Troy Duffy
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| Troy Duffy | |
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| Born | June 8, 1971  Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Years active | 1999-Present |
Troy Duffy (born June 8, 1971 in Hartford, Connecticut) is an American director, screenwriter and musician. Duffy became a known personality in Hollywood after starting and effectively ending his career as both a film maker and musician over a period of roughly three years.
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[edit] Movie career
Duffy moved to Los Angeles in his twenties to pursue a music career with his band, The Brood. While seeking gigs, he worked at a bar where he wrote the script for the motion picture The Boondock Saints during his break periods.[1] The script featured two brothers in Boston dedicated to killing Mafia thugs. He successfully marketed the film to Harvey Weinstein of Miramax Films, who bought the screenplay for US$300,000 intending to film the movie on a $15,000,000 budget. However, they dropped the project, leaving Duffy without prospects.[2]
Still believing himself a hot commodity, Duffy convinced agents at the William Morris Agency to help him market the film to other studios, and it was eventually picked up by a small company who offered to produce the film for less than half of Miramax's original budget. Desperate to get the project rolling and convinced that it would eventually prove a major success, thus giving him an upper hand over the people who previously panned him, Duffy took the deal, shooting the film over several weeks on location. After shooting, the film was "shopped" at the Cannes film festival in the hopes of finding a distributor.
After months of sitting on the shelf, the film was picked up by a small studio for theatrical release - it was shown in five theaters in the United States for a period of only seven days.
Duffy's infamy was cemented in the documentary Overnight, which he initially authorized and endorsed. His story is also featured in an episode of E!'s Boulevard of Broken Dreams.
Through word of mouth, The Boondock Saints DVD grossed over $6,000,000 in sales, of which Duffy received nothing due to the structure of the contract he signed with the distribution company.
He is currently pursuing a sequel to The Boondock Saints.
[edit] Music career
The controversy originally surrounding the film and the fact that Duffy's band would be producing its soundtrack created a small but significant interest in the group, which had previously been ignored. The band consisted of Duffy, his brother Taylor, and two friends, Gordon "Gordie" Clark, and Jimi Jackson. The members frequented several North Hollywood taverns and were appropriately featured in the bar scene of the movie The Boondock Saints.
After several failed attempts to secure a record contract, the band finally won a deal with a subsidiary of Atlantic Records, who produced their first album (released as The Boondock Saints). After nearly a year on the market, the album sold fewer than 700 copies, and the label dropped the band. The band members are also featured in the documentary Overnight, being subjected to verbal abuse by Duffy.
[edit] See also
Overnight: A 2003 documentary which mainly focuses on the perspective that Troy Duffy "fell" in Hollywood.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Troy Duffy Interview by Troy Rogers. Retrieved on 2007-09-13.
- ^ Jones, J.R.. Flipping the Script. Chicago Reader. Retrieved on 2007-09-13.
