Strange Bedfellows - Princess Theatre Melbourne from 19 October

Dean's basic idea for a movie was a great starting point and having grown up in the country his insight into the characters and communities that make up the heartland of Australia was always going to provide a true and honest background for the story to happen in. Dean started working on the script with co-writer Stewart Faichney who he had known for years and who had appeared in Dean's previous film, Muggers. Writing a script that lived up to all this potential took years of work and along the way we sought feedback from various sources. One of the script assessments we received in 2002 from a writer really understood what we were trying to achieve and who had the following to say about the script:

"I really enjoyed reading this script. It is a lot of fun. The writers have created an enjoyable romp that captures the atmosphere and ethos of a country town and plays on all its idiosyncrasies and prejudices… Of course, it is outrageously non politically correct. It harps on and uses all the clichés and stereotypes of the gay lifestyle and society and then sends them up mercilessly. But, in a strange way, it is not judgmental, nor overly critical. In fact, the treatment of homosexuality is handled with a gentle acceptance and the clichés are used more to expose prejudice than to dismiss them as irrelevant or immoral."

This script assessment was done by Jon Stephens and we asked Jon to play a character in the film that is a mirror image of Paul Hogan's character in the Sydney club scene.

During 2002 we also started putting the cast together and by March 2002 we had secured Michael Caton to play the role of Ralph and were talking with Pete Postlethwaite to play the role of the Tax Inspector. And then we decided to offer Paul Hogan the role of Vince. We knew Paul had really only worked on projects he'd written but we thought it was worth a try and we settled down for the long wait that inevitable happens when approaching an international movie star.

A very short time later Dean received a call:
Voice
I'm looking for Dean Murphy?

Dean
That's me.

Voice
The Dean Murphy?

Dean
Yeah

Voice
It's Paul Hogan and I really like your script.

Naturally Dean's first reaction was that it was one of his friends making a joke with the "The Dean Murphy" line but as no one knew we'd offered the role to Paul it must really be him. This no nonsense, down to earth approach was very un-Hollywood but as we came to learn - so is Paul.

So by mid-2003 we had the cast and team in place, production dates set and we were in the midst of the normal mad scramble to put the financing and logistics together in time. Somehow it all came together and production on the movie started in August 2003.

The filming was extremely challenging with unseasonal storms and other issues conspiring to derail our plans. As always we relied on the talent and dedication of the production team to adapt and with great footage we headed into post production and the editing, music and sound design that would get the film ready for its release. As the movie was set in the town of Yackandandah (which is near Albury) we decided to hold the premiere there when it came time to release the movie in 2004.

During the making of Strange Bedfellows the team at Instinct Entertainment talked about how the story would make a great Stage Musical. Late night discussions with one of the actors in the movie, Pete Postlethwaite, about staging it in the West End in London was about as far as it went until, in April 2007, when the lyricist Jon Stephens met up with Dean Murphy and asked if he would be interested in the mad idea of turning the film into a show.