The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, the much-anticipated sequel to the indie cult classic, The Boondock Saints, hits theaters in a limited release this weekend! Check out a list of cities below where you can catch the film and take a few minutes to check out our interviews with the cast of the film!

What’s Boondock Saints II All About?
The film is the continuation of writer/director Troy Duffy’s tough, stylized cutting edge saga of the MacManus brothers (Norman Reedus, Sean Patrick Flanery). The two have been in deep hiding with their father, Il Duce (Billy Connolly), in the quiet valleys of Ireland, 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. With a new partner in crime (Clifton Collins Jr., Star Trek) and a sexy FBI operative (Julie Benz, TV’s “Dexter”) hot on their trail…the Saints are back!

For a complete list of cities and theaters where you can check out the film, visit the official site for the film at http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/boondocksaints2/

Icon Vs. Icon’s ‘Boondock Saints II’ Interviews…

Director Troy Duffy – Click Here >

Sean Patrick Flanery – Click Here >

Norman Reedus – Click Here >

Bob Marley - Click Here >

David Della Rocco – Click Here >

Billy Connolly – Click Here >

It has been more than a decade since director Troy Duffy made his explosive debut in Hollywood with his debut film ‘Boondock Saints’. Many people knew him as the then 28-year-old blue-collar Bostonian bartending at a west Hollywood hangout called J Sloan’s, who had sold the script for ‘The Boondock Saints’ to Harvey Weinstein’s independent powerhouse Miramax for $450,000. He was the toast of the town and quickly heralded as ‘the next big thing’, but he saw it all come crashing down around him as a result of his clashes with the studio and the release of a very unflattering documentary. His meteoric rise and fall became the stuff of Hollywood legend. For some young directors, the story could have ended there but Troy Duffy did not fade quietly into the night. In the years following its initial release, ‘Boondocks Saints’, a film that originally opened on a handful for screens, would go on to become one of the biggest cult sensations in movie history. The Hollywood elite may have underestimated the film, but the massive groundswell of support from its fans dictated not only a sequel but the return of the charismatic director. Armed with a star-studded cast featuring the likes of Peter Fonda, Billy Connolly, Judd Nelson, Julie Benz and The Saints themselves — Norman Reedus and Sean Patrick Flanery, this unstoppable director stands ready to once again light the fuse a movement that looks to make cinematic history.

Jason Price of Icon Vs. Icon recently caught up with Troy Duffy days before the film’s release. In the interview we discuss his return to filmmaking and the challenges of making both films, the die-hard fanbase that has propelled the film to “cult classic” status, and what he has in store for us in the years to come.

*Warning: This interview contains possible spoilers. Read on at your own risk!

I realize that you always had faith in the film, but did you have any idea that ‘Boondock Saints’ would develop into the cult phenomenon that it has?

No. The thing is that you can’t really set out to make a “cult film” and actually do it. It is always a breach labor, ya know? Something bad always has to happen. You can very simply boil it down to this — a cult is something that Hollywood doesn’t understand but the public did and somehow they take hold of it and they themselves take it and make it successful. That is exactly what happened with ‘Boondock’.

What do you think it is about ‘Boondock’ that intrigues the fans?

Every time I ask somebody that, I get a different set of answers. Some people like the brothers relationship with each other because it is their ideal for them and their own brother. Some people have a friend like Rocco. Some people like the religious imagery. Some people like the idea that they are just two really lucky Irish guys, ya know! [laughs] I get a different answer when I ask people about that, so I don’t know that it is any one thing about ‘Boondock’. It is a combination of everything about ‘Boondock’.

I know you hit some snags after the first film in the way of legal wrangling but I was curious to know how long did you have the script for ‘Boondock Saints II’ ready to go before you started filming?

Probably about two years, three years. That lawsuit lasted for five and the sequel rights were tied up in it. It wasn’t like there was any lack of people wanting to make the movie. There was always interest out there but we just couldn’t do it and we weren’t about to fold.

What was the biggest challenge in making ‘Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day’?

The fanbase. The first time around we didn’t have one. The second time they were looming over the set like a fuckin’ guardian angel! ‘Boondock’ fans frame fucked this movie into the ground, it’s no secret. They know every single line of dialogue. In doing the sequel, nobody wanted to be the guy who screwed up ‘Boondock II’ in any way, ya know?

Sure.

That fanbase is so volatile and they have deemed the original ‘Boondock’ as sacred ground. So our whole thing was that we cannot tread on that. We have to respect that first story and yet outdo it! It has to be like two brothers… ‘Boondock I and II’, they are related. They are blood to one another. So we had to look at it that way and make it for these specific fans. What I have tried to do is give them a totally new, unpredictable plot, yet everything they love about the first film.

Having said that, did you feel like there was more pressure on you the one the first film or making this sequel?

The sequel. Without a doubt! It was enough fuckin’ pressure to create a diamond! I mean, you have millions of fans that are looking at you hard, going “You better not fuck this up!” There are a whole bunch of fans that have said that a sequel should have never been made! You have that kind if fandom, that specific kind of cult fandom to live up to and it is a very, very difficult thing. Also, we basically had the same amount of money to make this one as we did the first one because of the exchange rate in Canada. During the first one we had 6 million and it was 67 cents on the dollar, so we were getting a 33% break. In 2008, the exchange rate was 94 and a half and we had 8 million, so literally the overage was cancelled out. We basically made both films for the same amount of money, technically.

How difficult was it for you to find the right mix of new people to bring in for ‘Boondock II’?

The only role that I really sought for was Julie Benz’s role. Finding her was a Godsend. When you finally find that actress that you know is “The One”, it’s like having really good sex! Just laying there and saying “God, that was awesome!” Clifton Collins Jr. was my friend for the last decade and me, him, Norman (Reedus), Sean (Patrick Flanery) and Billy (Connolly) used to hang out all the time, so he was always in the club. I wrote that role for Clifton. Judd (Nelson) was an old buddy of mine that just happened to be perfect for the role, in my opinion. Peter Fonda was a little difficult to find, but we did find him. I would have to say that Julie Benz was the most difficult role to cast and when I found her, I was walkin’ on cloud nine!

Looking back on making these films, you had some highs and lows of course, but what are your fondest memories of them?

From the second film, my fondest moment was seeing the film for the first time with a theater full of ‘Boondock’ fans. These are the people that we made this film for and me, Billy, Sean and Norm had our fingers crossed. At the end of the day we all knew that we had made a good film, but how good is always the possession of the public. They’re gonna tell you how good you are and by the end of that screening my question was answered. So I’d say that was my fondest moment of ‘Boondock II’. My fondest moment of ‘Boondock I’ … hummm… there was so much turmoil involved in that movie and the fact that Columbine prevented us from getting a theatrical release, all of those things were kind of depressing, but what it did was help the film become a “cult classic”. My fondest moment was when the public had deemed it a cult classic. There is a difference between a cult film and a cult classic, ya know. That is a very exclusive club to belong to and we are safely in it and in good standing with the membership! [laughs]

You mentioned the turmoil that surrounded the first movie and with the ‘Overnight’ documentary. I don’t want to focus on that to much because I feel that you got a raw deal and you have pretty much made your point clear about what went on in regards to that film. With that being said, what do you think the biggest misconception about yourself is?

Funny story for ya. One of my buddies was wearing a ‘Boondock’ shirt once and he went to the grocery store. He comes back and says “Dude, something happened! It’s funny, you have to listen to this!” This guy comes up to him in the store and says “Cool! Boondock Saints! That’s one of my favorite movies!” and my friend doesn’t say that he knows me at first and says “Hey, yeah! It’s a good flick, huh?” and they start talking and the guy starts following him around. ‘Boondock’ fans kinda have this weird instant bond, ya know? They will hang out and stuff, just because of the movie. The guy goes “Yeah, I heard that fuckin’ guy, Troy Duffy, pulled a Grizzly Adams and he is living in the woods because he lost his mind!” I am laughin’ my ass off from hearing this! [laughs] The idea that people would think that I can’t take a punch, ya know? And that I would take a lawn chair and go live off the fat of the land because [in an artsy voice] no one understands me as an artist! That is just kinda funny stuff. I also think it is a misconception that I am some kind of super harsh dude, ya know? Sometimes I can be blunt, but I rather appreciate it sometimes when people are blunt with me. We have become such a politically correct society that people are no longer actually telling you how they feel. They are trying to say it in a politically correct manner and at the end of the day you have no fuckin’ idea how they feel about you, how they feel about your film or how they feel about your work. Sometimes I tend to cut through that bullshit. However, I think the people that I do that with, I always kinda make a judgment call as to whether I am dealing with somebody that can handle that type of honesty. Ultimately, it has worked out for me.

I know that you cut down the film pretty significantly in length from the initial cut. Will we see a director’s cut of ‘Boondock II’ at some point?

Oh yeah! Our first cut was three hours and fifteen minutes, there are entire subplots and things that we didn’t even put in there. When ‘Boondock II’ says “The Extended Edition” that is exactly what it will mean. You will see entirely new scenes, you will see the scenes extended like a motherfucker, there will be some really cool new stuff in there.. Often, kids get ripped off with these “Unrated” or “Extended” versions and they feel like they got gypped. With ‘Boondock II’ they aren’t going to feel that way, I guarantee it!

So I assume we will see that in maybe six or seven months from now?

I don’t know when they are going to do it but I already cut the thing together. Our first extended viewing cut is 25 minutes longer than the film.

I know that you guys also have a prequel comic of sorts for ‘Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day’. What can you tell us about that project?

