- 3 months ago
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00:00:26Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.
00:00:56Love is made of many magical memories.
00:01:06For 46 years, I made magical memories with John, the love of my life, on this beautiful land.
00:01:17When we lose a loved one, we're left with a heart full of memories.
00:01:27We pack those memories into boxes.
00:01:34But sometimes, we choose to reopen them, because you never know what you might find.
00:01:41It was just an infectiously good time.
00:01:55We cared for each other, and we had each other's backs.
00:02:01The chemistry was palpable.
00:02:02There was so much love on set.
00:02:11For nearly 60 years, John and Paul were business partners, creative collaborators, and the very best of mates.
00:02:22Two great Aussie blokes.
00:02:24And at their peak, they made an iconic movie.
00:02:29Michael J. Crocodile Dundee.
00:02:43Two beers, all right?
00:02:45One for me.
00:02:46One for me, mate.
00:02:47Crocodile Dundee helped define Australia's friendly identity on a global scale, and it's still loved by millions.
00:02:56I'm sorry if that frightens you, miss.
00:02:58You see, it's stuffed.
00:03:02Him and me both, well.
00:03:03But recently, we nearly lost it forever.
00:03:16The original negative was badly damaged.
00:03:21To save the film, we had to restore it.
00:03:27Victoria and I had to find all the elements for the restoration process.
00:03:33And in doing that, opening John's Boxes took on a much bigger purpose.
00:03:41More than 200,000 individual frames and millions of tiny flickers were delicately restored.
00:03:49The result is stunning.
00:03:59In John's Boxes was a treasure trove.
00:04:02Not only were there memories of our two successful hotels, and some very funny television shows,
00:04:08but there was the business side of the film that someone had to attend to, and that someone became me.
00:04:14Do you want to see what's in this with me?
00:04:19Together with Victoria, we found all sorts of incredible things.
00:04:23Rusty old reels.
00:04:30Storyboards.
00:04:32Scribbled on scripts.
00:04:35Transparencies.
00:04:36It's gold.
00:04:37And so many photographs.
00:04:41Oh, mates.
00:04:43This legacy was worth preserving.
00:04:46Not only for my husband, John, but it's my legacy, too.
00:04:51Oh, my God.
00:04:52To show our grandchildren what their grandmom got up to.
00:04:56And their granddad.
00:05:00Damn it!
00:05:01John's precious archive reminded me of all the magical moments making Crocodile Dundee.
00:05:09The fun on set.
00:05:15Yeah.
00:05:16Yeah, no, no, maybe so, yeah.
00:05:17Working with an excellent crew.
00:05:19The best in the business.
00:05:21I wondered why Crocodile Dundee was so successful.
00:05:25Why it became such an iconic film.
00:05:29And why do so many people still love it so much?
00:05:34I wanted to go back to see where it all began with John and Paul.
00:05:38To see where those first sparks of magic happened.
00:05:42I couldn't wait to see my old mate, Paul.
00:05:45I just...
00:05:46I'm using the old mother's spits.
00:05:49Oh, you're spitting leg, isn't it?
00:05:50And I've just had a vanilla slice.
00:05:53Oh, good.
00:05:54That's really sticky.
00:05:55I've got ants crawling around my head, huh?
00:05:57Jesus, deli.
00:05:58You won't have any stickin' up, though.
00:06:01Doesn't matter.
00:06:10I was a rigger on the Harbour Bridge,
00:06:12and fortunately John Cornell came along at the right moment.
00:06:15He was like the London editor of WA newspapers at, like, 22 or something.
00:06:20And so he was far more worldly than I could imagine.
00:06:26But we just hit it off.
00:06:28He was a bit of a larry, too.
00:06:30It changed my life.
00:06:31I was producing a current affairs programme, the top current affairs programme down there.
00:06:37And I, in fact, had an idea that we needed a sort of a verbal cartoonist in this current affairs programme,
00:06:45the equivalent of a newspaper cartoonist, just to lighten it up a bit, because news is usually bad news.
00:06:51And, uh, one of our reporters saw him on this, uh, talent quest.
00:06:57It's Australia's New Faces.
00:06:59I went on, um, New Faces.
00:07:02I went on a dare as a tap-dancing knife thrower to take the mickey out of it.
00:07:09And the switchboard lit up, you know, and that sort of burst into flames.
00:07:14And so we tried him out as this verbal cartoonist, and he just, that was it, you know.
00:07:19He just became an instant overnight success.
00:07:21Hey, love, what do you think of daylight saving?
00:07:23Daylight saving? Oh, I think it's marvellous.
00:07:25I have three kiddies, and my family use it all the time.
00:07:28So I still worked on the bridge, swing by Channel 9, walk into the backyard in front of the camera, do two minutes, give me some money, off I'd go.
00:07:38Here's a caper for getting into the races. Now, watch this. Here's the gateman guarding the gate where you get out, see.
00:07:43Now, always walk backwards, and they're never too sure which way you're going, then, sidling along like this, mate.
00:07:49Oh, excuse me, mate, just coming out. There. Done all me dough in the first race, you know.
00:07:55Might as well go home. Hello.
00:07:57Another quid here. Oh, I might as well go back inside and see if I can invest that.
00:08:03That's the way Oaks beats inflation.
00:08:05John was smart enough to realise there seemed to be a lot more people watching on a Friday when Paul did his piece on a weekly basis
00:08:12than we were watching at the start of the show.
00:08:14So it was clear to him that Australians were liking and loving him.
00:08:18And that was a very big show back at the Nine News and the Current Affairs.
00:08:21It would have been getting a couple of million viewers.
00:08:24Hello, Mrs Universe. Hello, Paul.
00:08:26I was doing one of my two-minute spots on Current Affairs and I said,
00:08:30I know what I want to talk about. I need a mate that's a bit dopier than me, though.
00:08:34And John, who used to do a bad impression of Marlon Brando in The Godfather,
00:08:39and it really sort of made me laugh. Thus, Strot was born. He became my dopey off-sider.
00:08:45My love is taller than the tallest tree. Deeper than the deepest sea.
00:08:55It's funny because he played the... That's what's so unusual about him. He's a good-looking guy and very smart.
00:08:59But he was quite happy to play this dopey, distorted-faced virgin on television.
00:09:05So there was no vanity involved whatsoever.
00:09:08In here, Cobber. It's my old mate, Strot.
00:09:10G'day, mate. Singers, eh? Eh?
00:09:12Our viewers. Me and Oags abroad overseas.
00:09:15Good stuff, eh? This is the happiest moment of my life.
00:09:18He was the brains of the outfit.
00:09:20Right from the start, John said, you know, we're going into show business.
00:09:26You do the show, I'll do the business.
00:09:28All those crazy thoughts you have, put them down on paper.
00:09:32And he was right.
00:09:34They didn't know what else to do with me.
00:09:36They were mumbling about, oh, maybe we'll quiz show and have him as the compere or something.
00:09:40But then John said, nah. You've got to have your own show.
00:09:443025, the Paul Hogan special. Replay to be advised.
00:09:50Good day.
00:10:06If you want them doled up like a sore toe tonight, instead of wearing me usual gear,
00:10:11it's because the control board has banned me usual gear from the show.
00:10:15You see, they come to rehearsal and they found out that when I sit on a stool like this,
00:10:18the people in the first three rows of the studio audience
00:10:20and anyone at home laying down on the floor can see straight up the leg of me shorts.
00:10:23I'd been working in television for about 20 years before I met them.
00:10:28You know, right from moving scenery around
00:10:32to doing a lot of very major specials and tonight shows, et cetera.
00:10:36Well, one day when I was at work at Channel 9 in Melbourne, I got a telephone call from Kerry Packer.
00:10:44He said, do you know John Cornell?
00:10:46I said, no, I don't.
00:10:47He said, well, they want to work with you.
00:10:50As a result of that, that was when they moved from Channel 7 to Channel 9.
00:10:54So, you know, it was on for anything really.
