“I Hate Keanu Reeves”: The Boondock Saints Director Refused to Work With the John Wick Star

The Boondock Saints proved to be the launching pad for stars Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus. Before the pair played the MacManus brothers, though, there were other big-name actors linked to the movie. However, writer-director Troy Duffy rejected them, including the likes of Ethan Hawke and Keanu Reeves.

In the ’90s, Duffy turned out to be a hurricane in the entertainment industry. Seemingly out of nowhere, he had everybody talking about his script for The Boondock Saints. Miramax Films wanted in, buying the script and giving Duffy the opportunity to direct it as well. While it was a hot project that had the eyes of the industry on it, there were issues between Duffy and Miramax, leading to the company walking away from the film.

A few years after the release of The Boondock Saints, a documentary titled Overnight, which centered on Duffy’s meteoric rise and fall in Hollywood, was released. It’s a no-holds-barred look behind the scenes of the making of the movie, and it also revealed Duffy’s brash and cavalier opinion of several individuals at the time.

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In Overnight, Duffy praised Mark Wahlberg and called him “the f***ing best actor [he’d] ever seen.” The feeling seemed to be mutual, as Wahlberg stated, “Troy, your script is so unbelievable. It’s amazing, man.”

However, the same couldn’t be said about Duffy’s opinion of Keanu Reeves and Ethan Hawke. In the documentary, Duffy is seen on the phone speaking to somebody on the other end. “I hate Keanu Reeves,” Duffy said. “I think he’s a f***ing punk. I will never do a film with him. I think Ethan Hawke is a talentless fool.”

While Duffy didn’t get into the specifics about what the actors did to upset him, these comments shocked the viewers. Reeves and Hawke are among the most-liked celebs in Hollywood, with hardly anybody having a bad word to say about them, so it comes as a surprise that Duffy reacted the way he did.

In 2025, Duffy appeared on his podcast to discuss Overnight. According to him, directors Tony Montana and Mark Brian Smith “edited their film to tell the story they wanted to tell.” In other words, it wasn’t the full story of what happened behind the scenes, and there’s a lot more footage that would have added context to the scenes. Having said that, Duffy admitted on his podcast that “there’s things that make [him] cringe” in Overnight.

All in all, it’s difficult to argue that Flanery and Reedus were not the right choices for The Boondock Saints. That said, to call Keanu Reeves a “punk” and Ethan Hawke “a talentless fool” is an even tougher sell.

Ironically, Thunder Road, the production company behind John Wick, has teamed up with Dragonfly Films to develop The Boondock Saints III without Duffy directing.

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Overnight is streaming free with ads on Tubi, Pluto TV and Plex, and it’s available to rent on Prime Video.