Home | News | Reviews | Previews | Hardware

NOCC: Boondocks Saints Reunion
Company: Wizard World
Product: New Orleans Comic Con 2012 Coverage

First off, I must admit that I had not seen The Boondock Saints until the night before the panel and that was a huge mistake on my part, simply because it is such an excellent movie. I like movies full of blood, guts, and gore with plenty of action and The Boondock Saints delivers all of this. The one thing that shocked me though was the number of women who were dying to get in to see the Brothers MacManus. I think that there is just something about vigilante justice that appeals to women when normally such a bloody and violent movie wouldn't. Plus, two men as hot as Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus speaking in Irish accents are going to draw a female crowd every time. I mention all this because it is particularly relevant to the tone of the room and the questions that were asked. The three members on the panel were Sean Patrick Flanery who played Conner MacManus, Norman Reedus who played his fraternal twin brother Murphy MacManus, and David Della Rocco who played Rocco.


They start out by opening the floor for questions rather than having anything planned out, which seems to be a popular method at this Con. The first question is not so much a question as it is a bottle of Jack Daniels presented to the panel. They each take a swig and pass the bottle around the audience. It only made it through the first four rows. It was mighty tasty Jack and I can now say that I got to share a bottle with the MacManus Brothers. After the Jack, they agree to go to the Boondock Saints Bar in New Orleans after the Con that night and apparently they did. From the people I talked to the next day, they spent the night trading off bartending and hanging out with fans. Personally, I think that was really cool of them! The first real question was about when the third Boondock Saints movie will be out. Rocco answers it with I don't know but probably within a year or so it will get going. Then he is asked if the third movie be more about the brother again like the first one was and the answer to that is yes, which made the crowd very happy. People also wanted to know about the possibility of a TV series, but that didn't seem as likely. It is an idea though and would be on HBO or one of those channels so that it could continue the same level of extreme violence that's not really fit for broadcast television.

Next, Norman was asked about his experience on riding horses. He replied that he has gotten much better thanks to his role on The Walking Dead and how much he has had to ride them there. Sean interrupts and tells us all about Troy (Duffy, Writer/Director) calling up and saying that he wanted to do a scene on a horse, and could they ride. Norman said "hell yeah" and then when he got on the first horse, he freaked out when it started to move. It appears that Sean likes to embarrass Norman. The crowd really helps out with that with their questions. A woman asks if there will be any more shower scenes in the new movie (and you could tell everyone was hoping the answer would be yes!). Sean jokes that this time it will be a bubble bath scene with no bubbles, but we don't find out the real answer.

When asked if they've ever wanted to take justice into their own hands, Sean makes sure to emphasize YES in quite a number of ways with quite a lot of expletives to really strike home the point. They're all asked what they have in the works right now. Rocco is working with Jeff Santo on something about the Hell's Angels. Norman has a film coming out soon called Sunlight Jr. and Sean has just finished a film called Phantom. When asked about tattoos, Norman reveals that he has about 9 and you can see some of them in The Walking Dead during the first season. They kept trying to cover them up, but it was so hot that he kept sweating the cover off. Somehow, Sean gets started on an imitation of a cross between Christopher Walken and John Travolta, which was hilarious. He did a great job with it and keeps on going in that voice for a bit. Sean is then asked about doing a martial arts movie and he reveals that he really did martial arts before acting, but he doesn't like to tell people that because actors that become martial artists are credible as an actor, but if you're a martial artist first and then become an actor, you have no credibility, but he'd take that kind of role if it came along because he likes to do things that he is passionate about.

When asked about their favorite scene of all the movies, Sean's is the scene where he rips the toilet out and saves his brother (which is an awesome scene). Rocco's answer isn't understandable, even by the rest of the panel. Norman isn't given time to answer before Sean moves onto the next question. Sean is really great about working the audience and keeping things rolling and upbeat. The next question is would you rather have a Glock (Boondock Saints weapon of choice) or a crossbow (Norman's weapon in The Walking Dead). Sean says that for looks, a crossbow, but for efficiency, the Glock. Norman reveals that he actually stole the crossbow from The Walking Dead. Considering that weapon is synonymous with his character Darryl, it's understandable. To continue on The Walking Dead theme, Norman is asked if Darryl will have more talking parts since he's their favorite character (and mine). He reveals that yes, Darryl is going to go through a lot of stuff in the rest of the season. Norman is asked what his zombie plan is in the case of a real situation. He says that he will take a boat to an island with cheerleaders and some Tetris. Then he's asked whether he'd rather be fighting zombies or gangsters and he decides that he'd rather fight zombies, since they are slower. The focus moves over to Rocco when he's asked to tell a joke (if you haven't seen the movie, he has to tell a joke and is then referred to as the funny man). Rocco doesn't have a joke for us, but Sean does. They are then asked what type of role they prefer, the serious or the romantic or the comedic, etc. Sean replies that Norman has only done serious roles, but he likes them all because he hasn't had to get a real job in 20 years. Norman says that his mom keeps asking why he doesn't do a nice romantic comedy and he replies that he's just not cast in those roles.

Sean is asked about smoking. He has said that he's never smoked in his life, but in the movies he has to from time to time. His answer is that yes, he has to take a little into his mouth to make it look real, but he never inhales. They're asked how much control they had over the films. Norman says that they made up a montage right before it was filmed. Before they go, they have to recite the prayer that they promised to say earlier, the prayer that they recite before killing each person. Instead of doing it alone though, they call up three women from the audience to help them with it (only one of whom actually knew it word for word, the rest were just eye candy). They never did recite anything with an Irish accent though, which I really wanted to hear, as did the rest of the audience. At least we've got the movies to hear the accent though and seeing them all in person was just an amazing experience. These guys kept the crowd laughing and entertained the whole time. It was a very bawdy performance and I've left a lot out simply for language and content, but that's exactly what we all expected from these guys and they delivered. I can't wait for The Boondock Saints 3 and any other performances from them!



-Cyn, GameVortex Communications
AKA Sara Earl
Related Links:


This site best viewed in Internet Explorer 6 or higher or Firefox.