00:10:59Good evening, viewers.
00:11:00Good evening, viewers.
00:11:01Good evening, viewers.
00:11:02Good evening, viewers.
00:11:03We've stopped now exploring now, Leo Wanka risks his life as he takes on the wall of death.
00:11:18Wanka and his family have been involved in stunt work now for five generations.
00:11:23And it is light hope that one day people will say, there goes Leo, the greatest Wanka it all.
00:11:28No one drove it mainstream and blew it up like Paul blew it up, and the Paul Hogan
00:11:40show blew it up.
00:11:41You want me to taste some?
00:11:43Thanks mate.
00:11:58The Paul Hogan show was such must-watch television, and the data tells you it's must-watched.
00:12:05There's probably never been anything so large across the spectrum that ticked every box
00:12:11of humour, fun, larrikinism, Australia.
00:12:16Welcome to the show that tells it like it isn't, but it ought to be.
00:12:22I loved Paul's stand-ups.
00:12:24He always did an intro to the show, about three or four minutes, and he really wrapped
00:12:31up complex ideas that were topical at the time into very simple language.
00:12:38Good evening, viewers.
00:12:40We are on the threshold of a new era in television.
00:12:43Violence, sex and dirty stuff is under censorship attack in America.
00:12:49He had an ability to really distill current issues into something that was very, very
00:12:57funny.
00:12:58Television will be so sterile, you'll be able to heal wounds just standing in front of it.
00:13:03He and I used to have a lot of fun with him staying in character.
00:13:06So once he was dressed and came dressed, I couldn't refer to him as anything else.
00:13:11And that was part of the fun that he and I had.
00:13:23I absolutely loved Strop.
00:13:25I thought he was, was and is absolutely fabulous.
00:13:28Breaker, breaker, breaker.
00:13:30This is the old honeysuckle kisser.
00:13:35Hoag's was doing 90% of the funny stuff.
00:13:39John would roll in with 10% of the funny stuff, but John was driving it all the way.
00:13:44And I'm a dash of tomato sauce.
00:13:51Raw egg, and a, and a oyster mate.
00:14:04Then, hold it, me secret ingredient.
00:14:07I get it.
00:14:08Go on.
00:14:09Stir, with a spoon, dipped in Vegemite.
00:14:14I know this mate, the old gag right.
00:14:18You stir it up, you tip it down the sink, and you won't have a blocked drain for six months.
00:14:23No mate.
00:14:24No.
00:14:25You drink it.
00:14:26Yeah.
00:14:37We'd get to the end of a roll through a sketch and Hoag's would go, yeah that'll do.
00:14:42And John would say, nah, that won't do.
00:14:44We're, we're doing more.
00:14:45We've got to keep going, we've got to build it, we've got to improve it.
00:14:47We've really got to take it somewhere else.
00:14:49Oh, excuse me, I've just been out there, um, shelling the peas and fabuloling the frilly
00:14:54things what we Sheilas wear.
00:14:56This is your wife?
00:15:01Yeah.
00:15:02I discovered Delveen.
00:15:03I met Delveen at a television function.
00:15:12She was just, you know, she's beautiful, but she was also funny and sort of not up herself
00:15:17or anything.
00:15:18And I said to John, I found you a girl mate, perfect for you.
00:15:23I wasn't thinking of it as a long term permanent relationship.
00:15:26I was thinking she'd be good in the shows and she had a great sense of humour.
00:15:30He came over and said, you don't know me, I'm John Cornell.
00:15:34I produced the Paul Hogan shows.
00:15:36Would you like to be on it?
00:15:38To be asked to be on the Paul Hogan show was huge.
00:15:40So yes, please.
00:15:42Yeah.
00:15:43And then at the first rehearsal, you know, can you play a nun?
00:15:48Yep, can play a nun.
00:15:49Don't come any closer, mother.
00:15:51I'm desperate.
00:15:52Can you play a prostitute?
00:15:53Yeah, I can play a prostitute.
00:15:55Anyone ever tell you, you've got a very cruel mouth.
00:15:58Like, the way it curls up at the corner like that.
00:16:01Can you play a schoolgirl?
00:16:03Yep.
00:16:04Do a good schoolgirl.
00:16:07See, Ceci, I told you it was this house with the aerials sticking out the window.
00:16:11I just said yes.
00:16:12Yes to everything, even though I'd never done any of them before.
00:16:15It's like I don't want to miss my chance.
00:16:18Great party, Hugs.
00:16:25I didn't know him at all.
00:16:27I thought he was strong.
00:16:30And then after the first two shows, we started to see each other.
00:16:38And I remember saying to my mum,
00:16:40I'm coming up to Brisbane next weekend, mum.
00:16:42I'm going to bring my boyfriend to meet you.
00:16:46Oh, who's that?
00:16:48I said, Strop.
00:16:49Oh, please.
00:16:55So...
00:16:58She thought I...
00:16:59She thought I was dating Strop.
00:17:05Rosie.
00:17:08She's under.
00:17:10Delphine was usually the desirable target that Strop could never get.
00:17:15You'll just want to smother me with hugs and kisses and stuff like that.
00:17:19And when I say, stop, that's enough.
00:17:22You'll say, I haven't started yet.
00:17:25Lover boy.
00:17:30Oh, Rose.
00:17:31Oh, I can't take this.
00:17:33See you, Hugs.
00:17:34And, uh, see you, lover boy.
00:17:37Delphine's characters on all of those shows were absolutely outrageous.
00:17:42I think every time that we went out on location and shot something or in the studio, between John and Paul,
00:17:45and Delphine, we had the most hysterical times.
00:17:48I think every time that we went out on location and shot something or in the studio, between John and Paul and Delphine, we had the most hysterical times.
00:17:52I think every time that we went out on location and shot something or in the studio, between John and Paul and Delphine, we had the most hysterical times.
00:18:14Spread your butter on, nice and lumpy.
00:18:21There's an important bit.
00:18:23Leave a big dob of butter on the knife.
00:18:24See, like that.
00:18:25Why?
00:18:26To wipe off.
00:18:27Paul was the ultimate Aussie.
