Australian actors are among the hottest stars in U.S. films.
Australian filmmakers hope the interest extends to homegrown films as well.
Paul Hogan, who became famous as the reptile hunter in the 1986 comedy Crocodile Dundee and a 1988 sequel, said he resurrected the character after more than a decade because of renewed interest. Dundee is something of a cowboy. A hundred years ago, he might have been at home in California, but now he is flummoxed by flaky Hollywood types. It's a notion Australians embrace, even if it isn't all that true. Still, Americans can embrace the idea that Down Under, the women glow and the men plunder, as the 1980s Men at Work song put it.