OVERNIGHT (2003)Referring to the movie business as an “industry” calls to mind things like factories and assembly lines. In many ways, this comparison holds up and studios are indeed run like factories. But you’d have to imagine a factory in which nearly every worker, no matter the pay scale, is convinced that they are helping to produce something monumentally important to human culture and history. People who work in movies really do believe that their jobs are more important than pretty much everybody else’s jobs. Mix that with an overcompensation for the fact that, as William Goldman said, “nobody knows anything” and you’ve got a recipe for diabolic egos. So, in this atmosphere, to actually gain a reputation for having a big ego, one really has to be committed to being an asshole. Some can back their ego up with talent and/or financial success (like Scott Rudin). Others get fantastic documentaries made about how their unflappable self-confidence led first to a breakneck rise to the top and then an equally quick fall to the gutter. Troy Duffy, who directed the awful BoondockSaints and its probably-awful sequel, is the subject of Tony Montana and Mark Brian Smith’s Overnight. Given an unprecedented deal by Miramax’s Harvey Weinstein during the height of his 1990’s king-making phase, Duffy spends the entirety of the documentary completely blowing it. Watching him burn bridges that aren’t even built yet is by turns hilarious, baffling, enraging and even heartbreaking. That’s what makes this film so compelling and so enduring. It’s not just a camera turned on a self-centered buffoon. It’s an actual portrait of a monstrous human being that will force you, if not to like him, at least to understand him.
OVERNIGHT (2003)Referring to the movie business as an “industry” calls to mind things like factories and assembly lines. In many ways, this comparison holds up and studios are indeed run like factories. But you’d have to imagine a factory in which nearly every worker, no matter the pay scale, is convinced that they are helping to produce something monumentally important to human culture and history. People who work in movies really do believe that their jobs are more important than pretty much everybody else’s jobs. Mix that with an overcompensation for the fact that, as William Goldman said, “nobody knows anything” and you’ve got a recipe for diabolic egos. So, in this atmosphere, to actually gain a reputation for having a big ego, one really has to be committed to being an asshole. Some can back their ego up with talent and/or financial success (like Scott Rudin). Others get fantastic documentaries made about how their unflappable self-confidence led first to a breakneck rise to the top and then an equally quick fall to the gutter. Troy Duffy, who directed the awful Boondock Saints and its probably-awful sequel, is the subject of Tony Montana and Mark Brian Smith’s Overnight. Given an unprecedented deal by Miramax’s Harvey Weinstein during the height of his 1990’s king-making phase, Duffy spends the entirety of the documentary completely blowing it. Watching him burn bridges that aren’t even built yet is by turns hilarious, baffling, enraging and even heartbreaking. That’s what makes this film so compelling and so enduring. It’s not just a camera turned on a self-centered buffoon. It’s an actual portrait of a monstrous human being that will force you, if not to like him, at least to understand him.
Just had to second this recommendation. It took me forever to see this film, and once I did, I immediately recommended it to all my friends.