For: NBC News Overnight

Overnight is a 2003 documentary by Tony Montana and Mark Brian Smith. The film details the rise and fall of filmmaker and musician Troy Duffy.

Tagline: There's more than one way to shoot yourself.

Plot

Overnight is the story of Troy Duffy, a Los Angeles bartender who is also a musician in a band called "The Brood" (along with his brother Taylor), and an aspiring screenwriter.

At the beginning of the film, Troy is riding high: his script (The Boondock Saints) has just been picked up by Miramax chief Harvey Weinstein for $300,000. In addition, Duffy will direct the film (with a budget of $15 million), his band will produce the soundtrack and get a recording contract from Maverick Records, and Weinstein will buy the bar Duffy works in, and hire Duffy to run it.

The deal, however, quickly turns sour. Miramax puts the film in turnaround, conference calls are refused, and soon Duffy is without any contract at all. The film is eventually made, for less than half its original forecast production budget. After the limited cinematic release (which produced poor results), it was released on DVD and VHS. A "Word of Mouth" film, it has become a cult hit; however, due to contract, Duffy receives no money from its video release. The Brood (then renamed to The Boondock Saints) releases its album, which sells only 690 copies.

Duffy is presented as a victim of his own ego, and as the film progresses he becomes increasingly abusive to his friends, relatives and business partners. According to co-director Montana, "Troy seemed to revel in the attention of Hollywood's lights and our cameras. Only three times during the production did he ask not to be filmed. It was on those occasions that he threatened us." He made many racial, sexist, and homophobic comments that were not even used in the documentary as Montana didn't want his film to be viewed as a "hatchet job". Fact: date=August 2007

External links

• Roger Ebert's 2004 review