Highlights
- Paul Hogan considers himself retired but still makes movies every few years, attributing it to boredom and persuasion from a friend.
- Hogan became famous as Crocodile Dundee, but he portrays himself in the 2020 film, “The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee,” about saving his reputation.
- Despite claiming he won’t do another Crocodile Dundee movie, Hogan returned for a 2020 film, crediting writer-director Dean Murphy for his involvement.
It takes a special kind of movie to turn into a franchise. Perhaps it has a memorable and beloved lead character. Perhaps it includes smart and comedic writing. Or maybe there is something unique about it that helps it stand out among other films.
Certain film franchises result in some pretty bad moves down the line. Others get completely canceled before their planned finale materializes.
For the Crocidile Dundee franchise, it is still considered widely successful. The franchise helped bring actor Paul Hogan to global superstardom. He would reach audiences outside his native Australia.
It is a role that Hogan still gets asked about today, even though he considers himself retired. Hogan has a rather unconventional view of retirement and his many fans love him for it.
Paul Hogan Considers Himself Retired, Even Though He Still Makes Movies
Despite Hogan’s ongoing output of films, he surprisingly considers himself retired. When speaking to IGN in 2001, Hogan described his personal philosophy on his career status.
“I only work every couple of years,” Hogan said. “I go into retirement between films.”
At the time, Hogan was promoting his film Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles.
“This is not a pathetic attempt to revive my sagging career,” Hogan said of the film. “What career? A man’s got a body of film of about four movies in about 10 years or something. I do it because I think I can do a good job of something and I’ll enjoy it, do it, and sort of vanish. I don’t want to be an actor for hire.”
In the Australian television special, A Fortunate Life, Hogan’s friend, director Dean Murphy, spelled out his view of retirement.
“The way Paul sees it, he retired after the first Crocodile Dundee,” Murphy said, “and now just does something when he gets bored.”
In the YouTube comments section, fans were praising the actor for his unconventional retirement and the way he represents Australians.
Paul Once Said That He Has Been Trying To Retire For 20 Years
In 2020, Hogan spoke to Forbes, where he once again described his retirement status.
“I consider myself retired. Well, I’ve been trying to be retired for 20 years,” Hogan joked.
Hogan then placed the blame on Murphy, who he said was always the one convincing him to make another movie.
“My friend, Dean Murphy, keeps dragging me out of retirement to stick me in something,” he said. “I love his sense of humor. It’s a nice laid-back style.”
Hogan also spoke about the many offers he’s received to revive his famous character after a Super Bowl ad referenced Crocodile Dundee.
“I was approached a lot after I did the Superbowl ads for Australian tourism in 2018. Millions of people saw them,” he said. “Mick Dundee, according to an Australian tourism survey, is one of the best known Australians of all time, but no-one had ever heard of me. People remembered the character but not me.”
He continued, “I have been approached with some good ideas and but a lot of absolutely dingbat ideas about doing another Crocodile Dundee.”
Unfortunately for his fans, Hogan shut down any possibility of stepping into Dundee’s shoes again for another film.
“Oh no,” he said when asked if there would be another Crocodile Dundee movie. “No, it’s over. It happened. It was a huge success, and I’m thrilled and proud of it. I was actually quite prepared to retire after doing the last one, to be honest. What am I going to do now? Get around the place with a walker in a retirement village? It’s done.”
Paul Came Out Of Retirement In 2020 For Another Film
Murphy was the co-writer, producer, and director of The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee, which was released in 2020. At the time, Hogan had nothing but praise for Murphy and explained why he couldn’t say no to his friend.
“I think Dean is a very talented writer and director,” Hogan told Forbes. “He came up with the idea. I trusted him to do it. That was important and, of course, the fact that it was about me, so I had to be in it. I mean, I’m a wreck nowadays, but that didn’t matter. When he comes to me with something, I’m glad, but I’m not looking for anything. I’m quite lazy.”
Despite the title suggesting otherwise, the character Hogan played was not his most famous one. In fact, the premise of the film features Hogan as himself desperately trying to save his dwindling reputation.
“You know, I’m getting a bit long in the tooth,” Hogan told Yahoo Entertainment. “And Murphy decided he’d write [this] one based on what he knew, and loosely on my life, and as a comment also on social media and rumors and gossip. The movie was originally called No Good Deed Goes Unpunished.”
Hogan also opened up to the outlet about trying to retire for the past twenty years and why Murphy is the right person to talk him out of it.
“Well, I had to do it in the end because it was based on some of my stories and some of my life, and I liked the idea of a mixed, funny sort of cast, and I just liked the script,” Hogan explained. “He thinks a lot like I do, Dean Murphy, he has a lovely, dry, subtle sense of humor. He doesn’t do pie-in-the-face-type stuff. And so he’s dragged me out of retirement several times.”
Source: NewsFinale
