I guess after you've conquered New York, humiliated Colombian drug dealers, and . . . well, whatever happened in that third movie I didn't even know existed until now, the Australian Tax Office does not seem very daunting.
Paul Hogan, the Australian actor who played "Crocodile Dundee" in three movies (in 1986, 1988, and, apparently, in 2001), is reportedly being investigated for tax evasion. Hogan, who now lives in the U.S., has denied the charges. Reports said that companies related to Hogan have been ordered to hand over documents, and that the Australian Taxation Office has asked the IRS for help in getting Hogan's own bank records.
Hogan is not cooperating, as he made very clear in an "obscenity-laced" interview outside his home in Santa Barbara. (Appropriately enough, only the Australian sources printed the obscenities.) "Come and get me," Hogan said, addressing the ATO. He then clarified that statement, saying, "Come and get me, you miserable bastards."
Wasn't that also Wesley Snipes's approach? At first?
Hogan said that Australia should be thanking him, not prosecuting him. "I'd like to make a deal with the tax office," he said, "that I'll give them every cent I made . . . if they give me every cent they made out of my movies. As a guy who brought millions into Australia, they should build a statue at the tax office to me and send me a Christmas card." The ATO does not comment on pending investigations, so it was not immediately clear whether any statues were planned. Hogan said he had "paid tax in Australia for 4 1/2 years when I could have paid tax in America, and it would have been cheaper, because I thought we needed the money back home more than they needed it here." Hogan estimated he had paid $100 million in taxes to Australia, and said he thought that should be more than enough. "If everyone paid as much tax as me," he said, "we'd be the richest country in the world."
Hogan said he was returning to Australia in September to make a movie, which seemed unlikely since he has not made one since 2004 ("Strange Bedfellows," anyone?), but in fact may be true. The Internet Movie Database says that Hogan has been in talks to come out of "semi-retirement" for a movie called "The Caretakers," in which he would play one of two mental patients who try to rescue a U.S. president from kidnappers. (The article was titled, "Hogan In Talks To Return As A Mental Patient.")
Today's report said that, despite the allegations, Hogan did not appear concerned about returning to Australia for filming. "I'll be arrested the minute I land on the shore, of course, but I have a gun; so be warned." The AP report carefully noted that Hogan was "joking" in that last part, although that should have been obvious because everybody knows that what he has is a big knife.
Again, he may have upgraded in the third movie.
Link: Associated Press
Link: The Australian: "Stroppy Paul Hogan battles tax office 'bastards'"
