{"id":174071,"date":"2025-09-28T01:26:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T01:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/174071\/"},"modified":"2025-09-28T01:26:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T01:26:17","slug":"crocodile-dundee-documentary-10-facts-you-didnt-know-about-australias-most-successful-film-of-all-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/174071\/","title":{"rendered":"Crocodile Dundee Documentary: 10 facts you didn’t know about Australia’s most successful film of all time"},"content":{"rendered":"

\ufeff”That’s not a knife…”<\/p>\n

For almost 40 years,\ufeff fans from Australia and around the world have been recreating Paul Hogan’s<\/a> iconic line from Crocodile Dundee<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While it’s likely you know the film back to front, you probably don’t know the truth behind making Mick ‘Crocodile’ Dundee<\/a> a global legend.<\/p>\n

Hogan returns to screens in the Stan doco Love of an Icon: The Legend \ufeffof Crocodile Dundee<\/a> to tell you the truth behind Australia’s most successful film of all time.<\/p>\n

From the scenes that were put in the editing bin to the on-screen turned real-life romance, we break down the documentary’s 10 biggest revelations here:<\/p>\n

1. The film’s most famous scene was found in ‘the editing room bin’\ufeff\"CrocodileA scene cemented in pop culture history. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

“That’s not a knife, THAT’s a knife.”<\/p>\n

We all know these seven words from Crocodile Dundee’s most-quoted scene. The version we see today however, was originally thrown “in the editing room bin”, the documentary revealed.<\/p>\n

EXCLUSIVE: Paul Hogan reveals what happened to the famous Crocodile Dundee knife as the iconic film celebrates 40 years<\/a><\/p>\n

During one of four takes, director Peter Faiman kept the cameras rolling…<\/p>\n

“Peter had said ‘cut’ \ufeffand Paul kept playing around with this young kid who was the mugger and Paul had this glint in his eye,” Delvene recalled.<\/p>\n

She said it was like the “pressure of filming” was lifted and Paul could have a bit of fun with the scene. \ufeff<\/p>\n

“That is the take. [Producer] John [Cornell] fished it out of the bin and that is the scene of the film!”<\/p>\n

More than 39 years on and Paul Hogan re-enacted his iconic line. Catch the moment here:<\/p>\n

2. Co-star Linda Kozlowski wanted to quit, before going on to marry Paul Hogan<\/p>\n

At the time Linda had no idea who Paul was, aside from a “commercial, vaguely”.<\/p>\n

She was a trained actor, he didn’t want to rehearse. Linda thought she was a working with an “unprofessional” and wanted to quit.<\/p>\n

But director Peter Faiman had an \ufeffidea. They filmed as much as they could in sequence, starting with the scene they met.<\/p>\n

Linda Kozlowski and Paul Hogan. (Paramount Pictures)<\/p>\n

\ufeff”She saw now that he was funny and fell in love, eventually,” he laughed. “So really the story of the movie is the story of their lives,” Peter said.<\/p>\n

Paul dated and later married his co-star Linda Kozlowski in 1990. They had a son, Chance, and divorced in 2014.<\/p>\n

Paul Hogan and Linda Kozlowski on the red carpet in 2001. (Ron Galella Collection via Getty)3. It started with a ‘shrimp on the barbie’<\/p>\n

Kind of.<\/p>\n

Australia loved and knew Paul Hogan. But for a while, to the rest of world, \ufeffhe was known as the ‘shrimp on the barbie’ guy.<\/p>\n

The documentary takes a fascinating dive into Paul’s career from his early days as a rigger on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, to becoming the face of the famous 1983 Tourism Australia campaign. The one that says “G’day” to the USA.<\/p>\n

\"PaulPaul Hogan in the famous Tourism Australia ad. (YouTube)<\/p>\n

He and John Cornell however “refused to take any money” for the successful campaigns.<\/p>\n

It’s believed to be a deliberate move by John with the intention to get exposure for Paul in the United States. Perhaps with a bigger project in mind?<\/p>\n

4. The idea came to Paul in the streets of New York<\/p>\n

While Paul was promoting tourism in New York, he recalled walking back to his hotel one evening.<\/p>\n

\"PaulIt was that moment Mick ‘Crocodile’ Dundee was born. \ufeff (20th Century Fox)<\/p>\n

“It was just so horrendously crowded, busy and bustling. It made me feel like a hill billy,” Paul remembered. “I virtually wrote [the script] walking down the street and back at the hotel.”<\/p>\n

