THE BOONDOCK SAINTS III Will See the Return of Norman Reedus, Sean Patrick Flanery, and Director Troy Duffy
A third film in The Boondock Saints franchise has officially been announced, and director Troy Duffy is returning to direct. Norman Reedus and Sean Patrick Flanery will reprise their roles of fraternal twin Irish brothers Connor and Murphy MacManus.
The film will see the characters on a vigilante journey, which starts after they “dispatch two Russian mobsters in self defense, and then have an epiphany to rid their Boston hometown of all crime, while being hunted by a FBI agent (Willem Dafoe), who can’t help but admire their cause.”
Duffy wrote the script for the film with Flanery, and it’s said that Reedus also offered a lot of input on the story. The project is set to start shooting in May when Flanery has finished his work on The Boys and Reedus is finished working on The Walking Dead.
Duffy shared in a statement, “The fans have loved these characters for twenty years. They use terms of endearment like ‘the Brothers’ or ‘the Boys.’ We left them in jail at the end of Boondock 2 and fans want to know what happened to them. Norman and Sean have been a driving force to keep this franchise on track and break some new ground story-wise. The fans have been waiting. They literally ask about it daily, and I am really excited to be working with Impossible Dream to make Boondock III a reality.”
He added, “Where we’re going is, the brothers are older. They are coming out into a brand new world that is not like the one they left. They are at odds. One wants to continue, the other doesn’t. There’s a new enemy out there, not like the traditional ones they’ve faced. That’s the thing that is timely about this one. I asked the fan based once, who would you most like to see Connor and Murphy kill? There were like 4500 answers, and some were Biblical; people just don’t give you one word answers. The number one answer was, politicians. I wrote a scene right now where one of them says, are you fucking kidding? You can’t kill a politician and the other saying, are you kidding me? They’re the ones doing it. It turns out one guy is doing it much worse than everyone else. Without getting too deep into the story, what it is is, two boys coming out of prison after staying there much longer than expected, to a brand new world. They’re at odds on whether to push forward. But the type of people we face today in our society, is unlike any we’ve faced before. And that brings them together and they say, we cannot turn our backs on this.”
Producer Shaun Redick said, “It’s easy to see how this franchise has attracted and maintained its strong cult following all of these years when you dig into the mythology and execution of the storytelling. Troy, Norman and Sean have skillfully architected a killer story that fans will go crazy for, just as Yvette and I have. We love and appreciate that Boondock Saints has such a rabid fan base that is starving for anything and everything that builds on the franchise. We see fans tattoo the characters, sayings, and prayer on their bodies, they engage in digital and social media, and they travel enormous distances to meet and engage with the creators and stars of the films and comics. All this makes us excited to get to work with the team and deliver something distinct and special.”
He went on to say, “We’re going to have some stars joining this and playing some interesting characters and have some fun with these roles. We’re going to elevate this one. We just worked with the John Wick team, 87Eleven, and we’re going to introduce some of the stunt guys to Troy and see if we can bring them in. They did all the John Wicks, Atomic Blonde, these high octane, badass action films.”
Producer Yvette Yates Redick added, “Regardless of whether or not someone has seen the first two films, Saints III will blow them away. Moreover, this is a proud comeback moment for Troy – a storyteller who has demonstrated humility and resilience in the face of adversity and emerged more focused and determined than ever to continue the Boondock Saints story. We’re proud to back him and his authentic vision for this franchise.”
Redick also shared, “Since I hooked up with Red and Yvette, they’ve proven to be some of the best in the business. Boondock has always had a hard independent road. You’d try to get the best people in the area you’re shooting in, and there are things you just can’t believe that happen on an independent film set where you have to make a decision, get that footage and move on and not cry about it. Rob Peter to pay Paul, move, move, move 100mph and you’re lucky if you get a salient story at the end of it. One of the things I’ve never had is the comfort of enough days, and the comfort of working with these people. I’ve never worked with the John Wick stunt guys before, but man, have I wanted to. I’ve got stunt work, gun work here, that deserve the attention and care paid by that franchise. One of the things that is really cool for me now is jumping in the pool with these guys who’ll say, you know what? Here’s what we can do.”
This is exciting! The first two films in the franchise are great, and it’s happy to see the original creative team come back together to make a third! I’m stoked to see how it turns out!
Source: Deadline