Interview - Shane Jacobson

By Sean Lynch

Interview with Shane Jacobson

Star of Charlie & Boots

It almost impossible to find a genuine Australian "movie" star these days. For no reason other than the fact that people just don't seem to want to see Australian movies.

But Shane Jacobson has managed to bypass that problem, starring in the run away hit Kenny as well as the successful stage adaption of Guys & Dolls.

Better yet, he's a genuinely nice, likable, good Aussie "bloke".

This time, Jacobson is teaming up with Aussie royalty - side by side on the silver screen with Roy "Bob Trimbole" Billings and Paul "Crocodile Dundee" Hogan.

Web Wombat Movies' Sean Lynch sat down with Jacobson to talk outback travel, toilets, beer... and transgender actors.

It's a tough task living in the shadow of Kenny (as I'm sure it is for Paul Hogan to live in the shadow of Crocodile Dundee) - how did you know this was the role to break you out of the mould?

I've done two other films since Kenny, one called Cactus with Bryan Brown and Newcastle. But Charlie & Boots was never a hard choice to make.

You can imagine when you get a phone call from Paramount saying they want you to do a film with Dean Murphy who says:

"I want to write a script for you and Paul Hogan, and it's going to be filmed in a Holden Kingswood traveling through Australia".

The answer is "Yes" pretty quickly... [Laughs]

There is so much traveling in the movie...

3000 kilometres!

And it's travel to some fairly remote places. Did you go a little stir crazy?

I've traveled Australia a lot, and I've traveled internationally. I'm the kind of guy that's walked the Kokoda trail, lived in a tent in the jungle and backpacked around Europe twice.

So I've slept on trains - and worse...

But the idea of traveling across Australia - and being Australian's we drive a lot anyway, I've driven to Sydney, I've driven trucks back from Queensland, I've driven a bus to Alice Springs - I love it. So for me it wasn't arduous at all, it was a pleasure.

We felt guilty we were getting paid [Laughs]... 

What was the worst place you got stuck in, surely it got hot heading up North?

Emerald was so, so hot. I think it was 50 degrees where we were - it was like 45 degrees in the day - and we were filming in the middle of a bull fighting ring! And for that scene I was dressed up in black jeans, I had black chaps on, black long sleeve shirt, black cowboy hat, long leather boots, another black protective vest on top of that...

It was like being trapped in an oven, in the middle of a fire, in the middle of summer that's located on sun!

I'm actually setting off on a trip across Australia with my own dad in a month or so [much like in the movie], and I question how long we will last before we are at each others throats -  have you gone through this "bonding" process with your own father?

My relationship with my dad, we are the best of friends... and he just happens to be my dad.

Me and my brother and sisters and Dad - we just get along so well - and my dad is just one of the funniest people on the planet. He is also one of my greatest supporters, one of my best advisers, and he's my mate.

So for me spending time with my Dad, which we've done, that's a pleasure. We can sit down and have a beer, he can tell me stories and I'll tell him stories, laugh all day - and never stop smiling through any of it.

Had you met Paul prior to signing onto Charlie & Boots?

I'd met him once. Me and my brother [Clayton] caught up with him in Santa Barberra and had lunch, and we got on famously. And in Paul's words:

"Met two Australian blokes, that were funny and good fun and had their feet on the ground - and weren't tossers and they didn't turn up with an entourage".

So by the time he was offered a chance to work with me he was very much like - "Yeah, that'd be great fun!".

Is Charlie & Boots the biggest Australian production you've worked on?

This thing had 75 crew and 35 vehicles that moved like a massive circus - and it just kept on moving, and it moved really quick.

With that many people, you can imagine, when we pulled into a town we took over pretty much everything that was available. Having said that, Dean Murphy [the director] just had such a gentle way, that the vibe was kept calm amongst the chaos.

It was like having a nice quiet place to sit during a tornado... [Laughs]

Did the crew have any road-games to keep themselves occupied on the trip, or are we living in an age where everyone's just watching movies on their iPod?

As Paul says : "Kids today have Wii's and iPods, and when he was their age - he has a stick. [Laughs]. And if you had a good stick you were really lucky" [Laughs].

What town had the best beer?

Any one that was cold [Laughs], all beer is good...

There is no such thing as bad beer, it's like chocolate, even when it's really bad... it's still good!

Now before we go I have to ask you a question, I asked Roy this before, it's a question we ask everyone...

[Roy "Bob Trimbole" Billings pops his head into the room from a side door and shouts]

RB: Don't answer! [Laughs]

SJ: [Laughs before attempting to put on a serious face] Well look, I know the question - I wouldn't kiss a man but it would have to be for a lot of money... was that the question? [Laughs]

It's not far off [Laughs]! The big question is : if you could start your own myth or rumour to spread about yourself in the press... what would it be?

[Roy, now standing behind my chair, sneakily whispers]

RB: ... That Shane and I are an item

[Laughs] I said I wanted a rumour Roy [Laughs]!

SJ: [Laughs] It would  have to be that I knew Roy when he was "Renee"...

Charlie & Boots drove into Australian Cinemas September 3rd 2009 and is OUT NOW ON DVD & BLU RAY