Welcome to the 'Boon' town

Helmer Duffy hoping to jumpstart 'Saints' sequel

By MICHAEL FLEMING

Writer-director Troy Duffy, momentarily famous for his low-budget actioner "The Boondock Saints" -- and a deal that was supposed to include the purchase of the bar where he poured drinks -- is ready for another round.

Duffy has mobilized script and cast for a "Saints" sequel, which Fox is ready to finance after it did brisk DVD biz on the first film, about two Irish brothers who wipe out the Boston underworld.

Though Duffy's movie grossed just $30,471 in a blink-and-you-missed-it theatrical run, "Saints" reached cult status on DVD, grossing $30 million, even before a recent director's cut edition arrived.

For Duffy, it's been a crash course in Hollywood dealmaking and protocol. Complications arose at almost every turn.

Harvey Weinstein had pledged to purchase Duffy's Hollywood bar, greenlight subsequent films and back a record deal, but those plans fell through after casting clashes with the filmmaker.

Eventually Elie Samaha financed the "Saints" pic. But that led to further complications.

Duffy says not only hasn't Samaha paid residuals, lawyers for his bankrupt Franchise Pictures are holding up the sequel in court.

While he waits for the sequel to be unblocked, Duffy is again writing scripts, aimed at his young male "Saints" following.

First to be shopped will be "The Good King," a comic fable about a debauched English ruler.

"I'm content to build my career brick by brick, but it is frustrating to wake up every morning and think how my movie is putting some guy's kids through college, while everybody who worked on it got nothing," Duffy says.