Yeah, that is a buddy of ours who is in the comic book business and we had always thought about doing a comic book. We are making a deal with him to do the comic book and I will have a lot to do with that. One of the reasons we did it is because fans were so interested in Il Duce’s past and that is why I addressed it in the film. They wanted to know why he became a killer, why they didn’t know that they were father and sons and what was going on with this guy. They were really interested so I responded directly to the fanbase’s inquiries and addressed it in the film and we are making a whole comic book series out of it. I think that it is just a cool idea, ya know? An Italian kid with polio and this brutal Irish guy whose father has been killed, indiscriminately killing mobsters, way back in 1950’s New York and planning out each gig to blame it on someone else, to me that type of storytelling is gold.

What are the chances for ‘Boondock Saints III’ and what can we as fans to do spread the word about the film and hopefully ensure that happens?

The odds are pretty good. I’d like to get a couple of films under my belt beforehand. I have some other things that I want to say. I have written four other scripts, other than ‘Boondock II’, in the that ten year downtime period. They are all very legitimate and different stories, at opposite ends of the spectrum. I’d like to get a few of those out, but ultimately there is hope for ‘Boondock III’ and I have some ideas percolating! As for how the fans can help, we have sort of arranged it that way. We are only coming out in 70 theaters at my behest! Believe me, that was a difficult thing to talk people into. I wanted this to be platformed so that the fans can take ownership in the film’s success, the way they did the first time around. Nobody tried to sell them ‘Boondock’, they found it on their own, spread the word on their own and made it successful on their own. They are the reason that the sequel was even made! Fans can take part this time by platforming the film into a wide release, which is what I hope that they do.

What can you tell us about ‘The Good King’?

It is a comedy, black as the starless night at the bottom of the ocean. It’s a period piece. A King and a Duke, who are complete recalcitant, alcoholic, womanizer, idiot savants who basically destroy the British Empire and then resurrect it and chaos ensues.

Is that definitely the next project you are tackling?

Hopefully. We will see if we can set it up.

Being a seasoned vet of the film industry, what is the best piece of advice that you would give to young filmmakers?

Make sure you have talent. If your mother and your friends like your stuff, that doesn’t mean shit. You have to have people who you don’t know coming up to you and saying “That was awesome!” Then get your ass to New York or Los Angeles, where the business is. Unfortunately, from that point there is no pathway for you to follow to ensure that you have a good chance at success. You have to work really hard and find some way into it, man. You have to find the way. Every filmmaker that is coming up and having success right now has a different story, so there is no rule book for you to follow. You just have to take the ultimate risk and put your money where you mouth is, but make sure you have talent beforehand.

Any last words of the critics and for the fans?

For the critics, if you liked it, glad to have you onboard and if you didn’t, go fuck yourself! [laughs] For the fans, ‘Boondock II’ is like taking a Playboy Playmate to your Senior Prom and then banging her and her twin sister afterwards.

There’s nothing wrong with that! One last question for you before I let you go. I have a feeling I may know your answer to this but I have to ask. Who do ya got — Philly or New York in the World Series?

You’re kidding right? [laughs]

Well, I know you have huge fanbases in New York and Philly, so I thought you might have a tough choice to make!

I’m a Boston Red Sox fan! Anybody that fights “The Evil Empire” I am down with. Even Boston Red Sox fans just became Phillies fans!

Thanks for your time, Troy! The new film is amazing and we will be out here on the front lines spreading the word! I look forward to all that you have in store for us and I look forward to talking with you soon.

You too, man! You’re site kicks ass! Take it easy!


- -

More of our ‘Boondock Saints II’ Interviews…

Sean Patrick Flanery – Click Here >

Norman Reedus – Click Here >

Bob Marley - Click Here >

David Della Rocco – Click Here >

Billy Connolly – Click Here >

Billy Connolly is truly a jack of all trades. For well over three decades, this Scottish comedian, musician and actor as been winning over fans worldwide with his solid bodies of work and undeniable charm. Connolly may best known to American audiences from his role on the comedy series “Head of The Class” or as a brilliant stand-up comic that never fails to bring down the house, but to a whole new generation of fans, Billy Connolly is the mysterious and very lethal patriarch of the “Boondock Saints.” Directed by Troy Duffy, Connolly played opposite of Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus as the head of the McManus clan in a unique film that would go on to become one of the biggest cult sensations in movie history. Over a decade later, he finds himself reprising the role of “Il Duce” in one of the most highly anticipated sequels of all-time. Jason Price of Icon Vs. Icon recently caught up with Connolly as he and the rest of the cast traveled the country to give fans their first glimpse of the film. In the interview we discuss his past, the challenges of playing a hard as nails killer, his upcoming projects and the triumphant return of The Boondock Saints.

*Warning: This interview may contain possible spoilers!




What got you started on your journey in the entertainment industry?


Well, it is kind of strange. I have always liked American country music. Hank Williams and stuff like that. I wanted to play it and I didn’t know anyone that did. The the whole folk music thing started. I saw Pete Seeger playing the banjo on television, so I went out and I got myself one. I got into that whole circuit of folk music, banjos, country music, bluegrass and old-timey music. One thing led to another and eventually I was taking a lot of time between songs and describing songs in a funny way and I became a comedian, almost be accident.


How did you first get involved with Troy Duffy and the original Boondock Saints film?


My agent sent me the script and asked me if I would go and talk to this “Troy Duffy guy”. I couldn’t believe the script! With people dyin’ all over the place. I didn’t know what part he wanted me to play, so I met him in a bar in Los Angeles. He was there with his brother and they were a wild bunch, ya know, and I don’t drink. I used to drink, so I understand the game. This nutcase, this mad director, put his hands on my shoulders and said “I want ya to do this!” He had one arm over my shoulder and with his other, he was waving his index finger telling me all the great names that he wanted to play this part but he was going to give it to me. I was completely sold on it. I loved his enthusiasm, ya know! I love his enthusiasm to this day!


When you guys were working on the first film, did you have any idea that the film would develop into the cult phenomenon that it has?


I think it became quite apparent when we were making it that it was something really special. It looked special. Even the equipment that we were all using, black coats and all that with the guns and the boys and the way they went about saying prayers before they killed people. Everybody knew that it was something special and a bit different and that it was going to be noticed. I was always really enthusiastic about it. I had great faith in it.


I know you don’t want to give to much away but what can you tell us about your role in Boondock Saints II?


My role is very similar to the original film but their is much, much more of a storyline for me this time around. They go over my history. They go over the history of why I am like I am and what got me to that point. Before that, I was quite glad to look as if I came from Hell or someplace like that, ya know! [laughs] A killer that just killed because he didn’t mind doing it, ya know?! He was the ultimate judge, that just came and cut you down. So, I was quite happy with that but Troy has written me a whole backstory and background. That is where the Peter Fonda role comes in, ya know?


What was it like working alongside Peter Fonda?


Oh, it was a joy! An absolute joy, what a nice man! He has an extraordinary background but he doesn’t wear it like costume jewelry. He just goes to work like anybody else. He is a very generous performer, very generous indeed, ya know, with his time and space. If he sees a bit that he think can be improved, he will bring it up in front of everybody and say something like “Why doesn’t Billy come in from this side?”. When you are a big star, people tend to like you a bit, but he doesn’t give a shit about that. He’ll just walk straight in front of me and confront me and that is the way we did it. I found him to be a very generous performer.


Did you do any special preparation for the role?


Oh I grew a beard! [laughs] You must always grow a beard, not wear a stick on one, they are hellish! The glue just drives you insane through the day. They keep coming off and you have to have them re-stuck and they feel like shit. It’s like walking around with honey on your face.


I know that it was important for all of you to bring the film to the fans first. You have been taking the film around to several major cities to show it off to the them. What has that experience been like for you?


We have been interacting with the fans at the premieres but we have also been going to colleges, like Boston College and Emerson college, during the day. We were interviewed by the students and had a big audience. It was lovely! They were all nuts about the original and they were dying to see the new one. The film got a standing ovation in Boston!


That is exciting to hear, speaking as a fan, I know I am really excited to see it.


Yeah, it is a wee bit, slightly more humorous. It takes itself slightly less seriously. I am still death on wheels!


Well it is good to hear that you haven’t lost your touch!


Ohhhhhh noooo! [laughs] I am still deadly!


I know that over the years, Troy Duffy has gotten a bad rap in a lot of circles, which isn’t necessarily fair.  Having worked with him, twice now, I wanted to see what you think the biggest misconception about him is?


The biggest misconception about Troy is that he takes himself too seriously. He does take himself seriously, as I think everyone should to a degree, but he doesn’t take himself to seriously. He is a good lad and loves a joke. I think Troy answered all the critics when everybody came back to work again. He has the exact crew and Peter Fonda. If he was a bad guy, none of us would have returned. Everybody is back and we are all busy guys, it isn’t like we have nothing else to do!


Looking back on your experiences with making both films. What stands out as your fondest memory?


I just want to kill people. [laughs] It is a great feeling getting to do that, ya know! Putting on your six 9MM pistols and going around killing assholes all day. It’s a joy!


I know that actors sometimes tend to take a little piece of the film with them. Did you hang onto anything from the film as a souvenir?


We all kept our rosaries. Troy made them.


Which do you prefer, performing stand-up comedy or acting?


I don’t prefer one over the other but often one will step in when one is getting to be to much, ya know? When you are getting a wee bit feed up on the road, it is great to step into a movie and do that. Likewise when you are getting bored in the film world, it is lovely to be able to step out and be a comedian again. I have the luxury of doing both, which is just a blessing to say the least, at my advanced stage in life.


What do you attribute the longevity of your career to?


Just consistency, I think. I think that is the answer to everything, to remain consistent and take it seriously all the time. Don’t coast. In comedy, you are under such pressure from all of the other guys, that takes care of itself. In drama and film, you have to keep trying your best and don’t just settle for the middle of the road all the time. I think that is what kills people. They settle for less, ya know? They go for big money at the time but mediocre material and it just kills them.