“Handwritten in block capitals,” he laughed.<\/p>\n

You can catch Paul’s scribbled notes along with incredible unseen archived footage in the Stan documentary.<\/p>\n

5. Paul was told he’d ‘never be a film star’, they lost the film<\/p>\n

So the script was made then came the bigger issue, funding.<\/p>\n

“There was one significant naysayer,” the general manager of Hoyts Bill Macartney recalled. \ufeff<\/p>\n

And it came from someone in the film industry who thought the “script was a load of bollocks”.<\/p>\n

Hoges and Strop (John Cornell) were beloved characters on the Paul Hogan Show. (A Current Affair)<\/p>\n

John revealed at the time: “He was advising \ufeffsaying… it won’t succeed. Hogan is a television star, he won’t ever be a movie star.”<\/p>\n

“We lost the film.” \ufeff<\/p>\n

6. A single ‘gamble’ \ufeffwent on to make $2.8 billion<\/p>\n

They turned to an “old mate” and stockbroker who saw an opportunity and told others to “grab it” with both hands.<\/p>\n

“We probably had about 2,000 investors overall, there were a lot of mum and dads… and they were just regular working class people,” stockbroker Denis Johnson looked back.<\/p>\n

The public took a “gamble” and the budget was found for a film that went on to make the equivalent of $2.8 billion today.<\/p>\n

\"JohnPaul Hogan and John Cornell pose together on the set in 1984. (Nine)7. The cast and crew had no film experience<\/p>\n

Yep, \ufeffPaul and John had never made film at the time. Even director Peter Faiman had never made a film.<\/p>\n

So they called in the big guns, Ray Brown and Australian cinematographer Russell Boyd and had a bloody good go.<\/p>\n

8. It was filmed in a real town with a population of 17\ufeff\"LindaLinda Kozlowski, who played Sue in Crocodile Dundee, returns for the documentary. (Stan)<\/p>\n

Even actress Linda Kozlowski “wasn’t prepared” for the outback town of \ufeffMcKinlay, Queensland.<\/p>\n

The little Aussie town with a population of 17 was turned into Walkabout Creek for the film.<\/p>\n

Lisa and Paul’s characters first meet in Walkabout Creek Hotel. (A Current Affair)<\/p>\n

“We knew them all, we knew the whole town by the time we left,” Linda laughed.<\/p>\n

Fans today can stop by the real Walkabout Creek Hotel, renamed after the movie was filmed, and can visit the original set donated by the crew.<\/p>\n

9. ‘They were embarrassed’: The world wasn’t ready for an Aussie star<\/p>\n

Among the film’s Oscar nomination, Paul Hogan won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in 1987.<\/p>\n

“It’s so funny I got a Golden Globe” Paul looked back in the documentary.<\/p>\n

“I think the foreign press were embarrassed when they got to meet me. They said, ‘it’s just him with a hat on’ was the only difference between me and Dundee.”<\/p>\n

\"QueenPaul Hogan and Olivia Newton-John meeting Queen Elizabeth. (Instagram\/OliviaNewtonJohn)<\/p>\n

“And I thought, I’m not a very good actor, I just put on different hats,” he laughed.<\/p>\n

10. It’s still Australia’s most successful film of all time<\/p>\n

For an AU$8.8 million film, Crocodile Dundee\ufeff made $328 million in the Global Box Office. Throw in inflation over 40 years, in today’s money that’s $2.8 billion.<\/p>\n

Safe to say, the “mum and dads” who invested their money into the film sure got their money back and more!<\/p>\n

\"DelvenePaul Hogan and Delvene Delaney today, honour John Cornell’s memory. (Stan)<\/p>\n

The film made $178,843,111 total in the 1986 US Box Office alone, \ufeffat the time becoming the the biggest movie in the world made outside of a major studio.<\/p>\n

But this only touches the surface of the incredible documentary, a must-watch for fans old and new.<\/p>\n

Love of an Icon: The Legend of Crocodile Dundee is now streaming on Stan.<\/a><\/p>\n

Crocodile Dundee: The Encore Cut<\/a> and Crocodile Dundee II<\/a> are also streaming now on Stan. \ufeff<\/p>\n

\ufeffNine Entertainment Co (the publisher of this website) owns and operates the streaming service Stan<\/a><\/p>\n

FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE<\/a>: Stay across all the latest news from your favourite shows via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\ufeff”That’s not a knife…” For almost 40 years,\ufeff fans from Australia and around the world have been recreating…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":174072,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[64,63,134,344],"class_list":["post-174071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}