00:18:31spread your butter on nice and lumpy there's an important bit leave a big
00:18:41dob of butter on the knife see like that why the wipe off
00:18:47Paul was the ultimate Aussie I mean he was he spoke he spoke Australian he was the Aussie that
00:18:59everybody wanted to be Hogan's a 1975 Australian he doesn't talk in rhyme and slang he doesn't say
00:19:04you know down the Algalia down the horse and float and he doesn't talk right which sort of died 20
00:19:09years ago and he and he's not he's not the bushman he hasn't got kangaroos and cork hats and all that
00:19:14sort of thing around him he's 1975 billed as labour Australian and a bit of a character not saying
00:19:20that every Australian's like that or even that every Australian's got a bit of Hogan in him but
00:19:23there's plenty of Hogan's out there in the pubs and I tell you what they're all right
00:19:27all right mate explain yourself what's this about you're resigning from the show
00:19:42yes mate well this can explain better than I could mate it's me scrapbook
00:19:48open it at any page this boring talentless moronic throwback
00:19:56that's a bit tough on you mate
00:20:01that's not about me mate that's you
00:20:05playing strop allowed John to hide behind a character as a writer and he was always observant
00:20:16he wasn't recognized in the street when he wasn't strop he never wanted to be in the spotlight
00:20:25because it robbed him of that opportunity to observe and so you know for people to find out
00:20:32that it was actually a very astute businessman behind that character it was a shock for some people
00:20:40John was an extraordinary businessman and he had great ideas and he was very ambitious
00:20:45and once he got the you know Paul settled with the shows etc
00:20:53he was continually moving on to what the next thing could be and was able to crack the nuts of
00:21:00these things then and he was such an optimist then we all assumed that one day it would happen
00:21:05from the day I met him he was talking about the potential of world series cricket
00:21:09he was very astute in his negotiations with Kerry Packer on the Paul Hogan show
00:21:14Packer he was number one in Australia by a significant margin
00:21:18in so far as wealth influence and profile in the entertainment and media industries
00:21:26John knew that Kerry would be up for supporting his idea of a renegade breakaway cricket revolution
00:21:37that would pay the players properly
00:21:41Lily's pounding down like a machine
00:21:43Pascal's making divots in the green
00:21:46Bosh is taking wickets
00:21:49Corks is clearing pickets
00:21:51And the chapel's eyes have got that killer gleam
00:21:55And so between them they pulled that off brilliantly
00:21:59World Series cricket had a massive global impact
00:22:02So once again it was that resourcefulness of John that led him to go what do we need
00:22:20I know what we need we need patriotism back
00:22:23The Australian way was what was reflected in the tourist campaign
00:22:29To the rest of the world that was Australia and he personified Australia
00:22:34America you look like you need a holiday
00:22:37A fair dinkum holiday
00:22:39In the land of wonder
00:22:41The land down under
00:22:43America you look like you need a holiday
00:22:45What a great opening line
00:22:47There's a few things I've got to warn you about
00:22:49Firstly you're going to get wet
00:22:51Because the place is surrounded by water
00:22:54Oh and you're going to have to learn to say g'day
00:22:57Of course every day is a good day in Australia
00:23:01G'day Paul
00:23:02G'day love
00:23:02Where did this idea come from
00:23:04Because this whole idea for the campaign was yours originally wasn't it
00:23:08Well not mine
00:23:09But it was myself, John Cornell and Alan Morris and Alan Johnson which is Mojo
00:23:15It was a thing we talked about for about the last two years after travelling a lot
00:23:20And finding out how nobody knew anything about Australia really
00:23:23And we were all in marketing and thought this would be the ideal product to market
00:23:28And then when John Brown got into office with the Labor government
00:23:33We'd heard about him, he was a goer
00:23:36So I went and talked to him and he jumped in and threw a hand in too and went from there
00:23:42He was such a proud Australian and he was annoyed that people knew nothing about us
00:23:46You know it was that we were the history of the world
00:23:50No one was coming here
00:23:52G'day America
00:23:53Now pay attention because this is important stuff
00:23:56Before you come down under for your Aussie holiday you've got to get in shape
00:23:59Turn up those relaxing muscles because they'll get a workout
00:24:02Practice smiling
00:24:04He dispelled all that bullshit about Australia and he opened the eyes of the world to what we've got here
00:24:13Freedom, clean air, the environment
00:24:17Hello, looks like a boatload of your countrymen coming in there now
00:24:21Right
00:24:23We went from 57th in America, preference for an overseas holiday, to 5th
00:24:30And Paul is so proud of that, you know
00:24:33He refused to take any money, he and Cornell
00:24:36He was such a proud Australian, he did it for nothing
00:24:39All that work, all those ads
00:24:43And it's believed that that was a deliberate act by John
00:24:48To get exposure in the United States for Paul
00:24:51With an intention of making a movie
00:24:54They hadn't thought of making a movie then, they certainly hadn't written it
00:24:57Come and say g'day
00:24:59I'll slip an extra shrimp on the barbie for you
00:25:01Come and say g'day
00:25:03You recognise this guy?
00:25:06You're talking about the shrimp on the barbecue, haven't you ever seen that end?
00:25:09Ain't that the dude on that commercial over there?
00:25:12They'll be saying, hey mate
00:25:13Yes, that's the Australian guy, Hogan
00:25:16Aussie holiday
00:25:17I became a proud badge wearer for Australians around the world
00:25:24Paul Hogan is here this evening Bob
00:25:26G'day mate
00:25:27How are you brother?
00:25:28Good
00:25:29Good
00:25:30Can I say to you, Hoges
00:25:33Seriously, thanks for what you're doing for Australia with those ads
00:25:37It means more jobs for Australians and it means more people going back to America and talking about us
00:25:41He's done a great job
00:25:42He's done a great job really
00:25:44Right
00:25:44And when someone says, where are you going for your holidays?
00:25:52Say Australia
00:25:53Oh and if they say, where's that?
00:25:56Tell them
00:25:56Tell them it's where the America's cup is
00:26:00Australia has done it
00:26:06Australia has won
00:26:08The America's Cup
00:26:09We had just started to receive recognition but we didn't really understand who we were
00:26:40And why not have someone as approachable and likeable as Paul Hogan represent our country
00:26:46And so that kind of bred McDundee
00:26:56I was doing a tourism promotion in New York and I had to walk back from where we were back to my hotel
00:27:03And it was five o'clock or something in New York and it was just
00:27:08Just so horrendously crowded and busy and bustling
00:27:13It made me feel like a hillbilly
00:27:15And I virtually wrote
00:27:16Wrote it walking down the street and then back at the hotel
00:27:21Handwritten and locked capitals
00:27:24Hoag's brought it to John and then I kind of read it over John's shoulder really
00:27:30I wrote it out like it was almost like a book and then John principally and Ken helped me turn it into a screenplay
00:27:39John was always extracting extracting the absolute best from Hoag's writing and performing
00:27:46He's there saying mate you can do better than that in that line and cut the end off that and make it a bit shorter
00:27:55He was a brilliant sub-editor
00:27:58I love the idea
00:27:59I love the idea of first of all using a bushman
00:28:01From Australia as a central character because we didn't have many homegrown heroes
00:28:06We always talked about it even in the script stage as being a double-barrel shotgun
00:28:11In that we thought we wanted to make a movie that appealed to people from 7 to 70
00:28:16John wanted to make a movie
00:28:18I think he had in mind right at the start when he first met Paul one day we'll make a movie with him and that was John's mind
00:28:24I was running Hoyt's Edgley productions is the general manager of the business and John said
00:28:28You know is this in terms of the raising of the
00:28:33Budget and the executive production role is this something that Hoyt actually can do and I said absolutely yeah, this is
00:28:39I love the script and others around us love the script a couple threw some doubts in about it
00:28:51There was one significant naysayer and it was his view as a person of the film industry and a director who had done a few things
00:28:58Whether the script was a load of bollocks it was hopeless
00:29:06Put in a six-page memo to Hoyt's and he was advising at the time saying don't touch crocodile dundee with a 40-foot barge pole
00:29:12It won't succeed hogan is a television star he won't ever be a movie star
00:29:18We lost the film we didn't get it
00:29:25It marched on if I had money back then which I didn't it would have been a no-brainer knowing john cornell to invest in that like a no-brainer
00:29:34Strangely enough some people missed that no-brainer some people got into it
00:29:39Well well-regarded successful people and then decided it wasn't that good
00:29:43I get a phone call from packer
00:29:45He said ah your mate rang me you wants eight million to make a film
00:29:50He had put in some money like a million dollars or 10% or 15% of it and then pulled it out
