NOCC: The Boondock Saints Come Marching In

Company: Wizard World
Product: New Orleans Comic Con 2013 Coverage

Sean Patrick Flanery kicked things off with a warm greeting to New Orleans, himself a Lake Charles, LA native, while David Della Rocco stayed customarily quiet. They immediately opened the floor to questions, with the emcee Marc Lee kicking things off by asking the guys how they got their roles in Boondock Saints. Flanery responded with his typical swagger, saying "It was cool, we auditioned and we got the part."

Even though Marc Lee had instructed the audience not to ask personal questions like "boxers or brief," that was his next question to the pair. Flanery then launched into a lengthy discourse on the value of briefs while doing any sort of athletic action scene, but Rocco simply added that he goes commando; well, he did after randomly playing sounds from the "Cajun in your pocket" audio toy he had earlier received. Clearly, if you know anything of the film Boondock Saints and these guys, this was most definitely an adult panel. Norman Reedus was noticeably missing from the panel, unlike last year, but instead he chose to attend The Walking Dead panel, for 20 minutes or so, anyway.

The pair was asked some crazy questions like whether they were taking applications for new members of the Boondock Saints and Flanery stated that because of legalities, he expected people to do that on their own. Another fan asked about the status of a third movie in the series or the television show, and everything seems a bit iffy at the moment, although one or the other seems to be forthcoming.

When asked about working with epic actors such as Willem Dafoe, Flanery had nothing but good things to say about him and his level of professionalism. He really didn't have any familiarity with method actors prior to that, but said it was never a problem except in the case of Dafoe repeating one particular line over and over when they were out together. No matter what the situation, he'd offhanded slap Flanery in the chest and say, "Fag" which got a little awkward. Rocco didn't have many scenes with Dafoe, so he said he never really got the chance to witness his technique firsthand.

Some of Flanery’s fondest memories from Boondock Saints came from riding to the studio in the van and just listening to Billy Connolly talk. He’s Hollywood rock star comedy royalty, huge in Europe and has been that way for 30 years. Even though he was 30 and single during the filming of the first movie, Connolly was the only one who could convince him to sit around and chat rather than chase girls. Flanery said that every one of Billy’s stories is predicated with something involving yet another superstar that usually ends in some bizarre occurrence. Fun stuff.

When Flanery was asked about his work with Christopher Walken, he talked about what a really cool dude he was and how great it was to work with him. Flanery’s favorite quote about the industry is "that it is better to be interesting than believable and real," and that is Walken. It’s a blast to listen to Flanery do a Walken impression because he is just great. Walken’s speech cadence has become cliché, but it’s just so interesting. Flanery would be having a normal conversation with Walken and he’s saying the same words you and I would say, but he does it so interestingly. He’s a dancer, been married for 50 years, just a great guy. He stated that he know it sounds like he’s saying all of these guys like Connolly and Walken are great, but the fans just happen to be asking about amazing people.

There was some discussion about the vast diversity and descriptiveness about the "F" word and just how many times it was used in their films. Rocco was describing a specific scene where the word is debated and he said that it was, indeed, scripted and that he had to memorize it, although from the evidence I saw on the panel, both are cardinal members of the F-bomb squad.

One fan asked about Flanery's favorite part of working on The Devil's Carnival, a recent small project of his. He revealed a funny story that happened during filming when a handful of meth addicts actually stole laptops and Sean witnessed them, gave chase, and followed them to a crack house. While the cops were called, they claimed not to have probable cause to question the witnesses, but all the while Flanery was champing at the bit to get at them. They did eventually find the laptops since they had been tossed over the fence behind the house and recovery was crucial because their film footage was on them. They couldn't arrest them because they were actually kids aged 12-14, but you could tell Flanery would have liked to have had his chance to "question" the kids. You could definitely see that this occurrence was one that stood out in his memory.

When asked if the pair grew up as kids playing as vigilantes, Flanery was quick to respond, "I think we both grew up before the p*ssy era when kids played actually with guns." Yes, he played cowboys and Indians and when they were kids, you weren’t "dead" unless your tongue was sticking out. He’s never truly shot anyone and feels like he actually made a contribution to society, so he doesn’t think he was damaged by a little play acting as a child. He’s a big proponent of kids being kids and playing cops and robbers.

Someone asked if Rocco reminds Flanery of Timothy Leary and he said that hit the nail on the head. Rocco will ask a random question about liking peanut butter and then turn around say something incredibly deep like, "Did you ever think that the only threat to our future are the debts of our past?" and he’ll just blow you away.

When Rocco was asked about their fans, he said they are the best fans in the world. They both said they’d love to see fan wars between Boondock Saints fans and Pretty in Pink fans. Even though Pretty in Pink made more money, you don’t see anyone walking around with a Pretty in Pink tattoo, eh? Now that would make for some entertaining TV.

Rocco was asked about vigilante justice and whether he thinks there is a social correlation between vigilantism and the rise in Batman’s popularity. He resoundingly said, "Yes." He feels like we’ve come too far and have to go back, since things are getting ugly out there. Things like someone getting sued because their TV was stolen and the thief hurt his back. Flanery agreed and said, "You just can’t write this stuff."

Flanery was asked how it feels to know that the straight men love him as much as the women. He stated keeps track of the metrics of his popularity versus Reedus and the chicks go nuts for Reedus and the dudes love him. Fear not, Sean. From the audience response, the ladies resoundingly love you too!

We got a completely different side of Flanery when someone asked him about his memories from Young Indiana Jones, which is clearly near and dear to his heart. He talked about his wonderful experiences and that it was actually like a film school for him, since he learned so much about acting and the world he visited while filming. He talked about a French art house director he worked with, Rene Manzor, who used a very different directing style than he was accustomed to. He was confused by it at the time, especially since Manzor spoke no English, but when he saw the final product, he was amazed and realized, yeah, that’s what it’s all about. He learned to trust him because he was a good director. Sean is clearly very proud of his work on the show and believes it sends good messages to the youth of today and it opened a lot of doors for him in the industry, the least of which was the audition for Boondock Saints.

Boondock Saints are a pretty rabid bunch, but this panel seemed much more tame when compared to last year’s. It was still great fun and we appreciate Sean Patrick Flanery and David Della Rocco visiting the fair city of New Orleans and we hope to see them again in February of 2014 for the next Wizard World New Orleans Comic-Con!

-Psibabe, GameVortex Communications
AKA Ashley Perkins

NOCC: The Boondock Saints Come Marching In

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