canada. As a matter of fact I don't think there's a country I don't like very much. But I do like Canada."

There's an exhilarating helping of gun-touting and shooting up the screen in THE BOONDOCK SAINTS II: ALL SAINTS DAY with Connolly's character "Poppa M" found perfectly comfortable and at ease right in the center of the action.

"He's at his happiest in the middle of a gun battle," says Connolly about his character whose Aran Island sweater gets traded in for a six-gun vest. The new script features the back-story of IL Duce (Billy Connolly), the notorious killer-for-hire who, in a powerful reveal from the original BOONDOCK SAINTS, turns out to be the long-lost father of the MacManus boys. Fans loved the character and Connolly's portrayal and Duffy was determined to re-create the third-act impact of the appearance of IL Duce, while also keeping his powerful presence threaded throughout the second film.

"Since fleeing Boston with his sons, the three wanted men have lived a bucolic existence on an isolated sheep farm in Ireland," director Troy Duffy explains. "He's clearly in declining health, but we go into a period flashback that explains how IL Duce got to be IL Duce ... all the way to the point where he makes the first version of that leather vest."

The film's style kind of harkens back to the great Clint Eastwood movies or the brilliant action flicks of the Steve McQueen era, with an unashamed measure of Bonny & Clyde pumped in there. Whatever the mix, Duffy has an original hit on his hands with this saga, and the fans just can't get enough.

"There's a great vigilante feel to it that people love, you know, where we behave exactly as we would love to behave", says Billy Connolly passionately. "If somebody's really giving them a bad time it's lovely to get a great big gun and just blow their problem away. Of course it's ridiculous to think of it in society. But as an art form it's a joy to go and watch someone doing it, whether it's in Shakespeare or in modern film or even in Biblical film there's something wonderful about vengeance, especially vengeance for the working guy. I think at this time in our society, since 9/11 people have tended to feel a wee bit like victims and they do enjoy seeing vengeance being wreaked you know. And I must say I rather do myself."

The audience at the Regal Union Square cinema at 850 Broadway at 13th Street in NYC where I saw the film broke out into a frenzied applause almost every time Billy Connolly appears on screen. The intoxicating mixture of man sweat, violence, stiletto sex, poetry, and puritan Catholicism so lavishly hammered onto the big screen with nine inch nails in THE BOONDOCK SAINTS II: ALL SAINTS DAY has reinstated and secured Troy Duffy as one of the world's most talented film makers. This cult is here to stay, and seeing as Connolly's charismatic killing machine character is witnessed getting slain this time around, they'll simply have to bring Connolly back from the dead somehow. But then again, were talking pure Catholicism here, no ice.C

For more information visit www.boondocksaints.com and stay tuned to America's Only Irish Station RADIOIRISH.COM