00:29:56Because he was advised to pull it out that it wasn't going to work and those sorts of things
00:29:59And he did it which is quite unusual for Kerry because he's another one with amazing instincts
00:30:03So he'd be scrubbed it he laughed in the long-run career at least he laughed later left us with a shortfall so
00:30:12You know mortgaged the house
00:30:14scrambled around to get investors
00:30:17We hung in there john hung in there and got into all sorts of people and then an old mate of mine from granville the stockbroker
00:30:24Rang up and said hi, you're trying to make a movie hoax here. We've never made a movie
00:30:29cornell and hogan had never made a movie peter feyman had never directed a movie
00:30:35But we grew up in granville and in granville you learned to have a go
00:30:38So we were having a go sat down read the script
00:30:42laughed my frock off
00:30:45Called my partners at morgan stockbroking and said have you ever heard of anybody being able to invest in cornell and hogan
00:30:52I said well now there's an opportunity and I think we should grab it
00:30:54We probably had about 2000 investors overall right there were a lot of mum and dads delvin's mum and dad
00:31:00They came in you know, and they were just regular working class people
00:31:04John was actually thrilled about the fact that we were able to go
00:31:07To mum and dad investors and and his friends and family
00:31:11We're going out to the public's good fun because you know that there's pensioners and battlers
00:31:15You've got a share of crocodile dundee and that makes you feel good
00:31:17I took a punt. I took a gamble, but one reason was that I thought
00:31:23Paul hogan was a born comic
00:31:27he has this wonderful way of looking
00:31:31And one look can give you the message there. We had the budget off we went
00:31:47John realised that
00:31:58Hogues had never made a film he'd never made a film
00:32:02Peter Feynman the director had never made a film
00:32:05There was a
00:32:07Vital component that had never done a film before and so John's attitude was I want the best
00:32:13I want russell boyd and ray brown and all of these people who were hugely experienced and excellent in their fields
00:32:22To help carry this project because first of all we're going to learn from them
00:32:27But secondly they're going to pick up any shortfalls that might be there because
00:32:32We're first-timers
00:32:37Well the central cast was obviously paul and we're all very very keen on working with john malian
00:32:42So there was an australian cast that we gathered but then the american girl was something else
00:32:50An associate producer and I were left in LA for a while to find somebody to play this part of sue
00:32:57We interviewed a lot of well-known actresses but nobody
00:33:01Really in LA was interested in taking the risk of coming to australia going through some plight in the outback
00:33:09Staying in motels instead of hotels and not having a limo
00:33:15Linda koslowski came in to
00:33:18Meet and she said yeah i'm up for it
00:33:22I'll give it a go
00:33:23Sounds terrific
00:33:24You know what's he like meaning paul
00:33:29One of the things that struck me about the script was that it had all the elements of
00:33:36What I would want to see when I go see a movie it was funny it was romantic it had adventure
00:33:42You know it had sort of a little bit of everything in it and I loved his character
00:33:45I mean, I thought if I ever met a man that man in life
00:33:49I would want his children such a great character
00:33:53The only problem is actors equity have said no you can't do that
00:33:57If you want to bring someone in for an australian film, they'll need to be a known celebrity
00:34:01You'll want a superstar
00:34:03I had just done death of a salesman on broadway with
00:34:07Dustin Hoffman and john malkovich and stephen lang and I wasn't a well-known actress
00:34:12I wasn't famous and they felt like if you're not going to get a famous actress then it should be an australian actress
00:34:19John believed in authenticity
00:34:22An american actress had to play the american role
00:34:26To solve the visa issue john wrote to john brown
00:34:32He says i'm stuck
00:34:34Well, I had multiple portfolios I was a minister for the arts if that would affect me
00:34:40I was also the minister for immigration
00:34:43Acting at that stage someone was away
00:34:45So as the minister of arts, I wrote to myself as a minister for immigration
00:34:50And wrote back give me permission to bring her in
00:34:54Actors equity haven't forgiven me yet
00:35:00You'd never know that john was stressed
00:35:03He loved to solve problems
00:35:06He was good at it didn't mind a challenge at all
00:35:08You know, I had confidence that you guys would get me in
00:35:11I really I did I don't know why I just really believed that
00:35:19I'll never forget we met those guys paul and corny on set we got off to a great start
00:35:28hogs and corny come towards us
00:35:31And he used the old good day thing and he just said
00:35:35Hey guys
00:35:38We think you're the most experienced crew we could get in australia
00:35:44And we don't know a lot about feature filming and then he said
00:35:50But by the way, we know a hell of a lot about television
00:35:56And more importantly we know a hell of a lot about comedy
00:36:00At the end of that little chit-chat, um, hulk said let's go make a movie together
00:36:10Ready?
00:36:11Right over
00:36:13Action
00:36:14Action
00:36:30Hi, I'm Walter Riley
00:36:36You never know the safaris
00:36:38I'm Mr Dungey's business partner
00:36:40Nice to meet you Mr Riley
00:36:42Please call me Walter, we're pretty informal up here in the woods
00:36:47Linda had yet to have the adventure of actually shooting in the outback
00:36:52Really didn't know that much about it. I felt like, you know, it'll be some foresty place just outside sydney somewhere and I wasn't
00:37:03Prepared for what it really was
00:37:15So the first stop was in the middle of nowhere, right
00:37:22It was dead silent
00:37:25There's nothing around
00:37:27She's a new york girl and freaked
00:37:30Absolutely freaked out. I said I can't do this. I can't do this
00:37:36Market
00:37:46Welcome to walkabout creek
00:37:48So all her security had gone right so that's a new york girl stepping into the outback
00:38:02It was actually a little town called mckinlay
00:38:05That they we changed it to walkabout creek for the film and the actual town had a population of 17
00:38:11We knew them all we knew the whole town by the time we left
00:38:23This is the pub this is where I first meet mr. Dundee
00:38:27Linda was a gilliard trained actress
00:38:37hogs
00:38:39Is not the slightest bit interested
00:38:42In actresses for a start meaning of a profession of it
00:38:47And certainly didn't want to rehearse
00:38:49It was great we would just go page by page through the script and he was my sounding board. I could
00:38:58Really talk to him about the character and my feelings and what I felt good about what I didn't feel so good about
00:39:07When linda met hogs and he didn't want to rehearse
00:39:12She suddenly recognized well hang on I'm working with an amateur here. Who is this person? I don't I don't get it
00:39:19Like a double bourbon to start the day off right
00:39:29I spent hours at night talking her down because she wanted to go back to america
00:39:34Because she was working with this unprofessional and I have to say he's a very big star
00:39:38People in australia love him. He's terribly smart
00:39:44It will work. I promise you it will work
00:39:53At that point in time I realized that what we really had to do
00:40:00Was film as much as you could in sequence
00:40:04So that they could really get together and work together properly and the story was of course
00:40:12Her as a journalist meeting paul as this outback guy so I thought well
00:40:18If we start there
00:40:20Then perhaps the chemistry will build right
00:40:24Because it was the only way I could get her around to accepting
00:40:30Paul's style of work and frankly paul around to understanding what she required from him
00:40:37Hang on to cyril for me wall while I dance with this
00:40:41charming young lady
00:40:48Honestly being on the set of crocodile dundee you felt that innocence in a way
00:40:52It was like i've got a barn let's put on a show come on everybody
00:41:01I had that like yeah kind of feeling and you don't get that very often
00:41:06From what I witnessed was just a great shoot
00:41:19Just a happy time for everybody
00:41:21You'll find us a nice friendly bunch up here in this town
00:41:24And I smile and walk in perfect yeah we don't need to do that then do we
00:41:30That's easy in fact you should have brought your own crew
00:41:32That's easy and I know how to do the con scene so I can go home
00:41:37They're marvelous people to work with and it's their first film
00:41:40And it doesn't make any difference because the way they're going about it
00:41:43It could have been their 25th film
00:41:45rehearsal and action
00:41:47I think I can speak on behalf of everybody nobody has ever been treated on a picture the way that mr cornell
00:41:57has treated us as a producer
00:42:00and everybody is
00:42:02It's a very big happy unit and that's a tremendous thing for film
00:42:07Tremendous thing hello charlie
00:42:10John cornell is a doll he's wonderful he's just been so kind to everyone really taking great
00:42:17care of us
00:42:19He's great you know the keeping the spirit together between everyone and
00:42:23Just really looking after us all he's been terrific
00:42:27Just behind you near the way that just so
00:42:32I think australian crews are wonderful i've had a great time they're really a real family
