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 tinseltown: dynamite and duffy
This week, Mormons and cautionary tales. Pet llamas, milk-tasting contests, all-egg lunches, mail-order time machines – these are all part of the world of Napoleon Dynamite, geekiest of geeks and the title character in a debut film from two nice young Mormons, Jared and Jerusha Hess. The husband-wife team are the best kind of Hollywood success story – they came out of nowhere and they have real talent. Well, actually they came out of Brigham Young University, America’s biggest Mormon college, where the pair also met star Jon Heder. Jared, 24, who also directed, says that many of the onscreen oddities are based on the small-town world of Preston, Utah, where he grew up. Now he won’t have to go back unless he really wants to – after making Napoleon Dynamite for just $200,000, the Hess’ sold it to Fox Searchlight at Sundance for $4m. Judging from audience reactions in LA and NY, it was worth it.People who saw The Boondock Saints, a 1999 indie drama with Willem Dafoe and Sean Patrick Flannery, are divided between the large majority who think it was a waste of celluloid and the vocal minority who call it the Best Movie Ever. More controversial than the film is the writer/director – Troy Duffy – a brash LA bartender who got the score of a lifetime when Harvey Weinstein bought his script in a deal that included a soundtrack featuring Duffy’s band and part-ownership of the bar where he used to sling drinks. Egocentric and self-aggrandizing, Duffy lorded his success over everyone and eventually managed to alienate his friends and family, finally managing to get dropped by Miramax. Luckily for us, Mark Brian Smith and Tony Montana, two industry veterans who initially signed on as his managers and soon decided to document his spectacular rise, stuck by Duffy to the booze-swilling end. Thanks to them we have Overnight, a painful documentary that is both an excellent character study and a very, very cautionary tale.
Jade Chang
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