Australia’s favourite film revealed to be The Castle

Australians have voted on their favourite homegrown film and the celebrity they most admire. See who the winners are.

The Castle has gone straight to the pool room of our hearts, selected as the favourite Aussie movie of all time in a new nationwide survey.

In a poll of 2297 people conducted by YouGov, one in five respondents (21 per cent) selected the sweet-natured low-budget 1997 comedy as their favourite Aussie movie, ahead of Crocodile Dundee, which scored 16 per cent of the vote, and Mad Max, which scored 11 per cent.

While The Castle was a local commercial success upon its release and won Best Original Screenplay at that year’s AFI Awards (precursor to the AACTAs), its stature has grown over the years – something co-writer and director Rob Sitch said was a bit of a mystery even to the Working Dog team who made the film.

“Why has it endured? The cast played it beautifully. No small matter,” he said. “Television repeats have also been a big part.”

Evidence of the film’s enduring popularity can be seen in the number of lines that are now part of the Aussie vernacular.

Actors Michael Caton (L) and Stephen Curry from 1997 film 'The Castle'.

Sitch said this process had also surprised the team.

“‘The vibe’ was amusing to us in the very first draft,” he said. “Things like ‘How’s the serenity?’ We’d started using these phrases for our own amusement before the film came out. We understood that aspect better but it still surprised us. Especially when people started using lines that were more obscure, like ‘Dale dug a hole’.”

Sitch said the Working Dog team had never ruled out doing a sequel, but “the more people had fun with the film, the less we felt like interrupting them”.

“While we were filming it we had the idea to stage it as a play one day. We’d still love to do that,” he said.

Rob Sitch. Picture: Julie Kiriacoudis

Hugh Jackman.

The YouGov survey also revealed Hugh Jackman is Australia’s most admired celebrity, with 14 per cent of survey respondents picking him as their favourite.

The Wolverine star beat out Cathy Freeman, who received 9 per cent of the vote, and Professor Peter Doherty and Olivia Newton-John, who were tied on 8 per cent.

Film reviewer Leigh Paatsch said Jackman was always a consistent performer.

“There are times when he has tested his boundaries as an actor and he’s fallen flat on his face, but there is something about the Hugh Jackman brand … even when you see him try and fail, you never walk away from a Hugh Jackman movie thinking any less of the guy,” he said.