00:42:38and i think sometimes when i'm off the set i'll just sit back and watch them and really admire them
00:42:45i mean they work really really hard i was going to say bloody i'm really turning australian now
00:42:54well i'm going to only assume that somewhere up there
00:42:56you know sort of 10 feet in the air we'll get a good opening composition
00:43:00as a director of photography you're d.o.p as we call it out here
00:43:0416 on the line
00:43:0516 on the line
00:43:06okay
00:43:06hey no i don't no i don't actually my prime role is lighting the set
00:43:12with the help of the gaffer and and his assistants and the rest of the crew but
00:43:18the script determines everything and the production team particularly from the director
00:43:24they determine how it's going to um go together obviously and what their thoughts are about how to
00:43:28make it work and keep bubbling along we get the sense that we're too close well it will be when
00:43:33we're down here yeah exactly yeah right yeah sure it's your job to um keep everybody happy
00:43:40really it's part of the job to keep everybody happy can we uh can somebody grab us a cushion pj
00:43:48film crews have got to get our like a house on fire and we all did on that film
00:43:54because we were all like-minded i guess so um it was a very enjoyable shoot
00:44:02grace walker was our production designer and he found um a rubber crocodile somewhere
00:44:13we used that for a lot of scenes in the in the attack scene obviously
00:44:16it didn't have sharp teeth or anything
00:44:23i have to drop in the bone three foot
00:44:29well well we've just sort of lifted over i think
00:44:33everything comes in here and yeah and grabs it now yeah we probably have to be drifting
00:44:37it back as it goes or something yeah we've still got a fight film crews are the same the world over i've
00:44:42found aspirations are the same and um we get on with the job at hand it's just a whole conglomeration
00:44:49of people working together which is what i loved
00:44:51stand by and action
00:44:59russell had at that time you know such a history in movies and had this sort of television director
00:45:06working with him you know it was not what he was accustomed to really
00:45:09so if we should have anything that way in sort of there's no reason by the way that she shouldn't
00:45:13appear behind the rocks and we revert like that she doesn't appear there behind the rocks there oh
00:45:17no we have the rocks in the foreground we first met up obviously as the storyboard was being created
00:45:24and we talked about how simple i wanted it to be and then he brought magic to the screen with this
00:45:29simplicity of shots that i wanted but were absolutely magical on the screen because he's the best
00:45:39so
00:45:51so
00:46:03russell boyd such an artist when it comes to cinematography that even though it was only
00:46:11a comedy film it had this huge cinematic magnificence
00:46:24the first time i saw the rushes was when mick's talking about being attacked by the crocodile when
00:46:30he finds his dinghy and it was a side of paul i hadn't seen before really when he was low-key
00:46:36and understated and slightly menacing yeah see a crock will grab you take it down to the bottom of
00:46:44the water and roll you over and over and over until you stop kicking and you take your weight
00:46:49of his meat safe somewhere rock ledge bog down under the water jam under it and john said what do you
00:46:58think deli and i said i think it's incredible this is the side of of paul that we haven't seen so he
00:47:03now becomes mick dundee yeah anyway he wasn't happy with the grip he had on me so he let go to get a better one i talked him out of it
00:47:11so i think we found our hero
00:47:20mick was wise he was solitary
00:47:22self-reliant smart
00:47:24not egotistical
00:47:28honorable
00:47:31and appealing to men and women and so i i think we found our hero
00:47:36more tuckery and you can poke a sticker tuck food you hungry and hugely funny did i forget to say funny
00:47:48how do you like your goanna medium well done you don't really expect me to eat that yeah it's great
00:47:54yeah try some of those yams what about you aren't you having any you can live on it but it tastes like
00:48:00shit
00:48:05paul hogan is uh just great to work with locking around with a flying nun
00:48:14he's really a generous actor he's a really good actor and i didn't know anything about him when i
00:48:21came over here i knew him from the commercial vaguely you know that's all i knew so i was just
00:48:27pleasantly surprised or you know i just thought it was terrific he was terrific break a break a break
00:48:36the runaway shagger here she saw now that he was funny and fell in love
00:48:44eventually so really the story of the movie um is really the story of their lives
00:48:51it was a romantic story i think that when we shot chronologically when they kissed at the billabong
00:49:03that was their first kiss
00:49:09i thought that was beautiful the way he hesitated before he went in
00:49:12and kissed her i think there was great truth in that
00:49:21and linda was concerned because paul was married but what can you do
00:49:34and i just tried to be her confidante obviously but also make her feel like you have to follow your
00:49:41heart and you do you have to follow your heart and they did
00:49:51it was quite beautiful to see him find that kind of love
00:50:00we went out at sunset and we had the day off so it was so incredible it was like a dream
00:50:05where you just didn't know this place could exist so beautiful we were able to film
00:50:12on aboriginal land
00:50:22it was such a special amazing place it was such a privilege to be able to
00:50:28to to be there and to film there
00:50:40we're shooting crabry tonight and uh these boys here from you know like local people and uh
00:50:46and especially only there he on the uh uh kakadu national park
00:50:51and uh this is his songs so i just join in and dance with them
00:51:09well yes this is part of uh where paul and i and uh and the girl you know mick and sue
00:51:16where i meet them and talk to them and i say uh i'm on my way to corrobri over at the java
00:51:25so what you were doing
00:51:29well neville uh he's uh tribal and uh father father was a tribal and um but he's a city boy he there you
00:51:38knows yeah not like you well something like me yeah yeah well i like dancing crabby and you know when i
00:51:50come back home got a bush make crabby and dance have a big campfire enjoy it it's different from the
00:51:57city in this guy yeah right yeah right well that's that's my uniform there oh yeah studio 54 oh thank you
00:52:14paul agon is uh is really character he's really sort of into it uh black fellas he came to see
00:52:23see and meet uh black fellas there my mob and he took to them can we make this film and we dance
00:52:32and now everyone agreed
00:52:36david group will gotta be here and said yes come up i reckon yes good and uh fit it to me and to
00:52:44other aboriginal people where we was dancing and singing yeah that was real that was real stuff
00:52:53um
00:53:09because
00:53:09because
00:53:11when you are
00:53:12when you are
00:53:15when you are
00:53:17when you are
00:53:18I was like, I'd like to call you a friend.
00:53:26I was like, you're my brother.
00:53:32I'd like to call you a little.
00:53:39I would go with my full initiated painting, dancing.
00:53:58Claudel Dundee is a good film, but it's too short for me.
00:54:02161, take two, cameras A and B. Very good, thank you. Terrific.
00:54:11It's the candid camera creepos.
00:54:15Can I see what's inside my mouth?
00:54:20Just 32, perfect teeth.
00:54:23It was a tight schedule. We went from the Outback to New York
00:54:27and we were filming basically the next day
00:54:30after we got off the flight in New York.
00:54:45New York was much more challenging to shoot than the Outback.
00:54:49The Outback was perfect. It was quiet and isolated
00:54:52and suddenly there were, you know, peoples everywhere and extras
00:54:57and after work everybody would go off and do their own thing
00:55:00and it was New York City, what the heck?
00:55:02And so it was great to be back, but it was also a little more challenging.
00:55:08Action, Paul.
00:55:09You had to really like double down to focus more
00:55:12because there were so many distractions going on around us.
00:55:16The sound guys who were working in the silence of the Outback
00:55:21were suddenly on Fifth Avenue with this extraordinary cacophony of noise.
00:55:28All the directions were shouted, so everybody had to talk louder.
00:55:33471, take three.
00:55:35Got to be walking as I set you up in the back.
00:55:38If you're not with the film, please do not stop and hang out.
00:55:41We're throwing the, we're throwing the beans.
00:55:44Action.
00:55:51Hit!
00:55:52Well, a lot of what I did with him when I invented him
00:55:54was that I made him what I'd found with Americans
00:55:58thought about Australians.
00:56:00This is the image they have that's colourful about Australians
00:56:03so that was, they sort of were responsible for making him like he was.
00:56:08Yeah.
00:56:09Mick Dundee's room, please.
00:56:12I really, really want to give Norma, the late, beautiful, wonderful Norma Morisot,
00:56:17a big shout out because, first of all, I think that she gave that movie
00:56:24a touch of cool.
00:56:26I mean, I can't imagine Mick Dundee without that hat that's iconic.
00:56:32And the lizard skin jacket.
00:56:35I mean, that was a superhero costume.
00:56:40The red dress also is iconic.
00:56:43I was freaked out about the red dress because I was like,
00:56:46you know, my character would not wear this dress.