Having been in the game as long as you have, have you noticed a big change in your audiences?


I can’t see any change in them at all, they are still the same to me, but I think they have become very educated  by comedy especially. I used to be the wildest guy on the block, ya know? Now I am not. A lot of things that used to be sort of wild and dangerous are considered sort of novel now. Comedy constantly astounds me, especially television comedy. British television comedy has gotten amazingly good. The standard for the written stuff has gotten very, very high. Like the show ‘Little Britain’ and ‘The League of Gentlemen’ have taken it to another place altogether. I think the standard all around is immensely high. I was lucky to get a start when I did, ya know!


Looking back on your career, is there something that you single out as your defining moment?


Yeah, I did the Michael Parkinson Show in England, which is the equivalent of doing Johnny Carson in America. Before I knew it, I was famous. I was was quite big before that in concert halls, but I was quite obscure to the general public. I did the Michael Parkinson Show in London, I lived in Scotland at the time, and on the way home I was at the London Airport and a Chinese guy asked me for my autograph. I remember thinking to myself “Holy shit, I’m famous!” We got off the plane in Glasgow and the people in the airport all applauded because they had seen the show the night before.


Very cool! Can we expect to see you hit the stage here in the United States anytime soon?


Yeah. I am doing London in January and right after that I will be coming to America.


What other projects are on the horizon for you?


I did ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ with Jack Black. I am not exactly sure when that is coming out, I think around Christmas sometime.


What is the best piece of advice that someone has given you along the way in your career, and what is the best advice that you have for anyone who would like to get involved in the entertainment industry?


Don’t forget how exciting it was when you first started. If you think about it properly, that feeling will stay. Don’t take it for granted and aim as high as you did when you started and stay there! That’s all!


Is there anything else that you would like to say to the Boondock Saints fans?


I love ya! You are awesome!


Any chance for a Boondock Saints III in the future?


Oh, they are already talking about that! I’m dead so I don’t care! [laughs]


Well ya know, if Troy can bring Rocco back, he could always bring Il Duce back too!


That’s what I was telling him last night! That Rocco and I should come back in the third one! We can come back, all as ghosts!


Kinda like they did in Star Wars: Return of The Jedi!


Yeaaaah! [laughs]


Well thanks for your time Billy, we will be spreading the word about the film and look forward to catching you on stage soon!


Thank you very much! It’s been nice talkin’ to ya, man!



- -

More of our ‘Boondock Saints II’ Interviews…

Sean Patrick Flanery – Click Here >

Norman Reedus – Click Here >

Bob Marley - Click Here >

David Della Rocco – Click Here >

David Della Rocco first exploded onto the silver screen and our collective conscience in “Boondock Saints.” Directed by Troy Duffy, he played opposite of Sean Patrick Flannery and Norman Reedus as one on the most unique and memorable sidekicks in film history. While this unique film would open in only a handful of theaters, it would go on to become one of the biggest cult sensations in movie history. Over a decade later, David finds himself reprising the role of “Rocco” to bring one of the most highly anticipated sequels of all-time to the fans. Jason Price of Icon Vs. Icon recently caught up with this incredible actor to discuss his past, the origins of the character that has captivated fans worldwide, his upcoming projects and the triumphant return of The Boondock Saints.

Let’s get started with some basic questions: Where did you grow up? What got you started on journey in the entertainment industry?

Well, ya know, I grew up in Norwich, Connecticut and then I went to school at the University of Oregon. I got into theater there and then I came out to California, to make a very long story short and I have been doing the acting thing!

Growing up and even today, who were some of your influences as an actor?

I think it is like with anything, when you are at a certain age and you start to act, you really start noticing certain actors, the ones that are really big at the time. For me we had Pacino, DeNiro, Brando and a Gene Hackman thing going on then and those guys are really good and movies like The Godfather. I think that those actors were really cool, it was a whole East Coast thing.

How did you first get involved with Troy Duffy and the original Boondock Saints film?

Well, Troy was writing the script while I was a part-time manager at this bar. He was the doorman and was working on his script. He told me about it and would read me parts of it. He said to me one day that the brothers were going to have a sidekick. I had long hair and a beard at the time because I was doing a play, it was set in 1975 and I played a carpenter. The play was called ‘The Split’. So I had grown my hair long and I had a beard. The look was a little different at the time. So he said “I’m going to have this sidekick for the brothers and I am gonna name him after you. He’s going to have long hair and a beard.” As the thing started progressing, he said “When this thing becomes a movie, I’ll audition you for it.” Ya know what I mean? So we worked on it and he liked the stuff that I did, so I was on-board in that way. Ya know, the reason I say that, is that there is something on the internet that says that we were childhood friends, but really I didn’t know him until he was in California. It was about 12 years ago now.

How much of your role was scripted versus what you brought in improvisationally or with your own personality?

Well, ya know, all the lines that were said were the lines that Troy wrote. I just stuck with the lines and I wasn’t improv-ing with them. What he wrote was just so much fun, ya know what I mean! It was written so well that it just seems like I was improv-ing it.

You really brought that character to life and made it jump off the screen.

Thank you so much. That is very kind of you!

How has your life changed since the first film which has become a cult classic? Do you get recognized a lot?

There is some of that. You mentioned the word “cult” as opposed to something like ‘Inglorious Basterds’ or ‘Titantic’ or ‘Terminator’ or whatever. It does have that cult thing and I think there is a youth to it. There are those college kids that are of a certain age. The way the movie started, it started slow, it was word of mouth when we released it. It pretty much went straight to DVD because of what was going on at the time and by that I mean Columbine. I just remember two years going by and then all of a sudden someone recognized me. Then it started to happen more and more.. It did seem to be like a cult, a certain group of people that were aware of it. So yes, it was an interesting change but it wasn’t that drastic where I had to move to a gated community or needed a bodyguard! [laughs]

When you guys were working on the first film, did you have any idea that the film would develop into the cult phenomenon that it has?

Ya know, no I didn’t. When I first saw the movie, I thought “Ok, it’s a movie, it’s going to help me. It’s fun”. I loved all the people, the actors, ya know what I mean. I looked at it and wondered do you have the actors to get it out there and go theatrically? So, when I was doing the film I just said, “I guess it is going to be up to the people.” I thought the film was very interesting and I wanted to see how it did. As I told you, theatrically it didn’t do as well as we wanted it to. We wanted it to be big in theaters and when it didn’t, it kinda was a bit of a letdown. So I thought “Oh, the people don’t like it.” The people from Hollywood looked and it and it went to DVD. I was kinda disappointed, I don’t know. But then! It started taking off and we started doing college tours and seeing how much people really liked it! Then there were all the different websites and t-shirts and all that! Then I started saying “The people must like it!” If a movie or play comes out it is up to the people to decide if they like it and I really feel good about this.

The people have certainly spoken in regards to Boondock Saints!

Yeah! That’s what I mean! It i so nice to get that! Even the nice thing that you said about me, that is really great and I am glad that the film did do well, in whatever way it did it.

I know you don’t want to give to much away but what can you tell us about your role in ‘Boondock Saints II’?

Well, you can figure out, Troy’s not insane, I’m dead! So it is either going to be a dream sequence or a flashback. It is more of a dream sequence. I have a scene where there is kind of like a dream sequence. It was a lot of fun. We were going to do it at a location that we couldn’t get and because we couldn’t get that location, we had to change all of our lines. So we did it at three different spots, a dream sequence, where we shoot from one place to another place to another place. Each time we did it, we wrote our own lines at the spot. We’d improvise it but we got the lines together for all four actors by saying “We’ll do this that and the other thing.” That was kind of fun! But I am not in the film for 90 minutes, it is basically a dream sequence were the boys are going through something and I pop up in a dream and we go on from there. Kinda get the gist of that?

Yeah, I definitely do. Us fans will take ya anyway we can get you back!

[laughs] Yeah! Thank you! But yeah, I’m still dead.

Troy put together quite an ensemble cast for the film with the likes of Clifton Collins Jr. and Julie Benz, for example. Who did you look forward to meeting for the first time or working with again?

It is funny, let’s go back to the first film. I remember Dafoe is going to be in it and I am thinking “Woah! I am going to get to work with Dafoe!” but I didn’t really get to interact with him because we were in only once scene together but he was there. Even Billy Connolly, I didn’t get to work with him in the first film. It was basically me and the brothers. So this time around I didn’t get to work with Clifton or Julie, but I would have loved to. It was just me, Norman Reedus, Sean Patrick Flanery and Troy Duffy. But just being there and being around all of the old actors like Brian Mahoney, Bob Marley, Norm and Sean was great. But these new people, like Cliff and Julie were amazing. It was just great being on set and getting a chance to talk to them. Cliff is such a great actor and a great person. I didn’t get a chance to work with Cliff, Julie, Billy but I would have liked to. On set, they were all really great to have around. Troy really does pick people that really get along with each other.

Have you been able to see a cut of the film yet?

You know, I have seen a couple cuts of it. I saw a very long version, a version where it was cut down a bit and then I saw the final cut. I was really impressed. I liked it so much better then the other two. I really, really enjoyed it. I liked it a lot! This guy Clifton Collins Jr. is great. I think Julie Benz is a lot of fun in it. The detectives are good. I really like it!

I know a lot of the cast headed out to Comic Con in San Diego to promote the film. You had quite a turn out to say the very least. What was that experience like for you?

