What has been your most serious injury as a crocodile hunter?
Probably my shoulder. It's gotten a bit of a battering over the years. The first time I injured it was in the early '90s when I dived off the front of the boat onto this crocodile. Unfortunately, the crocodile was sitting on a rock, which my shoulder hit, and it smashed all the bone up. I didn't get anything done about it, and the bone actually started cutting through all the important muscles, ligaments, and tendons. So I went and got all that patched up. Then recently I was in East Timor. I was rescuing a crocodile that was being kept in this concrete box, and there was no way to get him out. So I dived in there with him. He went into a death roll that ripped my arm up again, and that actually cut the tendon off. I don't have a tendon on my shoulder anymore. But it's no big deal.
Your daughter is turning 4 years old. Are you training her to be a croc hunter?
Yeah, absolutely. At the premiere she actually rode an alligator, and she got bitten by her first alligator about four months ago -- the little baby alligators hatched down at the zoo. Alligators aren't as ferocious as crocs, so I said, ''Do you want to handle this?'' And she said yeah. Then it bit her on the finger. But she was good with it.
So how many of those little khaki shorts outfits do you own?
I've got 20 new ones from MGM for the movie, which was really good. I probably had 30 or so already, so now I'm up to 50. But I never get tired of it. That's what I reckon is wrong with the world. Everyone gets around all shined up in Armani black suits, like they're gift wrapped with this rope around their necks. I'd rather wear my car keys around my neck than a tie, all strangled and stuff.
Do you ever get tired of the ''Crocodile Dundee'' jokes?
Nah. Life is too short. If you can't laugh at yourself, you're too straight, and your life's too boring. There's a lot of good croc gags getting around. There's a particular one I like that I'm not sure I can tell you. It's all about the sexing techniques of crocodiles and the males mounting the females, so I guess not.
Even if you can't include all your favorite jokes, would you want to do another film?
Absolutely. I figure this will be a bit like James Bond, or actually Tarzan. Tarzan was based on a little bit of real life, but ''The Crocodile Hunter'' is full-on based on fact. So the concept of a real-life action hero playing himself lends itself to a whole series of movies. I reckon I'll do a whole stack of them. What I'd like to see is an Arnold Schwarzenegger-like actor bloke play me when I'm dead. In a hundred years.
You Might Also Like
- Movie Review THE CROCODILE HUNTER: COLLISION COURSE (Jul 12, 2002) | Lisa Schwarzbaum
- Movie Review The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course (Jul 12, 2002) | Lisa Schwarzbaum
- News Summary Robert De Niro plans a film festival near Ground Zero | Gary Susman
- Television Commentary Jack Hanna remembers Steve Irwin | Jack Hanna
- All About Steve Irwin
- Movie News Alien attack movies: How to survive (1996) | Adam B. Vary