00:56:49I'm so sorry.
00:56:50She's supposed to be wealthy and raised in New York City.
00:56:53And I, and Norma and I went shopping and we picked out a black,
00:56:58I can remember it was a black Norma Kamali dress.
00:57:01It was form fitting, but it was very elegant.
00:57:03And we came and showed it to John and Paul and they were like...
00:57:08We were like, you don't like it?
00:57:12And then Norma said, they told me it has to be much sexier.
00:57:17And she's like, okay, I'll give you sexy.
00:57:19She used to say, over the top is the only place to be.
00:57:24Incidentally, miss, if you're looking for Crocodile Mick,
00:57:28he's gone walkabout.
00:57:30I don't suppose you know where?
00:57:32Yeah, he's headed for the subway two blocks down.
00:57:35You better hurry.
00:57:36Mind this for me.
00:57:38The composer tends to be somebody who sees a film more often
00:57:47than just about anybody else.
00:57:49I start off by, I suppose, thinking, what does this film need?
00:58:00And I came up with that...
00:58:05There's no music, there's just rhythm.
00:58:07And it all developed from there.
00:58:16The subway, you kind of get swept through
00:58:20as she's running, taking her shoes off.
00:58:24And just that contrast between the urgency that she's showing...
00:58:33And Mick's laconic kind of,
00:58:38I'm going off to see America.
00:58:40Um, it's that kind of juxtaposition that makes that work.
00:58:45Tell him I love him.
00:58:48I love you!
00:58:50I love you!
00:58:54I thought if I could crack that,
00:58:57um, then I could...
00:59:00confidently launch into the rest of the film.
00:59:04It felt to me in Crocodile Dundee as if I had to tell the story as well as they'd told it.
00:59:13And I didn't stuff it up.
00:59:15You got a light, buddy?
00:59:18Yeah, sure, kid.
00:59:20There you go.
00:59:22There you go.
00:59:24And your wallet.
00:59:26Mick, give him your wallet.
00:59:29What for?
00:59:30He's got a knife.
00:59:31That's not a knife.
00:59:34That's not a knife.
00:59:39That's a knife.
00:59:44That's not a knife.
00:59:46That's a great story, actually.
00:59:48We edited Crocodile Dundee
00:59:51and...
00:59:53John was watching the rushes with the editor,
00:59:55trying to piece that together.
00:59:57And they had three or four takes.
00:59:59It was like, no, no, no.
01:00:01There's another take.
01:00:02There's another take.
01:00:03There's a better take.
01:00:05And we couldn't find it.
01:00:06And he knew that it was the take
01:00:08that Paul had done after Peter Feynman had said,
01:00:11cut.
01:00:12And Paul kept playing around
01:00:14with this young kid who was the mugger.
01:00:17And he had this glint in his eye.
01:00:19And John had recognised that.
01:00:21And it was like that
01:00:22because it was after the pressure was off of filming,
01:00:25like, cut.
01:00:26You know, okay, I don't want to have a bit of a play.
01:00:29And it was in the editing room bin.
01:00:32And John fished it out
01:00:34and put that scene in the film.
01:00:36And that is the scene of the film.
01:00:38So I love that story.
01:00:40That was that John knew
01:00:41what Hogues had delivered
01:00:43as Mick Dundee in that moment.
01:00:45And knew it, you know,
01:00:46knew that it was there somewhere
01:00:48and was intent on putting it in
01:00:49because that was the take.
01:00:50Hogan and John Cornell set out to make a popular, entertaining movie.
01:01:00And at the crowded premiere in Sydney this week,
01:01:02there was an irresistible feeling of confidence in the air.
01:01:05Cornell believes he's back to winning.
01:01:07And were you so confident that Crocodile thought that he was going to work?
01:01:09Well, they say films are a gamble, but in this case I knew the horse and the horse talks to me.
01:01:21And I've got great faith in Hogan.
01:01:25Always have had, probably always will have.
01:01:27The guy's not a hero, he's a human.
01:01:31Well, he's just a larriker.
01:01:32You know, it's a good, fun film.
01:01:34Where did he come from?
01:01:36Out of there.
01:01:37And out of the Northern Territory.
01:01:46As soon as it got released in Australia, it was just through the roof.
01:01:50Hoyts were exhibiting,
01:01:52so we were getting the numbers
01:01:54and the numbers were unprecedented.
01:01:58Once we got through the first three weeks,
01:02:05I didn't worry anymore.
01:02:07We knew the mums and dads were safe.
01:02:09The people who invested in Crocodile Dundee
01:02:10will get four or five or six times their money back.
01:02:13I really did care about those people who put their $5,000 and $10,000 in.
01:02:16That was serious investment for them.
01:02:22Here's to Crocodile Dundee.
01:02:24We released the film and it was just blockbuster.
01:02:29Biggest Australian movie, but by a long stretch.
01:02:34We had a dynamite movie, now what do we do with it?
01:02:37The ultimate test is to sell it to America.
01:02:41US was the biggest market.
01:02:43In our case, I said they can't take, no one takes the movie anywhere
01:02:48until Australia releases.
01:02:50Because I know it's going to be a big hit and then the Americans will come chase us.
01:02:54So John didn't want to do any pre-sales because he had so much faith in that film and self-belief that he took it to America under his arm.
01:03:08First studio, 20th Century Fox, knocked it back.
01:03:13The guy barely watched it.
01:03:15And finally, he got to Paramount.
01:03:19And he went there because he loved their gates.
01:03:24In through the big fancy gates and into Barry London's office.
01:03:27The first meeting I had with John was at the studio right after I'd seen Crocodile Dundee.
01:03:37And the first words that I remember speaking to him was, I love your movie.
01:03:41Which is the line that you want to hear from a distributor.
01:03:44But they weren't quite sure how it was going to go.
01:03:48And so John said, well, I've had an audience tested.
01:03:50If you test a film and the audience says it's good, the film's a failure.
01:03:56The audience, when you test a film, have to say, it is absolutely fantastic.
01:04:01The best thing I've ever seen. Then you've got success.
01:04:03We had it researched in America.
01:04:06Most producers don't do this, but I thought it might be a plus for the selling of it.
01:04:10So instead of having them research it, I paid for the research myself this week.
01:04:15And I won't bore you with the details about what happens,
01:04:17but we got a 59 on this complicated input of showing it to a couple of thousand people in audience.
01:04:27The average is a 43.
01:04:30That 59 has meant people like, well, Frank Mancuso, the president of Paramount Pictures,
01:04:34got on the phone to the guy who'd done the research and said,
01:04:37is this correct that this movie cracked the 59?
01:04:40He knew that, you know, we eat the same food as Americans,
01:04:43we watch the same movies, we drive the same cars, listen to the same music, watch the same TV shows.
01:04:50They're our brothers. So they're going to get it.
01:04:53All of a sudden, Paramount, you know, like all bright eyed and bushy tailed.
01:04:56We've done this testing. This looks pretty good.
01:04:58And it was right up there. It's like Top Gun.
01:05:01And they were surprised by that. And where did you get it tested?
01:05:04Well, I went to the same company that you use.
01:05:06And we all kind of looked at each other and said, wow, this is really good stuff, really good stuff.
01:05:15And from that moment on, our enthusiasm, that kind of enthusiasm was apparent.
01:05:21And we never lost it. Paul picked up on it. John picked up on it.
01:05:26And off we went.
01:05:35The US press went mad. Paramount had Linda and Paul on talk shows all over the country.
01:05:46We opened in 500 theaters. And this word of mouth got around.
01:05:51Like a comic book superhero. I love it. I love it.
01:05:55He's cute and he's charming. And yet, I don't know.
01:05:59When he's about to get mugged, right, and he says, nah, that's a knife.
01:06:04He's got his big machete and he starts waving it around.
01:06:08Of course, I think he's sexy. That's why he came tonight.
01:06:11Well, the money just came in in a wave.