Yeah, that was a lot of fun. It is kinda funny because Sony took us down there. On the panel was Sean, Norm, Cliff, Julie and Troy. So they get through talking and all that and they have a question and answer period. There is a line of about eight to ten people asking questions. So I sneak up there and I go to the mic and say “Hey Troy! What the fuck! Is Rocco going to be in the sequel!” and then everybody saw it was me and I got a big applause, it was nice!

That’s awesome!

That Comic Con thing is a lot of fun. Those are crazy people down there!

Yeah, I hear that it is quite a bit to take in.

Ya know what is great about it is San Diego. Next year I am not sure if I even want to go to Comic Con, I just wanna go stay in San Diego! The streets were just mobbed every night with beautiful women and nice people. It was like 126,000 people coming into San Diego, which isn’t that big of a city. The downtown area was really a lot of fun!

It is really cool to see the fans and Sony getting behind the film. Hopefully it is better for everyone involved. It seems like they have been fun projects to work on.

Yeah. Ya know what’s funny? Even if he did it be accident, I think Troy brought so much relaxation and confidence to the film, that it was easy to pull off the tongue in cheek aspects. It made it easy for a lot of things. Remember the one scene where we are all in that room and they are beating the hell out of us and then they decide that I am just a nobody and “just shoot him…the brothers did it”?

Yeah.

It’s funny because that day, the vibe was so down. I don’t know what it was but that day was really hard. Maybe because Troy was in another room. I think that’s why the chemistry came off so well on screen and why the ensemble was good because Troy had a way of making it really relaxed on set. I think it was the confidence that he had and the fact that he really loved what he was doing brought it all together. I felt no pressure, nothing. Never at all did I feel pressure for time or anything. It was always a very, very relaxed atmosphere and that’s a tough thing to get a lot of times, ya know.

What can you tell us about ‘Jake’s Corner’?

Well, that is coming out in March on DVD. It’s not making it to the theaters. I did that with Richard Tyson, Danny Trejo and Diane Ladd. It’s about this kid, a very “G” movie. I play a truck driver who got stranded in this out of the way place in Arizona and decides to just become a cook there and stay there in my truck. The lead is Richard Tyson and I believe that is coming out in March.

What other projects do you have on the horizon?

I’ve got this other thing going, ‘Made In Bosnia’. I am going to play a college professor and that is still in the works. I’m talking to the director and the writer and the financing is starting for it. Hopefully that one will be made! But we have a lot of work to do. Hopefully with this film, it will open the door to some other things… like you deciding to be a director and put me in your film!

I’d love to do that! And you are on the top of my list!

Ok! [laughs]

Is there anything else that you would like to say to your fans before I let you go?

The fans are so fantastic and I love everyone of them! I hope that they become big fans of the new movie and that everything works out!

Thanks for your time, David!

Thank you!

- -

More of our ‘Boondock Saints II’ Interviews…

Sean Patrick Flanery – Click Here >

Norman Reedus – Click Here >

Bob Marley - Click Here >

David Della Rocco – Click Here >

Comedian Bob Marley is most recognizable as one of the busiest and most entertaining stand-up comedians in the industry. Inspired by the likes of George Carlin and Don Rickles, Bob has pursued his career from one side of the country to the other. With eighteen albums under his belt and his new album, ‘Drop it Haaahd’, due in stores at the end of next month, Bob shows no signs of slowing up. Although comedy has taken up most of his time since college, he somehow managed to find time to star in the cult classic ‘The Boondock Saints’ as the bumbling and often corrected Detective Greenly. Ten years later and armed with a bigger budget, Troy Duffy is set to release a sequel to ‘The Boondock Saints’ on October 30, 2009 and guess who is in tow? Bob Marley is back as Detective Greenly and this time he has an expanded role. We can only hope that Greenly spends less time running out for coffee and donuts and spends more time actually participating in investigations. Steve Johnson of Icon vs Icon recently caught up with Bob Marley to discuss his career in stand-up comedy, his love of George Carlin, his return to the role of Detective Greenly in ‘The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day’, and what it has been like working under the direction of the controversial Troy Duffy.

Let’s give everyone a little background on you. Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Bangor, Maine. I lived there for a while then went to Portland, Maine. Then college up at U Maine up in Farmington on the Canada border. Boston for two years. L.A. for eleven years. Now I am back up in Maine.

When did you realize you wanted to pursue a career in the entertainment industry?

I think when I got out of high school, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I thought, “Well, maybe I’ll just hang out and see what the deal is.” Then when I was in college I did a stand-up comedy thing at a talent night they had. It went really great and I started thinking half way through it on stage, “Yep! This is what I want to do!” My parents are Irish-Catholic and I told my mother. She did the sign of the cross and said, “Oh god babe! I hope this works! I don’t know what’s going to happen.” I basically did stand-up my whole senior year in college. I was driving from the Canadian border to Boston pretty much every night and then it finally took off for me. I moved to Los Angeles and once you get to L.A. everybody tells you, “You should be an actor!” I’m like, “Ok!” Stand-up comedy is one of the only jobs where people tell you, “You know, you’re really good at that! You should be an actor!” I’m like, “Sure! Yeah!” Other people don’t get that. If you’re a plumber they don’t say, “You plumb really well. You should hang drywall too.” So they kind of segue you into that. So I started doing acting classes and auditioning for stuff. Eventually I got a shot with this ‘ Boondock’ movie. When I did the first one, a buddy of mine from Maine was friends with Troy Duffy, the director and said, “Hey, go see this kid!” So he came to see me at the Laugh Factory. Troy was nice enough to give me an audition. I went out to his apartment in West Hollywood and auditioned for it. He said, “Yep! You’re the guy!” I was like, “You’re shitting me!” He was like, “No!” I was like, “Ok!” [laughs] I had auditioned for tons of other stuff prior to that. When someone finally says, you’re the guy, you’ve got the part, you really don’t believe them.

Who/what are some of your influences?

Well, for stand-up, I like all of the older guys: Jonathan Winters, Don Rickles, George Carlin, and all those guys. For acting stuff, you look at all of these different guys like Clint Eastwood and all of those other guys. Those guys are so cool. You look at yourself in the mirror and you go, “No, I’m not going to be Clint Eastwood. That’s for sure! I don’t look menacing enough in any kind of way, shape, or form!” Then I start thinking, “Who should I look at and think I could be like?” You look at popular character actors and stuff like that and you say, “Ok maybe I fit in this bracket a little more.” Guys who can be funny in films and that type of stuff.

What are some of the challenges to performing stand-up comedy?

Oh my god! When you first start, it’s just the sheer terror of, “Is anybody going to laugh.” As you get to the next stage of, “Ok, I know I can make them laugh now.” The next stage is, “Am I ever going to get work? Is anybody ever going to hire me?” Once you finally get work, the next stage is, “I hope that guy is not going to stiff me and that check is actually going to show up.” Then when you move to Los Angeles, it’s basically like starting all over again. You’re like, “Am I really good enough to do this?” As you progress, the challenges then become, “Ok, now I am on the road. I’m away from my family. I’m going to be out for two or three weeks doing this and I am not going to see my kids.” There’s tons of stuff that will outweigh that and makes it really fun, so that you should continue to do it. Every step of the way there’s different challenges.

Comics are often subjected to hecklers. Have you had any hecklers and what is your strangest encounter with one?

[laughs] Oh my god! I’ve had everything happen to me. I’ve had fights in the parking lots after shows. [laughs] That was just encountered by a nice right hook. That happened. I’ve had people throw stuff at me. Just straight out hecklers, no physical confrontation. Just people generally heckling me. When you first start out you don’t know what to say. You just say crazy stuff like, “Yeah! The same to you buddy!” The audience looks at you like, “You have no idea what you are doing.” As you progress, you usually end up telling them stuff like, “Hey listen! Your friends can hear your stuff for free on the ride home. The other people paid to hear me.” After a while you become bulletproof to all of that stuff. When I am up there and I see somebody heckling me, I don’t get mad because I feel like they’re picking on me. I get pissed because I look at the couple sitting next to them and I think, “This couple got a babysitter for ten bucks an hour. They paid twenty bucks to park. They paid twenty five bucks to get into the show. Another twenty five, thirty, to forty dollars in drinks.” So I look at this guy and think, “Now you’re ruining their good time.” That’s what makes me mad.

Are there any other comedians you would love to collaborate with? If so, who?

Oh my god! If you could bring George Carlin back, I’d love to do something with him. That would be really, really cool. The group of guys that I started with. We had a good group of guys: Me, Billy Burr, Patrice Oneal, Dane Cook, and all these guys in Boston and then in Los Angeles. Guys that I worked with and came up with. All of those guys would be great to work with again. Once you start headlining rooms, you never work with the people you started with. I am a huge fan of Louis C.K., I think he is hilarious. I’d love to do anything with him. He’s just a scream. I just saw his new flick ‘The Invention of Lying’. He’s just hilarious in it man. He just can’t miss to me. He’s a really funny guy, I’d love to do something with him.

We have lost so many icons in the comedy world over the past few years. Who do you consider the greatest comedian?

George Carlin. They always have that top one hundred and it always ends up being down to George Carlin and Richard Pryor. Everybody always thinks Richard Pryor. I love Richard Pryor, but the problem is that Richard Pryor’s whole catalog, when you think about it, is really nothing compared to what Carlin did. Carlin had seventeen HBO specials and he continued to be prolific and continued to challenge himself with the writing and would always work on new stuff. For him it was all about being a comedian. I just think he was the best comedian America has ever had. In the true sense of what comedians should be.

You have also appeared in a few films. Which do you prefer, performing stand-up comedy or acting?

