Actor, comedian, and commercial pitchman Paul Hogan won a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination
for his role in the extremely popular 1986 comedy "Crocodile" Dundee.
The movie earned $328 million worldwide and its sequel brought in another $239 million,
making Hogan one of the biggest stars of the '80s...but he never quite made a name for
himself internationally outside of playing the role that made him famous.
So, whatever happened to Crocodile Dundee?
Marriage problems
Hogan was married to his first wife Noelene for nearly 30 years, but while Hogan was making
Crocodile Dundee, he fell in love with his onscreen romantic interest, American actress
Linda Kozlowski.
He divorced Noelene, married Kozlowski in 1990, and the pair had a son together, expanding
a family that already included Hogan's five children with his first wife.
Their marriage lasted for well over 20 years, but it eventually ended when Kozlowski filed
for divorce in 2013, citing that "they grew apart," but also because she was tired of
living in her husband's shadow.
Who knew that Hogan even cast a shadow in 2013?
He declined huge movies
Some actors have the luxury of making only the movies and shows they really want to make,
and Hogan thought that he fit that description.
Dating back to his early days as a writer and star of his own TV show, Hogan liked to
have creative control, and he rejected a number of projects that could have advanced his career.
He turned down the lead role in Ghost to make his own movie about a ghost, Almost an Angel.
Ghost cast Patrick Swayze and was a smash hit, but you probably haven't even heard of
what Hogan ended up doing.
"Paul Hogan is… almost an Angel."
For a guy with Academy Award nominations, a major movie franchise, and an Oscars-hosting
stint under his belt, Hogan has shockingly few credits to his name.
Apart from his Crocodile Dundee films and Almost an Angel, he's starred in just four
other feature films: Lightning Jack, Flipper, Strange Bedfellows, and Charlie & Boots.
The last two weren't even commercially released in the United States.
By 1989, America had already moved on to fellow Australian Yahoo Serious anyhow.
"Now, Australia's colossal comedy hit, starring its newest comedy hero, comes to the states!"
And we all saw how that turned out just a few years later.
"I know those words, but that sign makes no sense."
Entrepreneur
Back in 1993, crowdfunding wasn't really a thing, so Hogan created created the first-ever
film trust to fund his cowboy comedy Lightning Jack and placed it on the Australian Stock
Exchange.
The trust raised $35 million Australian dollars, and investors were to see a payout after seven
years.
However, there probably weren't too many profits to go around: Lightning Jack was a box office
bomb, despite it being one of Cuba Gooding Jr.'s earliest big-screen roles, earning back
about half of the money it had raised.
As scheduled, the Lightning Jack Film Trust was delisted from the Australian Stock Exchange
in 2001, but Hogan was decades ahead of his time in his approach to funding films.
Take that, Zach Braff.
Crocodile Dundthree
Long after the character's popularity peaked in the late '80s, Hogan brought back Crocodile
Dundee one more time for 2001's Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles.
It earned just $25 million in the US, and more surprisingly, only $7 million in Hogan's
native Australia.
Critics hated it, and it later earned a Razzie Award nomination for Worst Remake or Sequel.
Matthew Berry, one of the film's writers, told the podcast How Did This Get Made? that
he and writing partner Eric Abrams pitched their idea for a third Dundee film to Hogan.
He approved it, and the writers came back three months later with a screenplay.
And that's when things got...weird.
"Basically he then rewrites pretty much the entire script.
He throws a couple of new things in there."
While the general plot was unchanged, Hogan claimed he'd rewrote so much that he should
be the only credited screenwriter, and subsequently, the only writer who would receive residuals.
The Writer's Guild wound up ruling in favor of the original writers, and Hogan protested
the decision.
If Hogan ever wants to bring the character back to the screen, he needs to offer Berry
and Abrams the option to write the script.
How does Crocodile Dundee Goes to Hell sound?
Tax trouble
After his name came up in a 2005 government investigation into offshore tax havens, Hogan
battled Australia over millions in allegedly unpaid taxes.
A closer look at the actor's finances found evidence that he hadn't paid taxes on more
than $37 million earned, dating back to 1986.
Although Hogan lived in the U.S. and paid American taxes during much of that time, he
was still considered an Australian citizen, and was not only their tourism spokesperson,
but 1985's Australian of the Year.
"Come and say good day and I'll slip an extra shrimp on the barbie for ya."
In 2010, Hogan left his home in the U.S. to attend his mother's funeral in Sydney, Australia,
where tax officials served him with papers preventing him from leaving the country until
his case could be resolved.
The matter was settled after two years of mediation under confidential terms.
Which probably involved a didgeridoo and a couple of koalas.
He took his show on the road
In 2013, Hogan returned to performing and writing with a comical, biographical one-man
show in which he talked about his colorful life.
"So how much of this new show have you prepared?
It's touring in November, December, where are you at?"
"Oh it's easy.
I've been working on it for like forty years."
An Evening with Hoges was a huge success, selling out dates around Australia.
He brought back the tour for another string of performances, Hoges Live, in 2015.
Retired
By the time Hogan found international success with Crocodile Dundee in 1986, he was 47 years
old — a late bloomer to say the least.
He'd been working in entertainment for well over a decade at that point.
He's since joked that he works less because he's instituted a "self-imposed exile."
Whatever he wants to call it, Hogan is now pushing 80 — a perfectly reasonable time
to slow down a bit.
We'll always have his glowing endorsement of Australia.
"Ah, pleased to meet you."
"It's okay, he's Australian."
"Maybe I better go there someday."
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