Film Reviews

Over Night

• Rating:
• Director: Tony Montana and Mark Brian Smith.
• Starring: Troy Duffy, Chris Brinker, Taylor Duffy, Tony Montana, Mark Brian Smith.
• Details: US / 82 mins (15s).

In 1997, Troy Duffy was offered one of the most stupendous deals ever offered a debut director by a Hollywood studio: a $300,000 advance and casting decisions on directing his self-scripted movie, The Boondock Saints, budgeted by Miramax for $15 million with Duffy and his band, The Brood, lined up to score the soundtrack. Not only that, but The Brood were signed up by Madonna's Maverick company before anyone there heard a single note. How the deal spectacularly imploded forms the subject of this documentary, a fascinating insight into how Hollywood works. Given that the makers fell out with Duffy during his fall from grace, everything here should be taken with a small Siberian mine worth of salt; nonetheless, Duffy himself has to shoulder a large portion of the blame for everything going pear-shaped. Verbose, confident and idealistic as the film begins, he soon becomes egomaniacal, arrogant and self-aggrandising. The constant heavy drinking can't have helped either, as the group - an interlinked coterie involved in both filmmaking and The Brood - get sauced on what appears to be a nightly basis. "We have a deep cess-pool of talent here," Duffy announces early on, an unfortunate turn of phrase that comes back to haunt him when the subsequent stumble and fall occurs. All in all, this is fascinating stuff, and virtually unmissable for anyone with an interest in how movies get made. Or don't, as the case may be.

Review by Declan Burke