It’s different. I love film work when I don’t have to audition. [laughs] I know everybody has to audition, but it’s just… I do so much stand-up and I am so fortunate that I can get booked pretty much any place because I have done enough stuff and I have the chops. I can really get work any place I want. I am kind of spoiled by that. When I got to go and start auditioning for everything, I kind of feel like, “Oh god!” I just feel like I am wasting my time. Not because my acting is so good because I really think my acting is just ok, but in my head I’m always thinking, “I could be doing stand-up right now, making money and having fun. Why am I sitting in a room with four people that really don’t want to listen to me. Once I get the job and I am on a film set, that’s definitely great. This last ‘Boondock’ movie we just did, I spent three months up in Toronto hanging around with great people every single day and having a blast. That’s really irreplaceable. It’s just a lot of fun to be doing that. To get there is pain staking, it just rips so much of your heart and soul out to go and audition for that stuff all the time.

What do you consider the defining moment of your career so far?

The shining moment! Hummm…? Well there’s been a lot. Certainly in my home town on the millennium night. We did a show and sold seventy five hundred tickets for it. I came up on a snowmobile off a ramp. I was like eight feet catapulted into the air with ‘Hells Bells’ playing in the background. When the snowmobile hit the stage I saw seventy five hundred people stand up and go nuts. At that moment I remember thinking, “Yep! This is going down in my head as one of the best moments!” [laughs] Doing Letterman was a great time and really insane. Getting a standing ovation at one of the Gala events in Montreal, which is the biggest comedy festival in the world in front of like three thousand people with Martin Short. That was pretty cool. Then obviously doing stuff for ‘Boondock Saints’. Standing there with Willem Dafoe and shooting scenes with him and thinking, “Oh my god! This guy has been nominated three times and I just played the Chuk Chuk’s in Omaha.” So all of those things. Kind of different things for different times.

When can we look forward to any new stand-up releases on DVD or CD?

Next month. I have a new CD/DVD. A two disc set that will be released probably mid-November to end of November. It’s called ‘Drop It Hard’, but in Maine terms. It’s HAAAHD. ‘Drop It Haaahd’. It’s got a picture of a plow truck on the front. In Maine when you plow, you usually get in there with a bunch of your buddies and you grab a twelve pack of beer and you go, “Drop this bitch haaahd and let’s push some snow.” So it’s called ‘Drop It Haaahd’. That comes out this fall. I had one last spring called ‘Runamuck’, which kind of a Maine term that means everything has gone to shit, better check up on something. I have eighteen albums out now, so I keep really, really busy. I write all of the time and I’m always recording stuff. So yeah, we’re working away at it. I’ve got my own show coming on Sirius/XM radio at the end of the month. Tuesdays at 5:00 pm on Sirius 150. The album comes out. The movie, as you know, is going to be released October 30th in theaters. That’s called ‘All Saints Day’. Yeah! I’m really pumped up about everything!

Did you ever expect ‘The Boondock Saints’ to reach the cult status that it has, and what has it been like being a part of one of the biggest cult sensations in years?

When we were shooting it, everybody was really, really excited. Then when it first got cut and we were waiting for distribution and stuff to happen, nothing happened. So we were like, “Ok, well maybe it’s just going to go away.” Then like a year, year and a half later, it just took off. I was like, “Oh my gosh!” I would get emails. People would show up at my shows. I’m like, “Wow! This whole thing is taking off! This is crazy!” So then we all kind of realized, “I think we’ve got a cult hit on our hands.” It has been for the last ten years really growing and growing and growing. A lot of people now even come up to me and say, “Gee! I just rented that movie the other day. When did that come out? A couple of years ago?” I’m like, “No that came out ten years ago dude.”

Troy Duffy is often looked at in a negative light, which isn’t necessarily fair. What do you think is the biggest misconception about Troy Duffy?

The biggest misconception is that he is a hard head. That is just not true. I’ve known the guy for years and years and years. I’m from New England and he’s from New England. Maybe it’s just the way that Irish guys from New England are. When someone says, “Dude gtet the fuck over here and shoot this. Shut your mouth. Let’s go.” In New England you go, “Oh, ok no problem let’s do it.” If you say that to someone in Hollywood they’re like, “Oh my god! Did he say the f-word? Oh my god! Somebody call the Hollywood Reporter! You’ve hurt my feelings!” I’m standing behind them going, “Shut the fuck up!” I just think that the documentary that was done about him was a hatchet job. That ‘Overnight’ documentary. The guy that shot that thing, Troy gave him carte blache to come and shoot all that stuff. The guy just kind of screwed him on it. They were buddies, he just cut it the way he wanted to and I don’t know… I think if everybody knew him in the same light that we do, they wouldn’t think that. Look at all of the greatest directors in film history. When you think about the scope of their job and what they’re responsible for and what they need to achieve from conception to actual delivery of film, it takes a certain type of person to do that. Look at Kubrick and all of those great film directors you always hear stories about them. I always looked at it like… People are like, “I can’t believe he spoke to me like that!” I’m like, “Listen! You’re getting paid whatever, one hundred and fifty grand to be in a movie asshole! Just sit there and when he says get over here, do it!” It’s probably just that I am a lower class Irish guy from New England, so I think like that. Like, “What’s the big deal? Sit in your trailer and eat a cookie until he comes and gets you. Then go over there and do what he says to do.” Most people would give their right arm or leg to be in the movie. Sometimes it gets out of control. He’s a great guy, I love the guy and I’ve always gotten along great with him. He gave me some great opportunities with this film and the last one. He’s been nothing but great to me. I’ve personally just haven’t seen that side of him, that craziness. He’s a good guy.

It has been ten years since the first film. Has Troy evolved as a writer/director?

Oh yeah. The first movie that we did, I had done some stuff prior to that, so I probably wouldn’t have known as much. Having done stuff in between, watching him on the first movie, and all that other stuff, absolutely. Just the way he was able to consolidate scenes. I’m not a great actor. I do a good job, but when I look at myself I am a realist. I’m like, “Yeah I did a good job in that part.” Troy was able to get stuff out of me that I didn’t know was there. I’m like, “Whoa! This guy is a good director because I didn’t know how I was going to get that scene accomplished and he really directed it out of me.” He’s really great. He’s very, very particular and he knows exactly what he wants. He pays attention to detail, detail, detail. That is so important because that’s what builds fans and that’s what people look for. That’s what makes him stylistically who he is. He’s a brilliant kid, he’s really, really bright. He’s just a great talent.

Without giving too much away, what can fans of the original film expect to see in the sequel?

I think this movie, ‘All Saints Day’, is like ‘ Boondock Saints’ on steroids. Stylistically the fans are going to dig it because it’s similar in that sense to ‘Boondock Saints’. The elements that they liked about the first one are still there. There’s more funny, there’s more action, there’s more drama, there’s more of everything. They had a bigger budget and they spent it on all the right things. It really is a slick picture and it’s going to be great. I think people will really dig it, it’s a cult hit. It’s like if someone said to me, “They’re going to make a Reservoir Dogs 2.” I’d be like, “Oh! Ok!” I would definitely go see it, no matter what. You’re going to have some people that will like it more and some people that will like it less. If you are a ‘Boondock Saints’ fan it doesn’t matter, you have to go see this movie. It plays everything out. It’s awesome!

You are returning as Detective Greenly, what can you tell us about your character in the sequel?

My character in the sequel has grown. In the first one my guy would pipe in and just kind of have wise guy comments throughout the scenes and Willem Dafoe would yell at me and put me in my place. I didn’t have as much information that drove the story forward and my character really didn’t have much of a story line. I was there as the supporting guy. In this one, my guy actually has a little bit more of a storyline and in some of the scenes that I show up in I have a lot more information. Troy used my character to pass along information that drives the story forward. I got a chance to spread my wings a little bit more and not just be a wise guy. It’s nice. I pop up in a lot of the film and there are a lot of standard ‘Greenlyisms’ throughout the movie, where my guy is just being kind of an imbecile. We’ve got a great cast. There are so many funny people in the movie. Julie Benz is in it with us and she is just super sexy. Clifton Collins, the guy who was in ‘Traffic’, he played Frankie Flowers in it. He’s been in ‘Babel’ and ‘Capote’ and ‘Star Trek’. We’ve just got a great cast. Shawn and Norm are back and better than ever. Everybody has evolved a little bit more. All of the characters from the first movie have evolved a little bit more. It’s just really nice to see all of them back.

Did you have any input into your character in either film or was it laid out for you in the script?

A lot of it was laid out in the script. When Troy asked me to audition for the first one, I was on book the whole time. I started throwing stuff out at him after I got the part. He was like, “That’s funny, that’s funny let’s do that, do it like this.” It was a collaboration of both of us. It’s really Troy’s words and then it’s me messing around with stuff here and there and throwing a lot of stuff in it. This time he was cool. He said, “Ok put this in. Put this in.” There were some scenes where he’d be like, “What else do you got? Can you make this a little more funny?” I’m like, “Yeah, but in this scene there’s really nothing to be funny about. I’m just passing information along.” He was kind of like, “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” It was definitely a collaboration of the both of us. The movie is set in New England, so I would say, “What if I called the guy a dink.” He goes, “That’s so funny, that’s such a New England word.” I go, “There are so many of them. Like hard on, dink, queer bait.” All of these words that these blockhead guys up here say. I’m one of them admittedly. Maybe not anymore, but I definitely was for years.

Did you do any special preparation for the role?

I got back in shape and lost some weight. I had gained probably thirty pounds since the last one. Ten years and three kids later I probably gained some weight. I was real thin when I did the last one anyway. I popped the first one in and watched it and said, ” Geez! If this is a sequel, I’ve got to match what I did!” So I got into shape a little bit. Lost some weight and then read the script. I did a ton of driving from Toronto, back and forth to New England because I had shows every weekend. So I put the script on audio and then I’d listen to it the whole ride back and forth to Toronto. I worked on my stuff there.

