UPDATE: TRAILER ADDED BELOW

Did you know that one of my favorite flicks from the 90’s wasn’t The Matrix? Okay, so maybe it was. But my other favorite film from that decade which was completely unknown until a cult following made it a DVD hit was The Boondock Saints. It had guns, it had Willem Dafoe, it had explosions, it had Willem Dafoe, it had a witty and intelligent script, and most importantly, it had Willem Dafoe.

The film had the bad luck of coming out right around the same time as the Columbine shooting. President Bill Clinton blacklisted the film for its violent content and it was pulled from theaters after only 2 weeks of release. The subsequent DVD generated enough of a fanbase for the parent company, 20th Century Fox, to put out a “Special Edition” DVD that didn’t have any more features, but did split the content onto two discs so as to be able to deliver a higher quality version of the film itself.

Back in 2006, Troy Duffy, the writer/director of The Boondock Saints, posted a video on the official site detailing his plans for the sequel as well as another script he had finished writing. The sequel would not have Willem Dafoe (apparently he felt his career had gone in a different direction…humph) and would be titled The Boondock Saints: All Saints Day.

That video managed to get the internet swirling with rumors, most of which have been denied at this point. What is known, is that Rocco will be back, most likely in a flashback sequence, and that, pending a legal battle, the rights for the sequel would be back with 20th Century Fox, allowing Troy to make his film. Everyone was basically buckling down for several more months, if not years, of development hell. Then, all of a sudden, the unthinkable happened. The court case was over… and Boondock Saints II went into production.

So as of October 2008, the movie was being made. It was filming. There were actors. There was a crew. The movie was actually happening. Almost as soon as it had started, it ended…

As of December 2008, the lighting fast 35 day shoot came to a close and the team went into Post-Production. All of this had occurred without a single official photo from the film, a single frame of shown footage, or any marketing/advertising of any kind. For those of us who have been following the film for years now, the lack of actual viable material has been extremely depressing. The production diaries were supposed to continue into the editing room, and though they became increasingly more spread out, Troy would occasionally post a video reassuring the public that film was actually making some headway. In the meantime, a friend of Troy’s was diagnosed with a brain tumor and Troy decided to raise money for his medical bills by selling bullet casings from the guns that were fired on the set of the sequel. The most recent update, filmed against an unassuming beige wall, has Troy telling the camera that he is screening what could be the final cut of the film to the execs at the studio that afternoon and will keep everyone posted as things develop.

So I guess my biggest question is, where the hell is the movie already? It’s been in development for over a decade, it’s finally been shot and is nearly at a final edit… and we still haven’t seen jack. No teaser poster, no official stills, no trailer… not even a release date. Summer 2009 is already well under way, and a high profile sequel deserves time to develop its marketing campaign. The end result is that we probably won’t be seeing the boys back in action in the next 3 months. The next possible place to launch the film is the beginning of November, when the studio could line the release up with the actual All Saints Day. I just hope they get all their ducks in a row so we’re not left hanging another year before this installment makes its way to theaters.

The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day Trailer