Production begins on Charlie & Boots – PART 5
November 3, 2008. Shoot Day One. 7am. I arrive at the Warrnambool Bowls Club. The usual madness of a film shoot is already evident. The unit base is in place and the catering truck with our four full-time caterers beavering away sits central with associated marquee with tables for us to prop ourselves at the ready. The unit base is the nerve centre of a film set – it’s where the food is. Our unit base also consisted of two ‘Star-Wagons’. These are large, well equipped Winnebagos for Paul and Shane’s personal use. They have couches, TV’s, fridges, showers and
From the page to the press conference – PART 4
And then, suddenly, in what was only a matter of months, with the script now completed and financing in place, I find myself in a Sydney hotel with Paul and Shane for Charlie & Boots’ first press conference. Paul arrives at the hotel and is his usual charming self. It’s so nice to see him. One of the first questions people always ask me is “What’s Paul Hogan really like?” The only way I can answer that is to say that Paul is everything you hope he is. He’s funny and charming. Totally unaffected and down to earth and surprisingly,
Writing Charlie & Boots – Part 3
People often ask me what’s the best way to write a script. Basically, I have no idea (remember I left school at fourteen). But what I do know is how I write a script, but that said, every script and project is so different that I never end up doing the same thing twice. The first three or four scripts I wrote were written whilst milking cows on my parents’ farm. There’s something about being surrounded by cows and the slow rhythmic sounds of the milking machines that would make me get all creative. All of those scripts were written
How Charlie & Boots came to life…PART 2
It was probably early 2008 and I was walking with my girlfriend, Michelle, also known as Mish, or Pest, or Shells to meet a friend for dinner. On the way we started to discuss Shane Jacobson and how he appeals to the same audience as Paul Hogan does. How they’re both just very real people that many relate to. I was saying how it would be fun to put them in a film together. The question “What about?” was fired back at me instantly. Tonight it was not Mish, Pest or Shells, but Michelle Wilson, investigative girlfriend. “…I dunno” was
From the very beginning….PART 1
I grew up on a dairy farm in Kergunyah in North East Victoria. If there’s anyone who’s not sure where Kergunyah is, it’s at the foot of Mount Murramurrangbong, over the hill from Yackandandah and about 5 kilometres from Tangamballanga. Like many children I had a mother and father. I also had an older brother, Mark. People always said Mark got the looks and I got the brains. I’m not sure if the fact that I left school at 14 says more about my brains or his looks – however I have my suspicions… Growing up on the farm was