What was the vibe like on the set? Was there anyone in particular you were looking forward to working with?

I love Billy Connolly. Billy Connolly is just awesome. I always look forward to just hanging out with him as a person. He’s super cool. When he is on set, he just raises the bar. He’s so talented and so funny. If I ever had scenes with him, I couldn’t look him in the eye because I’d just start laughing. We both do stand up and we have a lot in common. He’s just a great guy and a real mentor. I really look up to him so he was cool. The vibe on set was totally easy going, everybody was joking around a lot. There were really serious days where there’s serious nature happening in the text. People would know that and be respectful of that. Then there would be other days where you would show up and there would be a thousand fans hanging around waiting to meet people. It was really like a big family. Really festive and super cool. We’d go to dinner a lot and hang out a lot. The first movie we were a lot younger, all of us were ten years younger, so we were all out whoopping it up every night. That really wasn’t the case on this one.

Do you have any interesting stories or challenges from the set?

Challenges? Hummm… There’s a guy named PJ. I forget his last name. I am embarrassed to say that I forget his last name. He’s on ‘One Tree Hill’. He’s a big dude. I had a scene with him in this apartment scene and I approach him and push him in the arm. He went to push me back and I had a pair of dress shoes on and there’s broken glass under my feet, he pushed me back and I slid about twelve and a half feet across the room. Troy goes, “I’m keeping that in the take, just so people can laugh at you.” I was like, “Come on dude!” I don’t think he kept it in the final cut. That was pretty funny. There’s some days where you get there, it’s three o’clock in the morning and you’re freezing and it’s outside. You have a paragraph of dialogue and you can’t get your tongue around it and everybody is staring at you during the rehearsal. Then you roll on one take and amazingly enough you get it on one take. Everybody goes through those challenges. It’s one of those things where it’s like a reunion the first day on set because you see everybody that worked on the first movie, including crew and some cast mates. You’re also meeting new cast mates as well, so it’s a little bit like the first day of school.

Do you have any future film projects that we should be on the look out for?

I don’t right now. I really don’t. I don’t chase them a lot because I do so much stand up. When I first started doing stand up, the film stuff looked so much more lucrative. I’m one of these tweener guys. I’m kind of between smaller parts and bigger parts. I’m not going to get paid tons and tons and tons to do a film, therefore I really can’t take tons and tons of time off from stand up because I lose money. When I first started in stand up my rate of pay was so low that I could do that. Now we’re filling theaters or clubs everywhere we go. I make a lot more money. For me to take a bunch of time off to make a film, it just kills me financially. ‘Boondock’ was a different story because they paid me really well and obviously I would have done it for free just to be with these guys again.

Where can people catch up with your stand up act?

I’ll be in D.C. in November. I’m doing a lot of stuff in New England. Big, big shows in a two thousand seater in Portland, Maine. Between Christmas and New Years we do six shows. So we’ll sell about twelve thousand seats there. I’ll be in Boston October 17th at The Wilbur Theatre. I’m just always cranking, always working. I’ll be all around the country. I just worked in Cleveland, I was in Denver, I’m in New York City. It’s www.bmarley.com for tickets, information, and all of that stuff.

What is the best piece of advice that someone has given you along the way in your career?

Oh gosh! I had a friend of mine from Boston named Don Gavin, who was an older guy that does comedy. He said, “It’s not rocket science kid.” He said, “Write the jokes. Show up on time. When you get on stage, stick to your time. That’s it!” I was like, “Ok!” It sounded really elementary at the time, but it’s proven to be the absolute truth over the years. So that was a really good piece of advice.

That being said, do you have an advice for anyone who would like to get involved in the entertainment industry?

Yeah. If you get involved with it, you can’t give up. My philosophy is, if you’re dumb enough to get into it, you have to be dumb enough to think you are going to make it. [laughs] It’s like somebody saying, “I dunno, maybe I’ll be a Navy Seal.” It’s like, “Ok, if you’re going to be a Navy Seal, expect to get killed at some point.” [laughs]

Do you have any last words?

‘The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day’ is in theaters October 30th. If you don’t go see this movie, you’re going NOWHERE! [laughs]

Thanks for your time Bob.

Thanks a lot. Have a good one man.

- -

For all the latest news and tour dates for Bob Marley, swing by his official website at www.bmarley.com!

The official one sheet poster for one of the most anticipated sequels ever-made, Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, has been unleashed! Check it at at below and weigh in with your thoughts!

The film is scheduled to hit theaters on Halloween weekend! You can check out the second high-intensity trailer below along with some stills from the film below.

The film is the continuation of writer & director Troy Duffy’s tough, stylized cutting edge saga of fraternal twins, the MacManus brothers (Norman Reedus, Sean Patrick Flanery). The two have been in deep hiding in the quiet valleys of Ireland, far removed from their former lives or modern technologies. When word comes that a priest has been killed by sinister forces in the tough underworld of Boston, they return to mount a violent and bloody crusade to bring justice to those who must now suffer the consequences, with a new partner in crime (Clifton Collins of Star Trek) and a sexy FBI operative (Julie Benz of TV’s “Dexter”) hot on their trail!

Sony Pictures has launched a site for the film at www.sonypictures.com/movies/boondocksaints2

In Recent Boondock Saints News…

Timed to coincide with the cinematic release “Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day,” writer/director Troy Duffy is working with 12 Gauge Comics on a comic tie-in project. The original cult hit movie followed brothers Connor and Murphy MacManus, who take it upon themselves to clean up the streets of Boston, ridding their hometown of crime as local vigilantes. The film sequel does not yet have a firm release date, but upon its release, the series will follow.

Readers will see, among other things, the circumstances behind Il Duce’s first kill. “Some very personal things happen to him that’s sort of his impetus to begin killing,” Duffy said. “But then there’s another person involved, and it becomes much more than just ‘one kill for revenge.’”

Clifton Collins Jr. may not yet be a household name, but with his unbelievable range and strong work ethic, he soon will be. As a matter of fact, if you have made your way to the local cinema in the past few years, you have probably seen him more times than you can count. This year alone, he has made his mark on some of 2009s biggest films such as Crank 2, Extract, and a little movie called Star Trek. In addition to those films, he will soon hit the screen in one of the most highly anticipated sequels of all time, Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day. As of the hardest working men in show business, he shows no signs of slowing down. In between his work as an actor, he has also taken a spin behind the camera as a music video director. The results – he netted the USA Weekend Breakthrough Video of the Year at the CMT Awards for his work with The Zack Brown Band. Not too shabby! With an expansive filmography and an unrelenting passion for his craft, 2009 is shaping up to be his most amazing year yet. Jason Price of Icon Vs. Icon recently caught up with Clifton Collins Jr. during one of his few minutes of downtime to talk about what makes him tick, his amazing career, his latest projects and what the future holds for this multi-faceted artist.

Let’s get started with some basic questions: Where did you grow up? What got you started on your road to becoming an actor and how long have you been in the business?

I grew up in Los Angeles. I’m a fourth generation entertainer. My grandfather is Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez, so it runs in the family. I’ve been in the industry about twenty one years.

Growing up and even today, what/who were some of your influences?

Once again, I’m a fourth generation entertainer so I grew up in the business. I started tap dancing when I was seven and you know, I was just always around it. My grandfather was a contract player for John Wayne.

You recently had a film come out that you worked on with Mike Judge called “Extract”, what’s it like working with him?

I love working with Judge, he is a comedic genius. He’s the voice of middle America and represents the common folk. He’s kind of like the Johnny Cash of comedy, he’s the guy that created “Beavis and Butthead”, “King of the Hill” and “Office Space.” He’s just brilliant and I loved everyday working with him on set. It’s just a fun time, he’s a good good friend. I can hardly wait to work with him again. He’s real collaborative.

When you read the script and you saw that your character would be getting a testicle blown off, what was your first impression?

When I read the script I didn’t know I was going to get the role. I still had to audition and all that other stuff, but I thought it was hilarious I laughed my ass off! I mean it’s such great comedy you know?

You’ve played such a wide range of characters, is there a standard way you go about researching your characters before you start out?

It really depends on how the role hits me, if it’s an emotional thing or a technical thing it’s really contingent on that and I’ll go from there. There’s so many different ways to do it, I mean you can go to those areas or go on Wikipedia or you can Google any historical event, if your character is true to life. There’s just a lot of different ways. I love to research my roles, to me that’s one of the big fun things. You know, in high school I never got good grades in history but now as an actor, I get to research different events , different characters or different court cases. So that stuff for me now is a lot of fun. I am not sure that there is a way to make that fun when you’re in high school, but it’s fun as an adult. [laughs]

You were recently in Iowa working on a re-make of “The Experiment” with Adrian Brody and Forest Whitaker. What was that experience like for you?

I’ve worked with Forest before and he’s just an old friend, so it was fun just jammin. You know you love working with people you’ve worked with before especially if they’re good people. And when they’re badasses like Forest and Adrian it’s just icing on the cake. We were in Iowa too so all you have is each other, you have that camaraderie with your friends on set.

You have done two videos for the Zac Brown Band, and you even went on to win a few CMT awards for “Breakthrough Video of the Year”. How did you originally get involved with the band?

