“Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day” opens with the McManus brothers hiding out in Ireland after publicly taking down a good portion of Boston’s mob.
But when someone kills a priest in their signature style, they get on the next boat back to the States to set things straight.
It’s been 10 years since “The Boondock Saints” threw on some pea coats and terrorized Boston mobsters with their cheeky brand of vigilante justice, but the delay wasn’t for lack of fans. So what was the holdup?
“Flanery was having his ass dehaired, so it took a while,” jokes director and writer Troy Duffy of Sean Patrick Flanery, who plays Connor McManus and, it should be noted, does contribute quite the nice shower scene to “Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day.”
In reality, the rights to the sequel were tied up in a five-year lawsuit over the first film, which brought in far more money than anyone expected or was prepared to handle. While Duffy attributes the film’s success to the crew’s “stellar epicness,” he does acknowledge a certain “Boondocks” energy.
“The magic of ‘Boondock,’ I don’t know if I would want to know what it is. I choose not to question it, I’m just glad it’s there,” he says. “The word ‘cult’ is the coolest word in film for me. Nobody ever set out to make a cult film.”
Aside from strippers, there were few women in the original “Boondock.” So how was working with Julie Benz? “A lot of people thought it would change the film,” admits Flanery. “But she really plays a dude’s character. She just happens to be sexy and walk sexy and look sexy.”