Paul Hogan & Shane Jacobson

Well, here’s one thing I can cross off the bucket list: sharing a beer with Hoges and Kenny.

It’s been a long day of interviews for Paul Hogan and Shane Jacobson (perhaps best remembered as the star of the smash-hit comedy Kenny) as they promote their new film ”Charlie & Boots”, so the publicity person has kindly brought a few cold ones into the room as we discuss the road movie that has the two Aussie icons playing father and son.

Dean Murphy, whose previous film ”Strange Bedfellows” featured Hogan in his last lead role, had contacted both men individually, asking them if they’d be interested in working on a project together.
“Paul and myself had already met, got along together amazingly and formed an immediate bond,” said Jacobson.

“So we both said yes, and Dean then said ‘Well, I’d better go and write a script then!’

“So the script was actually written with us in mind! And we waited for it, and at that point it was a matter of saying to one another ‘Are we going to stay in?’”

The story has Hogan playing the recently widowed Charlie, who has shut himself from the world after the death of his wife. It’s up to his estranged son ‘Boots’ , played by Jacobson, to shake his dad out of his depression by taking him on a fishing trip.

And the fact that they’re travelling to Cape York at the northernmost tip of Australia, thousands of kilometres away from their Warrnambool home, should give the quarrelling pair plenty of time to mend their relationship.

“Making it was probably more fun than looking at it,” snickered Hogan, adding quickly that “that’s because there was none of the sadness or pathos that’s in the film on the set”.

“We have an estranged relationship in the film, which made it really tough because Paul’s such a good bloke,” added Jacobson.

“When the director yelled ‘Action’, we were supposed to look like we weren’t getting along.”

“And I had to be grumpy for the early part of the movie,” said Hogan.”But it was tough because I was having such a good time, with this galah here making me laugh all the time! So it really is good acting to look as grumpy as I do.”

The process of shooting ”Charlie & Boots” saw the film crew travelling from one end of Australia to the other, with the cast and crew enjoying every day of their trek.

“It was a travelling circus,” said Jacobson.

“And it had a couple of clowns on tour with it, so that’s a fair analogy,” he added, pointing at Hogan and himself.

“The common thread of beer and the outback makes for a good time. And the fact we were paid to do it is probably a bit of a joke because we were just having such a good time.”

Charlie & Boots is in cinemas now.

– Guy Davis