With the Zac Brown Band my managers over at ROAR, Will Ward and Bernie Cahill, they introduced us when Zac came to Hollywood to perform for a new record label back when he was making a transition. I had already directed two videos for The Soul of John Black. “Chicken Fried” was climbing the charts and he needed somebody pretty fast to come up with an idea. He met with several directors and then he called me and said “I’m picking you because you get it. You get what this story is about, you get what this song is about.” In regards to when we made the video, honestly, Jamey Johnson is an artist that inspires me just as much as Zac does. They’re similar and different but their honesty is the same and their sincerity just rang so truthful to me. I guess that me as an artist, I like to play roles as close to my heart and as real as possible and when I find songs that make me feel the same way, I’m impassioned by them. I decided being in Iowa there’s so much beautiful scenery to shoot there that it’s a great opportunity to shoot a short story of some sorts. It was inspired by Jamey’s song “The High Cost of Living” and then Jamey got wind of it and that’s kind of how that transpired. Instead of my vision it turned into a collaboration, which is what I was longing to have happen anyway. To be able to collaborate with a great artist like Jamey Johnson is a gift. I don’t know how else to put it, it’s quite an experience.

Are there other artists you’d like to do a video for?

Sure, there are some good artists out there. I’m sure at some point I’ll just be doing videos because they are fun songs. Some of the songs that Zac writes and songs that Jamey Johnson writes, at this point and time in my career, I really kind of just want to go out and direct videos for those people that move me emotionally. I know I’ve said this before, but I don’t want to be that music video gun for hire guy. I want to be inspired like I am with my screenplays. I think it’s kind of common knowledge that I don’t really do a whole lot of roles for the money. Although, be it hard as they may try, it’s always the material that gets me going and when you get to listen to an entire album like “That Lonesome Song” or “The Foundation” (Zac Brown) which just went platinum, you get moved by music. What else could you ask for then to be moved and have the opportunity to move an audience through a visual experience in conjunction with the music that inspired you in the first place.

When can we be on the lookout for the new video?

I’ve got a lot of hurdles to still jump on that one but I’m moving along. I’m hoping to try and reinvent, and I know people use that a lot and I’m not trying to whore out the term, the style of how it’s going to be. It’s going to be very different than anything you’ve ever seen in recent times I’ll promise you that.

We’re looking forward to that one!

Yeah me too, everyday I work on it.

Moving on to some “Boondock Saints” inquiries, how did you first get involved with Troy Duffy?

One of my best friends introduced me to Troy Duffy on his birthday on June 8 of ‘96 right as the original “Boondock Saints” was getting going. I think I read for Detective Greenly or some shit, some smaller role that has been reprised in the new one by the same actor. Thank God I didn’t get that role because now I’m playing a new saint in the new one. Troy wrote this role for me, I’ve been a supporter of Troy through the highs and through the lows and he’s family. As well as Chris Brinker the producer. He hasn’t done anything in over ten years so this film is certainly going to put him back on the map real hard. To say he one upped himself would be a gross understatement. (laughs) He’s raised the bar very high. There are a lot of lessons he’s learned along the way, nobody teaches you how to deal with success. That’s certainly not something they teach you in acting class or film school. And Troy, here’s a guy that didn’t even go to film school. This is a guy that…he’s just got this plethora, he’s constantly coming up with these crazy ideas, he’s like the Jesse James of screenplays you know?! Instead of making hot rod motorcycles he makes hot rod scripts, and believe me there’s more than just “Boondock” coming out of Troy. You’ll see what I mean, he’s got some crazy ones coming up.

Troy Duffy gets a bad rap in a lot of circles, which isn’t necessarily fair. Having worked with him what do you think the biggest misconception about him is?

He’s incredibly sensitive. In spite of what some people may think, he’s got an incredibly big, big, giant heart. He’s always been a true blue friend and been there for me, he’s never not been there for me. He’s always been one of those friends that I can count on, I think it goes without saying he’s one of those guys. And once again, here’s this guy he’s like the first guy in history…he’s like a bouncer, he wrote a screenplay, Harvey Weinstein wants to do it and then he gets a record deal with Maverick in the same breath. It’s like “Who does that?!” He was like 25 and it was a dream come true, he’s new blood and wasn’t born into this business and he had certain people around him that weren’t really helping the cause. So it’s hard. How do you keep your feet on the ground when you’ve got that kind of stuff happening? It’s difficult, it’s intoxicating. I’m not justifying what went down I’m just saying I can see how it happens and he’s still that same rogue spirit, he’s still that same funny charming guy and he’s my bro, I love him.

What can you tell us about your role in “Boondock Saints ll”?

I play Romeo the new saint. I like to say that Romeo is almost like the fans journey portrayed vicariously through me. You know there’s so many crazed “Boondock” fans as you know [laughs] and I guess it would be like if I was a crazed fan and I get to meet them and one day I get to be them. So I’ve got to prove myself. A lot of these jokes come from just us hanging out, there’s a lot of shit that happens when you hang out with Troy aside from always a delicious disgustingly tasty barbeque or some kind of crazy smoked roast or something- he’s an insane cook and an insane chef. He’ll smoke a roast all day long and you’ll come by and it just comes off the bone. But there’s always funny stuff going on and a lot of comedy in this new sequel that just came about from us hanging out.

I know that you guys got quite a reception from the fans at this year’s Comic Con in San Diego. You have had some experience with Comic Con and rabid fanbases from your role in ‘Star Trek’. How do the “Boondock Saints” and “Star Trek” fans compare to each other?

Their just different fans, the “Boondock” fans are into a different genre. But Comic-Con in general is just a big frenzy, honestly I had a lot of fun when I stopped working because I had a chance to walk around and check things out, that part was fun. You’re so busy signing autographs, one of the fun things about doing one of those autograph signings is when you’re not at Comic-Con you actually get a chance to sit down and say hi to people and hear a story or two. You get a chance to really connect outside of the premiere world or the fanfare that surrounds the red carpets and stuff where it’s harder to access actors and whatnot. I enjoy that process, I mean Comic-Con with “Boondock Saints” the line was over a mile long and so many of the fans they didn’t want to miss an opportunity for the panel so they didn’t even get to have their posters signed. At one point it became an assembly line with Billy Connolly, myself, Norman, Sean and Julie just signing as fast as we can. And Troy has the gift of gab, and can say anything about anything almost at any second. When I heard him quiet down toward the last twenty minutes I knew the assembly line got ramped up really fast. You literally couldn’t even look at the fan, you were signing so fast, you just wanted a name. So that part I was a little disappointed because I wanted a chance to connect, but the fans just wanted the chance to get a poster. We made a promise to sign some afterwards too because there were just so many people there. With “Star Trek” when that was there I went down there J.J. Abrams and everybody were there. I was there for Jason Statham’s birthday, I think he was doing press for “Transporters 3″, so I got to experience it from the outside looking in which is a really nice opportunity for myself. Because I do recognize that might be the only opportunity I have for that kind of thing to happen. Even with the Vulcan makeup people still know me. I’ve had people that just straight point at me and go “Aaayelll” [laughs] You always know that these fans have a big love for something that you’ve created and that’s truly one of the great rewards of what we get to do as actors. When you have fans that love stuff enough that their as sweet as they can be. I’ve been fortunate to not have those banana, fanatical fans. Maybe it’s the totally crazy people that I’ve had the chance to play, I don’t really know. I’ve had other actors tell me “Oh, you get the cool fans.” and I’m like “I don’t know what it is but you’re right, I do. I’ve got some really cool fans and I’m really lucky.”

You’ve worked with some interesting directors, like Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor on “Crank 2″, and you work on scripts. Can we look forward to you bringing a full-length movie to the big screen in the future perhaps based on one of your scripts?

Oh yeah are you kiddin, absolutely! We’re working on that stuff now as we speak. I’m doing a lot of that stuff, but in the interim music video is something I really enjoy and getting the opportunity to work with certain artists. Once again, I don’t want to be that dude that just goes out and does music videos. I’m really enjoying the creative process of trying to weave in a story that’s going to lend credibility. You know the country music world, at least the people that I deal with, they really have a lot of integrity and there’s a lot of sincerity and family history and tradition that goes into so much of their different songs. So with that said often times these artists as musicians they’re going to want some kind of treatment that’s going to be very true to it. Which is kind of my bag of tea in the sense that the kind of roles I try to take that I can do something really real with. The challenge to me is to try and exercise that creative side of the brain, and that’s only going to help the movie side. I’ve been fortunate enough to have great music video mentors like Jonas Åckerlund, a dear friend and just an overall badass. So to answer your question, yes you will see some stuff coming up.

You seem to be one of the hardest working and busiest guys in the business, what do you do to relax when you do give yourself a break?

You know brother that’s a really good question, I’ve been wondering the same thing myself. I don’t really have a good answer for you, it’s like when you love what you do and you get paid to do it, do you find something else you love to do because you don’t get paid? You know what I mean? It’s like I’m sitting here watching episodes of “Southland” right now because I’m taking a meeting with some of these people here and I’m really enjoying the show. The authenticity and how real it is, the character development and how they light it, and I like it! It’s part of my job, I got up at six o’clock this morning and I’ve already watched five episodes and it’s funny…it’s like “This is part of my job?!” [laughs] I’m really lucky, it’s like getting paid to make model airplanes or remote control cars, or getting paid to play video games, you know what I mean? And also, once again being a fourth generation entertainer I was always around my grandpa talking about John Wayne or talking about different movies or directors he worked with, or even watching some old tv shows or movies and he’d talk about how they were made or how they did it. It’s so much of a part of who we are, I do like it. Recently I went boogieboarding with Mike Judge and Cheech Marin over at Cheech’s gigantic Malibu “hacienda” if you will, with Jacob Vargas so it was the four of us. When I ate shit and that wave took me down to the bottom of the ocean it was the first time I’d had a non-Hollywood thought in a while, my thought was “I’ve gotta get some air.” [laughs] It was really peaceful down there at the bottom I’ve got to say, but as soon as I came back up for air and went back again and started laughing and talking about movie related stuff again. I love it man. I mean, what do you do? I’ve really been thinking about this question that you’ve asked me. For the past week I think I’ve been thinking about it.

