When the "Making Of" is better than the Movie it's being made about

My last post was prompted by having seen both Boondock Saints and the documentary based on its director Troy Duffy, Overnight recently.

I didn't particularly enjoy Boondock Saints, sure it was violent which is always great and there were some pretty good outfits but the characters all appeared to be douchebags. Willem Dafoe is pretty hilarious but it didn't seem to suit the movie and it really plays out better in a two minute cut up of all the ridiculous parts.

If you haven't seen the movie now you need not bother and if you have you'll know what I mean. You don't need to have seen Boondock Saints to enjoy Overnight though, which is based on the first time writer director Troy Duffy and how instant success in Hollywood revealed his massive ego to his close friends. It is a good watch if you are interested in how "the business" works as well, it appears that you only have to annoy one significantly powerful person in Hollywood for your whole career to be thrown into jeopardy.

Mark Wahlberg makes a short cameo and this coupled with the portrayal of studios and artists bickering was enough to prompt my girlfriend to ask me if HBO series Entourage was based on this documentary. It is a pity that Harvey Wienstien doesn't make an appearance (well there is a shot of him in the distance at Canne) though because he is the significantly powerful person who gives Troy the flick after he bites the Mirimax hand feeding him. Overnight paints an ugly picture of Duffy, but it also goes to show that Boondock Saints would have been more that a One Week Release had it not been for Weinstiens authority in Hollywood.

I got thinking about other great film making documentaries and without a doubt my favorite is cult classic American Movie.



American Movie is in sharp contrast to Overnight; its appeal lies in empathizing with the writer-director of Coven, Mark Borchardt. I loved watching Troy Duffy struggle under circumstances often out of his control mainly because I wanted him to fail. When your watching American Movie you can't help but get behind the endlessly enthusiastic Mark and you get the feeling many of the people helping him at the time in his town felt the same way. Its a heart-warmer and a tear-jerker and its might just inspire you to invest in a digital camera and go out and make your own horror movie. Chances are you'll find it alot easier now that Mark did in the late 90's.

One final recommendation on this subject is Heart of Darkness: A Filmmakers Apocalypse. I know that many of you are going to be scoffing that this documentary could equal Apocalypse Now, not to mention better it, and that's fine. If you've seen Francis Ford Copploas classic already, you will love the story behind its making but if you haven't and you don't really have 202 minutes of free time for the Redux version, (which is the one you should be watching) Heart of Darkness is a fantastic insight.

You could do alot worse than read Heart of Darkness, the Joseph Conrad novel Apocalypse Now was loosely based on. Google books has got the first eight pages and its a "Popular Penguin at a Perfect Price" which means you can buy it for ten dollars. Best option is to borrow a copy off someone a bit older though they'll be grateful you did and you might restore their faith in the Xbox generation.

The /Filmcast Interview: Troy Duffy, Director of The Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day | /Film

The /Filmcast Interview: Troy Duffy, Director of The Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day | /Film

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What makes a One Week release?

I worked in the cinemas as an usher for three years and in my time there I enjoyed seeing movies come and go. Cinemas get more money for every ticket sale the longer a movie has been screening, each week they take a larger percentage cut than the producers and distributors so at the outlet level they are encouraged to keep movies running for as long as is feasible.

So for a movie to have only shown for a week must have meant that it totally bombed, right? That's generally the case but it often has more to do with the cinema chain deciding to only do a limited release.

A perfect example of this tragedy is A Sound of Thunder



Too often, I would come to work on a Thursday and be totally surprised by a new film we were screening. I took an interest in what was coming soon, but smaller movies that couldn't sustain ticket sales for very long didn't get any trailers shown. I didn't even get to see this great poster!

You may be thinking its just awful B-grade time travelling action films that don't get enough attention but thats not the case. Not long before A Sound of Thunder was released another great film screened to empty theaters...




That Shaun of the Dead poster is another one that I would love to have been able to throw out after the cinema was done with it but alas, for some reason cinemas screen movies they don't even have ads for. This movie is a more fitting example of a money-making opportunity missed by the cinema chain, it had achieved commercial and critical success in both the US and UK markets and yet it got shown to a few people who had friends overseas or had seen it reviewed online... for one week.

I know that one week releases are still common in WA and I can only guess at reason as to why so many great films get "shuffled under the carpet" with a total lack of exposure both prior and during its release. Either:

• We are such a small market that distributors don't bother producing advertising materials for us (which begs the question why even release the movie here)
• The cinema chain chooses to focus on the movies they are convinced will sustain a more extended release and deliberately don't advertise smaller films
• The staff responsible for exposing the WA market to these the films and disseminating advertising materials are too incompetent or otherwise engaged to cover every film

Maybe cinemas are obliged to show these films they don't really want to for a week at a loss, and I'm glad they do because a tiny release is better than none at all. It was funny that ASOT screened four times a day for seven days and less than ten people saw it over that period, (company employees only pay 50c though so it would have grossed <$30) but disappointing when I couldn't take another friend with me next week. Its a pity more people didn't get to enjoy it and I am still hanging out for the Blu-Ray release so I can revel in just how budget the CGI was.

If you have any other thoughts as to why potential breakaway hits like this are ignored, share them in the comments!