01:06:148.8 million the first week.
01:06:1919 the second week.
01:06:2228 the third week.
01:06:25And then look out.
01:06:27It was a runaway train.
01:06:30And I went, yes.
01:06:33We had a movie that was sensational.
01:06:35Didn't matter that we never heard of Paul Hogan at that point.
01:06:37And it didn't matter that it was an Australian film.
01:06:41What it was was a terrific Australian film with some guy called Paul Hogan.
01:06:47Crocodile Dundee in the States ran for six months.
01:06:51It's only in USA, Canada and Australia. We've got the rest of the world to go yet.
01:06:55I'd have been happy if it was a hit in Australia and the UK.
01:07:02I didn't know it was going to be a hit in Israel and Switzerland and Mexico.
01:07:09And it was.
01:07:11Crocodile Dundee released all around the world.
01:07:15It was a global sensation.
01:07:17For 8.8 million dollars Australian.
01:07:28We made 328 million dollars.
01:07:31You take it over 40 years.
01:07:34Well it's gone up about 10 times.
01:07:36Let's say 7 times.
01:07:38So what did I say? 7.3.
01:07:40So that's 2.8 billion.
01:07:41Crocodile Dundee is the biggest foreign movie in the history of movies.
01:07:49It's the biggest movie in the world ever made outside of a major studio.
01:07:56It was just report after report after report saying highest revenue ever.
01:08:02Biggest box opening ever, ever, ever, ever.
01:08:05So there's a lot of biggest evers in there.
01:08:06In fact Paul Hogan used to say to me don't tell me about how much money it took last weekend.
01:08:11Tell me about the evers.
01:08:13You just don't know until you do it.
01:08:15Dundee sort of did that and opened the floodgates.
01:08:18I think we all knew it was going to be successful but how successful was sort of the question area.
01:08:24And it's very successful which is great.
01:08:27And it just sort of crept up and then we went a couple times.
01:08:31Groups of us would go and sit in the back row.
01:08:35I think in New York and some other places just to watch the audience reaction and seeing how into it they were.
01:08:43And cheering you know at the end and just really calling out and just feeling very so engaged with it.
01:08:50We were going oh this is much bigger than we thought it was going to be.
01:08:55Wow.
01:08:57The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
01:09:03I enjoyed the Oscar nomination because that's made by our writers.
01:09:08To be nominated for an Oscar, if you're talking about pinnacles of acting, directing, writing, making films, that's what you want.
01:09:18That's a recognition.
01:09:20Both Linda and Paul received Golden Globe nominations.
01:09:22And it is a dream when you're an actor to be recognised.
01:09:27You can't imagine that that would ever happen to you.
01:09:32It was so funny I got a Golden Globe as the best actor and I think the foreign press were embarrassed when they got to meet me.
01:09:40And they said he's just it's just him with a hat on was the only difference between me and Dundee.
01:09:49And I thought I'm not a very good actor.
01:09:53Me I just put on different hats.
01:09:54I mean if you look at sort of Mick Dundee and me.
01:09:58I'm convincing as that character.
01:10:00But that's it.
01:10:04You're not going to find another Paul Hogan around the world.
01:10:07I mean Paul Hogan now according to all the executives in Hollywood is the top two or three box office stars in the world.
01:10:14So luckily he doesn't have any ego problems because the last thing we want is for him to be walking around thinking that he's Paul Hogan.
01:10:25Well Hogan made Crocodile Dundee. If Paul Hogan hadn't been born would we have had somebody else play the role and do just as well? I don't think so.
01:10:43Hugs will tell you himself that Mick Dundee is just Hugs in the bush.
01:10:49You'd be looking back at this spot.
01:10:52Yeah you'd be walking back at this spot.
01:10:53I'd be loving the girl.
01:10:54Yeah.
01:10:55I'd do it every day.
01:10:57There was a quality about Mick Dundee that every man and woman related to.
01:11:03And there was something amazing about this superhero that he was relatable.
01:11:12You could see yourself in him.
01:11:14Like yeah that's what I would have done if I could you know.
01:11:18He wasn't like half man and half bug or you know what I mean.
01:11:23Or some like super metal super guy flying through the sky.
01:11:28He was a guy like a normal guy.
01:11:31But he was like a superhero at the same time and he came from a completely different place.
01:11:40Mick Dundee was so believable that people thought he was a real person.
01:11:44The movie wouldn't have worked as well if they'd had a big movie star in it.
01:11:51Because in most of the world I was unknown.
01:11:55And therefore the character became real.
01:11:58And you know when I did international press junkets for promotion.
01:12:01Well it's all Mr Dundee.
01:12:03Can you come over there Mick?
01:12:06He was real.
01:12:08The last survey that tourism people were doing about what people knew about Australia and knew famous Australians.
01:12:15They had you know Chris Hemsworth and probably Nicole and Margot and names on it.
01:12:22And on the list I was fifth most famous Australian.
01:12:26I think I was 11th on one of the others and I didn't even make the top ten or something.
01:12:31But who was number one? Mick Dundee.
01:12:33Mick Dundee was the most famous Australian in every survey they did.
01:12:38But he's not real.
01:12:39I made him up.
01:12:41So I didn't make the list but he did.
01:12:44Paul, it's great to see you in New York.
01:12:47I love your show.
01:12:48You've got the taste.
01:12:50Thank you. You have a good show.
01:12:51Very professional.
01:12:53I think it's acknowledged that Paul put Australia on the map.
01:12:57It started of course with the shrimp on the barbecue stuff.
01:13:00And then it was compounded by Crocodile Nundee.
01:13:05In America, the Australian accent suddenly, I really believe this, suddenly became acceptable.
01:13:16No worries mate.
01:13:17He made it very, very clear that we're a nice lot of people.
01:13:22We're fun. We're ordinary. We're not strangers.
01:13:26You want that?
01:13:28Perfect.
01:13:30The relationship that exists between John and Paul and it comes out as something special and unique as we talked about earlier.
01:13:37And I think from that standpoint, they offer a freshness and something that is really special in this business, a loyalty.
01:13:44I have one more thing to add to that.
01:13:48Both of those guys are really nice guys.
01:13:51In addition to being terrific filmmakers.
01:13:55They're really nice people.
01:13:59I think for all of us in Australia, this idea of what you can and can't do was well and truly kicked down the street.
01:14:05Because what they took on and what they achieved was so impossible.
01:14:14Crocodile Dundee has been described as lightning in a bottle.
01:14:18So, how does that come about?
01:14:21That's the magical collaboration of all of those incredible people on the crew, as well as John and Paul.
01:14:29Is that something happens.
01:14:31There's a...
01:14:33It's like a cauldron brewing.
01:14:35All the ingredients go in.
01:14:37And then magic happens.
01:14:42And then you have to contain it.
01:14:44And I think there was just so much potential with that film.
01:14:49That it was like...
01:14:51Lightning in a bottle just needed to get out!
01:14:53You know, and then it got out.
01:14:55For sure, the energy of the film.
01:14:59The newness of the film.
01:15:01It was a comedy.
01:15:02It was a romantic comedy.
01:15:04But it was also like one of the big adventure movies.
01:15:07You had incredible scenery.
01:15:10It's like one of those films that they keep showing to say,
01:15:13Why is this an outstanding success?
01:15:15And kind of everyone gets it.
01:15:17Warmth.
01:15:19And the normal, traditional beats of a hero.
01:15:22Fish out of water.
01:15:24For me, I felt very much a fish in water.
01:15:27The crew was incredible.
01:15:29Everybody's attitude was just so great.
01:15:32And we had this common goal of just getting it right.
01:15:35And making it right.
01:15:36And making it work.
01:15:37And, you know, saying, what about this?
01:15:39What about that?
01:15:40Oh, that's kind of strange.
01:15:41And so, I was in my element, in a way.
01:15:44And everybody's enthusiasm, as well, was very inspiring.
01:15:50I think it was a combination of all those things that...