What is the best piece of advice that someone has given you along the way in your career, and what is the best advice that you have for anyone who would like to get involved in the film industry?

That’s a really good question too. You have to decide why you want it, if you get into it for the wrong reasons you’re going to leave really really bitter. I love to entertain, I love the audition process, I like going in and giving a performance. Years ago it was okay to hear “You gave a really great read, we really love what you did in there.” And in hindsight, looking back I didn’t know why I didn’t have it to “get it” then, it’s like I don’t want to give a good read I want to give a great performance. Like when I was a kid tap dancing, I wanted to give a good performance, and that was something that my grandfather instilled in all of us. So you’ve really got to decide why you want it and you’ve got to enjoy the process. If you don’t enjoy the process then you’re going to be really bitter. It’s like when you open your Christmas presents, once you open them the anticipation is over. All that angst is over. When you were a kid and it was like “Oh my God, three more days!”, part of the fun was waiting. When you take a road trip, it’s not the destination it’s the journey. You’ve got to enjoy the journey because if you don’t then you’re going to be miserable, but if you do then it’s gonna be a blast man. It’s got its highs and lows like anything, but the challenges are certainly something I like to meet head on

What other projects do you have coming out that we should be on the lookout for in the upcoming months?

[whistles] Well shoot, you should have the answer to that one my good man! [laughs] “Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day” comes out October 30th.

Are you doing anything special for the premiere?

Oh there’s all kinds of things that are special going on for that bad boy! I gotta tell you I’m so proud of Troy and I’m so happy and excited for him just to be back in the saddle again. And for him to be able to ride this wave the way it should be ridden, and also the studio supporting it the way that they have. Sony and everybody over there has been so incredibly loving like good functioning parents. They’ve got big plans, they’re talking about a Boston premiere, New York, L.A., they’re going big on this one. So I’m trying to clear up my schedule now so I can be there for it because there is obviously a lot of value just in doing this movie, it’s incredibly sentimental. Watching Troy fight for years trying to get the sequel made and have it finally be done, I got to talk about overcoming obstacles and challenges. If you can stay in the biz for ten years to make your dream come true yet again…I can’t tip a hat big enough to Troy in that respect.

You don’t really realize how many people know you from your work. I was talking to some guys and I told them I was going to interview you. They asked what you were in and I named one of your movies, they were like “Oh yeah, I just saw that over the weekend.” Then of course they jumped back to a previous film you were in and so on.

Awwww man I love hearing that kind of stuff!

Your work is really phenomenal and I can’t wait to see what you come up with in the future.

Thanks man believe me I try real hard to create new characters all the time, it’s a blessing and a curse. Because like you said people don’t realize that I’m in this movie or that movie, they don’t really connect the dots. But that’s part of the fun too, because you watch them connect their dots in their head and it catches like wildfire in the summertime. I do enjoy creating characters and I love the fact that people can appreciate what I do that way, so for you to say that really means a lot to me so I appreciate that bro.

Thank you for your time and best of luck!

Have a rockin’ day homeboy, I’ll talk to you soon!

- -

For all the latest happening in the world of Clifton Collins, Jr. — Check out his official site at www.cliftoncollinsjr.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ccollinsjr!

The wait is over! The trailer for one of the most anticipated sequels ever-made, Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, has been unleashed! Writer/director Troy Duffy and the cast of the film debuted the trailer at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con and now Sony Pictures has made it available to the legions of the franchise’s devoted fans!

Check it at at below and weigh in with your thoughts!

When will you be able to see the film? Troy Duffy recently announced, via Twitter, that the film is scheduled to hit theaters on Halloween weekend. We will keep you posted as the story develops.

The film is the continuation of writer & director Troy Duffy’s tough, stylized cutting edge saga of fraternal twins, the MacManus brothers (Norman Reedus, Sean Patrick Flanery). The two have been in deep hiding in the quiet valleys of Ireland, far removed from their former lives or modern technologies. When word comes that a priest has been killed by sinister forces in the tough underworld of Boston, they return to mount a violent and bloody crusade to bring justice to those who must now suffer the consequences, with a new partner in crime (Clifton Collins, Star Trek) and a sexy FBI operative (Julie Benz, TV’s “Dexter”) hot on their trail!

Sony Pictures has launched a site for the film at www.sonypictures.com/movies/boondocksaints2

In Recent Boondock Saints News…

Timed to coincide with the cinematic release “Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day,” writer/director Troy Duffy is working with 12 Gauge Comics on a comic tie-in project. The original cult hit movie followed brothers Connor and Murphy MacManus, who take it upon themselves to clean up the streets of Boston, ridding their hometown of crime as local vigilantes. The film sequel does not yet have a firm release date, but upon its release, the series will follow.

Readers will see, among other things, the circumstances behind Il Duce’s first kill. “Some very personal things happen to him that’s sort of his impetus to begin killing,” Duffy said. “But then there’s another person involved, and it becomes much more than just ‘one kill for revenge.’”

Timed to coincide with the cinematic release “Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day,” writer/director Troy Duffy is working with 12 Gauge Comics on a comic tie-in project. The original cult hit movie followed brothers Connor and Murphy MacManus, who take it upon themselves to clean up the streets of Boston, ridding their hometown of crime as local vigilantes. The film sequel does not yet have a firm release date, but upon its release, the series will follow.

Comic Book Resources recently caught up with Duffy, comic series co-writer Jason Love, 12-Gauge publisher Keven Gardner, and Eben Matthews, the series producer, to discuss the comic. Read the full interview here >

Duffy said that the comic will flesh out the fan-favorite character of Il Duce, the brothers’ father played by Billy Connolly, in even greater depth than what will be seen in the cinematic sequel. “There was so much interest about that guy and how he became a killer,” Duffy told CBR. “The character was one of those characters that comes in in the last 10 minutes and blows the plot wide open, but he was not in there throughout the film, so I wouldn’t have expected so much interest in him. I had to address it, because fans of ‘Boondock’ were just too interested in this guy and how he became a killer, and why he was where he was, and everything about him.”

Readers will see, among other things, the circumstances behind Il Duce’s first kill. “Some very personal things happen to him that’s sort of his impetus to begin killing,” Duffy said. “But then there’s another person involved, and it becomes much more than just ‘one kill for revenge.’”

To celebrate all things Boondock Saints, Troy Duffy will be signing for the new comic series at the 12 Gauge Comics Booth at Comic Con on Friday, July 24th at 4:30 PM! Booth #2045

Fans headed to Comic Con can meet the mastermind behind this cult classic film, get a peek at the new comic series and start getting pumped for Saturday’s world premiere of the All Saints Day Trailer!

For those planning your trip to 2009 San Diego Comic Con International, one can’t miss stop at this year’s big event is the The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day panel and trailer debut. Below is all the info you need to make sure that you don’t miss out on the action.

Friday, JULY 24, 2009
4:30 – Troy Duffy Signing
12 Gauge Comics Booth – Booth #2045

Saturday, JULY 25, 2009
2:00-3:00 - Signing with Cast and Troy!
Sony Pictures Entertainment Booth

3:30-4:30 – Panel with Cast and Troy Duffy!
ROOM 6DE

The panel for the event will include:

Troy Duffy (writer/director)
Billy Connolly (Noah ‘Il Duce’ McManus)
Norman Reedus (Murphy McManus)
Sean Patrick Flannery (Connor McManus)
Julie Benz (Eunice Bloom)
Clifton Collins, Jr. (Romeo)
David Della Rocco (Rocco)

Fans can look forward the world premiere of the trailer for the panel on Saturday, July 25th at 3:30pm in Room 6DE.

For the most up to date info an all things Comic Con, visit the official site at www.comic-con.org.

In the sequel to the cult classic The Boondock Saints, Director Troy Duffy brings back Sean Patrick Flanery (Suicide Kings, Powder), Norman Reedus (American Gangster, Blade 2), and Billy Connolly (The Last Samurai) and introduces Clifton Collins JR (Star Trek, Crank 2) as a new partner in crime and Julie Benz (Rambo, Punisher 2, Saw) as the sexy F.B.I. operative who is hot on their trail.

Troy Duffy is still hard at work putting the finishing touches on one of the most anticipated sequels ever-made, Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day.

In his latest post-production video, the fifth in the series, Troy Duffy talks to one of the stars of the film, Clifton Collins, Jr. (Boondock Saints II, Star Trek, Crank 2: High Voltage), who plays “Romeo” in the new film.

Check out the video below.

Recently, Troy Duffy revealed via his Facebook page that legendary rockers Styx would be composing an original song for the highly anticipated film.

You can now follow Troy Duffy and all things Boondock Saints related on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/BoondockSaints! You can follow some of the stars from the film at these addresses: @seanflanery @wwwbigbaldhead @ccollinsjr @rubetime

Boondock Saints II is coming… Spread the word!

Help Support A Great ‘Boondock Saints’ Related Cause:

As we reported a few weeks back, Duffy is offering fans an opportunity to get a piece of film-used memorabilia, all while helping a good cause.

Jimi Jackson, a long time friend of Troy’s and drummer in the band, Boondock Saints, has been battling a brain tumor. Jackson, has already been through two brain surgeries and unfortunately he may soon undergo another.

To help offset the growing financial burdens brought about by the medical needs, Duffy will be selling bullet casings used in Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day from official webstore of the films. The casings are now available to purchase and limited quantities (a total of 834 Total Bullet Casings) are available.

The pack includes:

1 Bullet fired from the set of Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

1 Velour 3″x4″ Black Pouch

1 Certificate of Authenticity Signed By Troy Duffy

Check out the official Boondock Saints store for all the info >

Get a move on to help a great cause… they won’t last long!