The Castle: Working Dog team reveals secrets about the 1997 movie

The creators of The Castle have shared some secrets about the iconic Aussie film, including a random story about Tom Hanks.

The creators of The Castle, one of the most iconic Aussie films of all time, have shared some never before heard secrets about the 1997 movie, including that Tom Hanks could have starred in a remake.

On Saturday at HOTA on the Gold Coast, the Working Dog team (Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner, Jane Kennedy, Michael Hirsh, and Rob Sitch) were interviewed on stage by Ed Kavalee in front of hundreds of fans.

The event took place the morning after the Working Dog team were presented with the Longford Lyell Award at the AACTAs, an award that “recognises the talents of Australian screen practitioners who inspire others through their work, acknowledging their valuable contribution to promoting Australian screen culture and excellence”.

The Working Dog team were interviewed by Ed Kavalee as part of the AACTA festival.

Kavalee quizzed the team about a variety of their projects including Thank God You’re Here, The Cheap Seats, Frontline, The Dish, All Aussie Adventures and The Hollowmen.

But a sizeable chunk of the chat was dominated by The Castle, which remains one of Australia’s most loved films.

Here are some of the best revelations the Working Dog team shared about the iconic comedy.

They made it quickly: Most films take months to make, but that wasn’t the case with The Castle.

The time between the initial discussion about the movie through to the first screening was just seven weeks, with shooting taking less than two weeks because the Working Dog team could only afford a certain amount of film.

“Someone came back and said, ‘you can either shoot it in 14 days with bad catering, or 10 days with good catering’,” Santo Cilauro said at HOTA. “Obviously (we went), ‘we’ll do it in 10 days with good catering’.”

The cast of The Castle.

Who the characters were based on: “We definitely drew upon our parents and our families,” Tom Gleisner said when asked who inspired the characters.

Dennis Denuto was partly based on Cilauro’s father who was a solicitor, although it’s possible he’s never quite realised just how much of the character is based on him.

“I think he probably should have realised when he actually shot it in his office,” Cilauro laughed at HOTA. “My dad, who loves the film, he looks at it and says, ‘I tell you what, that lawyer in your film, a lot of stuff that happened to him also happened to me!’”

Rob Sitch revealed on stage that one of Darryl Kerrigan’s most iconic lines was inspired by his own father, who was always very complimentary of his wife’s cooking.

“Having done one cordon bleu (cooking) course, my father thought she (his mum) was Heston Blumenthal. We would eat together every night, television was off, and the dish would come out and he’d drop the cutlery and go …, ‘why would you go to a restaurant?’”

‘Why would you go to a restaurant?’

How the cast came together: Jane Kennedy was responsible for casting, and she told the HOTA crowd they knew they needed two strong actors to anchor the film.

“We were thinking, who are the most loved people in Australian television?” Kennedy recalled. “And it was Molly from A Country Practice, so we asked Anne Tenney, and it was Uncle Harry from The Sullivans (played by Michael Caton).

“I literally flew up to Bondi, had a chat with him (Michael Caton) and he actually thought we were asking him for a role in Frontline. I said, ‘no, actually it’s a movie script and we’d like you to play the lead role, the dad’.

“He was gobsmacked,” Kennedy added. “I said, ‘you have a read of it. I’ll fly back to Melbourne. Let me know how you go’. Anyway, my phone was ringing when I arrived home and he said, ‘I think I am Daryl Kerrigan!’”

Caton flew to Melbourne the next day for a read through, and the Working Dog team knew instantly he was the right man for the job.

Kennedy recalled they wanted Bud Tingwell to play Lawrence Hammill QC, but were hesitant to ask the legendary actor as his wife had just passed away.

“I think we approached his daughter and said, ‘Do you think Bud would be up for it?’ She said, ‘I really think he would be’.”

Tingwell immediately accepted when approached by Michael Hirsh, with the Working Dog team member telling the actor, “you’ve gone through a terrible loss. Let us be your family”.

Anne Tenney and Michael Caton.

Tiriel Mora and Charles 'Bud' Tingwell.

Filming location: “One of the greatest challenges with a small budget was finding the right house (for the Kerrigan’s) because we needed a house next door to an airport,” Gleisner said at HOTA.

“We eventually found one we thought might suit and there were people living there, so in order to film we had to ask would they be willing to let us use the house and move out and we’d put them up in a hotel for the 10 days.”

Cilauro added, “We put them up in the Essendon International Motor Lodge and gave them a football signed by James Hird and tickets to The Footy Show!”

Gleisner said the people “could not have been more cooperative” and even happily agreed to let the crew make modifications to the house, including repainting and moving some of the doors.

They later realised the people may not have had the authority to allow such modifications.

“Turned out they were renters!” Gleisner said, eliciting a huge laugh from the crowd.

Anthony Simcoe, Stephen Curry, Michael Caton and Anne Tenney.

Sequel: The Castle was a huge success, playing in Aussie cinemas for a staggering 36 weeks.

Not surprisingly the Working Dog team have been asked many times over the years to consider making a sequel, but they’re adamant it will never happen.

“We become almost caretakers and we care about the film,” Hirsh said on stage at HOTA.

“We’ve been approached a number of times … every couple of months I get a phone call from an advertising agency going, ‘do you mind if we use the characters from The Castle to sell X and Y?’ And that’s been going on now for 30 years.

“We’ve said no to everything,” he said. “No sequels, no prequels, nothing. We’re just keeping the film as it is because we all feel it’s a special thing.”

The Working Dog team even rejected an offer involving a Hollywood megastar.

“I think there was an offer to remake it in the United States with Tom Hanks playing the main role and it was going to be set next to O’Hare Airport in Chicago,” Cilauro said.

A shocked Kavalee interjected, “Sorry, you turned down a Tom Hanks remake of The Castle set in Chicago?”

“I think they wanted to make the lawyer the main character and that he had to return to university to study law to do a constitutional case in the Supreme Court,” Cilauro recalled.

The Working Dog team’s response … tell em they’re dreamin!

Originally published as The Castle: Working Dog team reveals secrets about the 1997 movie