01:15:54John, again, making the working place such a great place.
01:15:59It made people want to do better.
01:16:03They felt those good vibes, you know.
01:16:06And it permeated the set.
01:16:09And I think, in the end, it permeated the screen.
01:16:12It came right out into the audience.
01:16:13John always thought, right from the scene one, this is going to work.
01:16:23This is going to be a hit.
01:16:25I don't think anyone else did.
01:16:26Not to the extent he believed.
01:16:28Belief in himself and belief in me.
01:16:30More than I had.
01:16:31He's got the magic ingredient that stars have in them.
01:16:36And, er...
01:16:38He doesn't only have it for this country, but for overseas as well.
01:16:42It's very hard to define, mate.
01:16:44I think he's got a few ingredients that we're not even sure about ourselves.
01:16:49Rehearsal it in!
01:16:50They were so attuned, John and Paul.
01:16:56They never finished each other's sentences or stuff, but their thoughts were like in the ether at the same time.
01:17:05Not quite telepathic, but so on the same wavelength.
01:17:09Is it the line that's worrying you?
01:17:11The dialogue.
01:17:12It's the dialogue.
01:17:13The...
01:17:14That's the one.
01:17:17I guess I could say they were blood brothers.
01:17:20They were so comfortable with each other.
01:17:21They were so in sync.
01:17:23What should I be thinking?
01:17:24It's time.
01:17:25All up the building.
01:17:26Hanging on the leg.
01:17:28It just won't come to me.
01:17:30Think about the coat hanger, mate.
01:17:32Oh, the old coat hanger.
01:17:33The old coat hanger.
01:17:35They just could look at each other and know,
01:17:38and they really had the same...
01:17:40the same ideas and the same feelings about so many things.
01:17:45We've got sort of a bit of a mental umbilical cord between us creatively anyway,
01:17:49so...
01:17:50that's the easiest part.
01:17:52With Paul, you don't have to direct him anyway.
01:17:54You just sort of say,
01:17:55oh, you've got a fly on your face, mate.
01:17:56That's about all you need to say to him.
01:17:59They were so both coupled with their values
01:18:03and principles and philosophies and attitude to life
01:18:06that whatever they did together,
01:18:09they did symbiotically
01:18:11to the point where they were like soul brothers
01:18:15for eternity.
01:18:17Just this incredible connection
01:18:19from two opposing backgrounds, really.
01:18:23But so like-minded despite that.
01:18:26That, to me, that was...
01:18:29rare.
01:18:30Sometimes you're embarrassed to try and do this candid stuff.
01:18:35Relax.
01:18:36Well, at least we can cut out whatever we don't like.
01:18:37Yeah, you're right.
01:18:40We edit this.
01:18:43You need to take a bullet for me, John.
01:18:45Your financial advisor and business manager and entrepreneur
01:18:49is also your best friend.
01:18:51It's fabulous.
01:18:52I have come to send you to the Boilermakers Mixed Prawn Night.
01:18:56Really?
01:18:57A little wave of the magic 4B2
01:18:59and you'll look like a million dollars.
01:19:00Get on with this.
01:19:07It's that leap of going from being small screen to large screen
01:19:11to local to international.
01:19:14I can't off the top of my head,
01:19:16unless you want to remind me,
01:19:17you can think of anyone else who's done that.
01:19:19I can't do anything else.
01:19:21Gravitas.
01:19:23Aura.
01:19:24Swagger.
01:19:25Those guys had it in spades.
01:19:28These guys didn't have lane ways.
01:19:30They just took whole landscapes
01:19:33and went across it in their way.
01:19:38They want to do good.
01:19:39They want to make people laugh.
01:19:40It kind of comes from a really simple, nice space
01:19:45that all of us can attach to
01:19:47and go along with the ride with.
01:19:49But you know,
01:19:50if you've got the ability to make people laugh
01:19:52and forget their woes for a bit,
01:19:55what a job.
01:20:00Miss me mate.
01:20:02I'll stop.
01:20:03He was diagnosed the day before he turned 60 with Parkinson's disease.
01:20:19We would talk all through our 46 years of marriage till the cows came home.
01:20:33You know, great conversationalists, great conversations.
01:20:37And to see him lose his voice was a real loss.
01:20:42But through it all, I've never seen anyone be more brave.
01:20:50He had a great depth of courage.
01:20:52He never whinged.
01:20:54He was stoic.
01:20:56And he was accepting.
01:20:59And was never sorry for himself.
01:21:03A couple of times I'd see him go,
01:21:04and you could see he was just really tired of it.
01:21:12And for me, as his long, long life love,
01:21:16that was a really difficult thing to watch.
01:21:21He always wanted to get to 80.
01:21:24And he did.
01:21:25His wife, for 46 years, was by his side last year.
01:21:31As Paul Hogan's Dobie sidekick struck.
01:21:35In a statement, his family remembered him as a true egalitarian
01:21:39who sought equity and equality and fought for a fair go.
01:21:44I had said to John before he passed,
01:21:47what bird do you want to be remembered as?
01:21:50Because we've got a tradition in our family.
01:21:51And he said, I want a kookaburra.
01:21:57I said, why?
01:21:58He said, because they make people laugh.
01:22:05They land in the tree where we've tied all the ribbons
01:22:08that we had people send in who couldn't come to the funeral
01:22:11because it was COVID.
01:22:13And that's John's tree.
01:22:14And all these ribbons are ephemerally ageing
01:22:18and it's kind of like life itself.
01:22:22A few years before he passed away, and he wasn't in a good way,
01:22:28we went round to his house to pick him up.
01:22:31We went to get his shoes.
01:22:33And he put his foot into his shoe and he went, hang on.
01:22:36And he pulled his foot out of his shoe and then he put his hand into his shoe
01:22:39and there was a rigor mortis mouse, tiny little mouse in his shoe.
01:22:42And he just looked at, he just looked up and said, I've got to get out more.
01:22:49Because he clearly hadn't put his shoes on enough lately.
01:22:52Or he hadn't chosen those shoes.
01:22:53But there's just a classic beautiful line that he just straight on the top of his head, I've got to get out more.
01:22:58You know?
01:22:59And that's just, that's corny.
01:23:02As a friend, as a mentor to me, as someone I love dearly, it's never been better for me.
01:23:08Everything I've had to do with Hogan and Cornell in the making of the movie and all the other things that we've done through our lives has been a privilege.
01:23:21One of the saddest things was I could never get to John's funeral.
01:23:41Anyway, thanks John.
01:23:51I'm sorry.
01:23:57I'm sorry.
01:24:03My wish initially when I fell in love with John was that we would grow old together.
01:24:09And we, we did.
01:24:11How lucky am I?
01:24:12I searched for my lover.
01:24:13He's missing one thought.
01:24:14And wearing a lightsaber's cap.
01:24:15Pretend, is it yours?
01:24:16Yeah.
01:24:17Let me know.
01:24:18By the chewing gum under the strap.
01:24:19This documentary, this is an act of love.
01:24:20For John primarily.
01:24:21Because he's not here to be honoured.
01:24:22But also for the film.
01:24:23And for Paul.
01:24:24And all my old friends, everyone who added their spark to Crocodile Dundee.
01:24:43When anything was made with courage content, they can make a job.
01:24:52Everything is made with courage, conviction, chemistry and humour.
01:25:00You can feel this magic and everything becomes possible.
01:25:05I love your building. It's all been a pleasure.
01:25:11Have a well. Okay.
01:25:13I may never know what makes magic happen.
01:25:17But I do know that, to me, the most magical ingredient of all is love.
01:25:47I want it from the horse's mouth, child.
01:25:56We're starting?
01:25:57Yep.
01:25:58Okay, hold it, I'll put this out.
01:26:02I tickled you.
01:26:09So what do we used to say?
01:26:11Oh, there is enough.
01:26:12No, there is enough.
01:26:13The finish of the blue is on.
01:26:43Transcription by CastingWords
01:27:13CastingWords
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