How the film "Crocodile Dundee" was filmed: footage from filming and 18 interesting facts about the film (22 photos)

“Crocodile Dundee” is perhaps the most famous Australian film in the USSR. And definitely the most beloved among the people. Here are some interesting facts from the history of this adventure comedy.





1. The idea to make the film “Crocodile Dundee” appeared, one might say, by accident. When Paul Hogan was in New York, everything seemed so unusual to him that he thought about why not make a film about a resident of the Australian outback who ended up in an American metropolis.



Also, a significant contribution to the future film was made by the real story of the Latvian hunter Arvids Blumentals, known as Rodney Ansell or Harry “Crocodile”. Yes, yes, cinematic Dundee got its nickname thanks to Arvid. By the way, in his homeland in Latvia, Blumentals erected a monument in the form of a crocodile.





Although, according to another version, the prototype of the main character was the Australian Rodney Ansell. One day, the boat on which Ansell was sailing capsized, as a result of which the poor man floated along the river for a long time until he reached a deserted island. Rodney spent about two months on this island until he came across local farmers, thanks to whom he was able to return home.

2. Paul Hogan decided to share his idea with his longtime friend and agent John Cornell, and he suggested that he make a film in the Disney style, but without the participation of this large company.



It was Cornell who figured out how to get money to shoot a film without the participation of large companies, so as not to cooperate with the Australian Film Commission, otherwise their hands would be tied.

Then John and Paul found about 1,500 small investors, as a result of which they raised quite a large sum for filming the film. And most importantly, they had complete creative freedom, which would not have happened if they had contacted one large investor. In addition, Paul and John invested their own funds in the amount of $600 thousand.



John Cornell - co-writer, producer

Also, one of the many investors was the Australian musician and lead singer of the group "INXS" Michael Hutchence.

In total, they managed to scrape together 8.8 million Australian dollars to shoot the film, which in 1986 was approximately 6 million US dollars.

3. In order to release the film at the US box office, John Cornell turned to the 20th century FOX studio. According to John Cornell, the company's producer showed clear distaste for the film. He watched it with his feet on the table and constantly glancing at his watch. And after 20 minutes he simply turned off the film and said that he was not interested in such a mediocre film.



Then Cornell addressed the same questions to the Paramount film company, and the local studio bosses were very pleased with the film. I think that the same studio boss from the 20th century FOX company regretted for a long time that he did not take the film, which eventually became a hit.

True, the American version of the film was shorter than the Australian version by about 7 minutes. In particular, Australian slang words that are understandable only to locals were removed from the American version.

4. In the Australian scenes, almost all roles were performed by Australian actors. The only exception was American actress Linda Kozlowski.



This fact greatly angered the Australian film community, as they wanted to see only Australians in the film's Australian scenes. But Paul Hogan settled everything by saying that they needed a famous American actress to attract American audiences.

This statement reassured Australian social activists. True, they did not know that Paul Hogan was lying a little. The fact is that Linda Kozlowski was never a famous actress, and even in the states practically no one knew her.



5. It was originally planned that a real crocodile would participate in the filming, but actress Linda Kozlowski flatly refused to film next to a real toothy reptile. Then it was decided to purchase a mechanical copy. By the way, the artificial crocodile cost the studio 45 thousand dollars.



Also, a separate doll (no longer mechanical) of a full-length crocodile was purchased. It was into this doll that Dundee plunged his knife.

But despite the fact that a mechanical crocodile was used during the attack scene, real reptiles swam nearby in the water and could easily attack the actress. Therefore, for safety reasons, several people with rifles were located in the trees, who were supposed to use weapons in case of danger. But scenes with live crocodiles were filmed separately from the actors.



6. The Australian filming took place in the Kakadu National Park, where uranium was once mined. And since the park was very far away, and there were no houses or hotels nearby, the entire film crew had to spend the night in dilapidated shacks that the uranium mine workers left behind. True, it was terribly uncomfortable to sleep in such dwellings.



However, the members of the film crew tried to make their time as comfortable as possible, creating a cozy atmosphere of a summer camp with gatherings around the fire.

7. According to Paul Hogan, the laziest actor in the film was a buffalo. This representative of cattle flatly refused to film and simply stood rooted to the spot. It took a whole day to shoot just one scene with him.



8. At the time of filming Crocodile Dundee, Paul Hogan was married and had five children. But during the filming of the film, he and Linda Kozlowski began an affair, after which Paul Hogan's 28-year marriage collapsed.

In 1990, Paul Hogan and Linda Kozlowski got married, and in this marriage Paul had another son. This marriage lasted 23 years, and in 2013 Paul and Linda divorced.



As Hogan himself later joked, he considers himself a bad partner, because after 20 years women begin to get tired of him.

9. David Galpilil, who played the Australian Aborigine, was one of the most famous Australian dancers. It was he who came up with that very Aboriginal dance.



David Galpilil

10. After the success of the two parts of the film about Dundee, the bosses of the Paramount Pictures studio had the idea of ​​making a third part for a crossover with the film Beverly Hills Cop. But Eddie Murphy abandoned this idea, so Paramount decided not to return to the crossover idea.

11. With a budget of 8.8 Australian dollars (approximately 6 million US dollars), the film earned 328.2 million worldwide. To say that the film was a box office success is an understatement.



Moreover, do not forget that the 80s and 90s were the era of VHS, and part of the money from the sale of videotapes also went to the studio, actors, etc. And sales of videocassettes with the film “Crocodile Dundee” were so colossal that they “outdid” such hits as “Ghostbusters” and “Rambo: First Blood”.

Hogan himself was surprised that this film became so successful, since he believed that it could not jump above the status of an ordinary comedy family film.



True, this success negatively affected the floor itself. The government began to accuse him of tax evasion and concealment of income, which is why Hogan was under investigation for a long time. Only in 2010 were all charges against Hogan dropped, after which he sued the government demanding a public apology to him.

12. The very knife (Bowie Knife) that Dundee wielded was, of course, a fake one. But after filming the film, Paul Hogan ordered himself a real stainless steel knife.



13. The scene where Sue Charlton talks on the phone was specifically filmed in front of the Sydney Harbor Bridge as a reference to Paul Hogan's past. Once in his youth, before he became a comedian, Hogan worked as an erector on this very bridge.



14. In the hotel room there is a film on TV called “Major Dundee”.

By the way, that same bidet was added to the bathroom especially for the film. In fact, there were no bidets in the hotel rooms. This fact greatly disappointed the guests who rented a room only because Dundee was staying there.



15. In one of the scenes, Linda had to open the car door the first time, but she didn’t succeed. John Meillon, who played Wally, immediately ran to her aid to open the door for the girl.

Paul Hogan thought the awkward scene was funny, so he decided it should make it into the final film.



16. Dundee shows Sue his scar on his leg from a crocodile bite for only a couple of seconds, but it took the makeup artists about two hours to create this scar.

17. Upon arrival in the United States, Hogan had the idea to film a scene on an escalator, where Dundee was a child, jumping from step to step back and forth. But the surprised girl we see in the frame during this scene was not an actress at all. This is an ordinary unsuspecting passenger. Therefore, her surprise was very real.



18. As Paul Hogan said, he was very surprised that in New York none of the passers-by paid any attention to him when he climbed onto the pole. Everyone was immersed in their thoughts and just walked along, not paying attention to anything.