The Wog Boy
Wog Boys Forever is a 2022 Australian comedy film and the third installment in the Wog Boy trilogy.[2] The film is written by the franchise creator Nick Giannopoulos, and directed by Frank Lotito. The film was preceded by two movies in the franchise, Wog Boy and Wog Boy 2: Kings of Mykonos[3]
The Wog Boy
The film started production in 2019 [6] and started shooting in Melbourne in June, 2021 [7][8][9]Giannopoulos initially had challenges getting finance for the film as it was turned down for finance by Screen Australia.[10] He has said the Steve character was influenced by a number of real people "My films are pretty much based on the communities that I grew up in and people I grew up with. The main character in the Wog Boys films, Steve Karamitsis, is a combination of a great number of people I have met over the years." [11] Frank Lotito, who directed, had worked with both Giannopolous and Colosimo on some of their stage shows, and he was given the role after Giannopoulos saw his film Growing Up Smith[12]
The film features a Greek ethnic style house in Reservoir, Melbourne, that the production crew had witnessed for sale in a real estate advertisement. It was granted for use by the vendor before the new owners purchased it.[13]
Steve's car features prominently in the movie. It is a dark blue 1969 VF Valiant hardtop given to him by his father. During the film, it is said that the car's original engine was a 245-cubic-inch (4.0 L) 6-cylinder hemi, which was later replaced with an 8-cylinder engine. The presence of the Valiant in the films has given riseto the films being called the Blue Valiant Trilogy/The Valiant Trilogy by fans.
At the ARIA Music Awards of 2000 the soundtrack was nominated for Best Original Soundtrack Album.[4] It is the first part of Giannopoulous's eponymous Wog Boys Trilogy (aka "The Blue Valiant Trilogy") preceding Wog Boy 2: Kings of Mykonos, and the 2022 released final installment in the series, Wog Boys Forever.
Steve (Nick Giannopoulos) is a first-generation Greek Australian. Steve is unemployed, but manages to get by, helping out here and there. His pride and joy is his VF Valiant Pacer. Whilst helping out a compensation-oriented neighbour, Steve has a minor car accident involving the Minister for Employment, vampily played by Geraldine Turner. The net result of this encounter is twofold: Steve gets to meet Celia (Lucy Bell) whom he is instantly attracted to but who initially hates him, and Steve gets outed on national television by Derryn Hinch as the worst dole-bludger in Australia.
Steve manages to turn this around to his advantage, and becomes famous as The Wog Boy, spearheading a campaign to improve the employment status of the country. In the interim, he makes variable progress with Celia.
Steve (Nick Giannopoulos) is seen driving a dark blue 1969 VF Valiant hardtop during the movie, which was allegedly given to him by his father.During the film, it is said that the car's original engine was a 245-cubic-inch (4.0 L) 6-cylinder hemi, which was later replaced with an 8-cylinder engine.
The track "Get Tzatziki With It" was also in the film's promotional campaign, and is played in the actual movie itself. It was written by John Von Ahlen, Jaime Jimenez and Nick Giannopoulos[5] and recorded at Subterrane Recording Studio.
Starring alongside Giannopoulos is original cast member Vince Colosimo who again takes the role as Steve's pal Frank, as well as Home And Away's Sarah Roberts, Havana Brown, the former LA based DJ who makes her film debut with this movie, and comedians Sooshi Mango.
The cast and crew of Wog Boy 3 have been filming in areas such as Fitzroy, Brighton and Wheelers Hill under Covid safe guidelines with the help of Federal Government funding. The movie will be completed by the end of next week.
If I liked the comedy movie Wog Boy 3, there was always the possibility that I could help get a few more bums on seats for Nick Giannopoulos, the main star and producer of Wog Boys Forever.
That article reached over 10,000 visitors in a few weeks, which astounded me. It also made me curious to see whether writing a Wog Boys Forever movie review would increase the number of visitors to my website.
The Wog Boy, a broad Australian comedy with a strong Greek influence, has passed the A$10m mark at the local box office, and now has only four titles to overtake to make it into the all-time top 10 of locally-produced films.
A mainstream film that reaches A$10m is regarded as a hit in Australia although huge blockbusters can exceed A$20m. The Wog Boy only has to overtake four titles to become one of the top 10 highest grossing Australian films - Mad Max II (Warner Bros, $10.8m), French-Australian co-production Green Card (Roadshow, $10.6m), The Castle (Roadshow, $10.3m) and Shine (Ronin, $10.2m). There is scant risk of this not happening as the film, in week five, took more than A$800,000.
Part of The Wog Boy's success is due to repeat business. It stars Nick Giannopoulos as the deal-making but unemployed Steve, a Mr Fix-it in Australia's Greek community, who locks horns with an unscrupulous government minister and eventually manages to sweep her coolly efficient assistant Celia off her feet. Giannopoulos built up a following with local audiences through his theatre and television work. The film is full of leopard print fashion, pizza, bad jokes and revved-up cars. Giannopoulos had a hand in the writing and produced it with John Brousek. The director was Aleksi Vellis. 20th Century Fox is handling distribution.
A sequel to highly successful Australian comedy The Wog Boy goes into production next week in Melbourne. It will be distributed by the Transmission/Paramount joint venture with Arclight Films handling international sales.
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As ever with this series, the attitudes towards women are a nightmare. Even a far more skilled director than Lotito might struggle to make sparks fly between Giannopoulos and his much younger new love interest Sarah Roberts.
It\\u2019s been a minute since we checked in on Steve Karamitsis, the Greek-Australian everyman played by Nick Giannopoulos in the Wogboy films. A onetime king of the nightclub scene, Steve briefly became a full-blown celebrity when he was vilified on TV as a dole bludger then managed to turn the tables.
So what\\u2019s been happening with him lately? Not much, it would seem. The Steve of Wog Boys Forever is a dejected, socially awkward taxi driver living quietly in a small unit in what looks to be Melbourne\\u2019s inner north, well into middle age and still mourning his break-up with the Greek woman he wooed and won in The Wog Boy 2: Kings of Mykonos.
As the film\\u2019s sole writer, Giannopoulos is evidently keen to pre-empt accusations of irrelevance, allowing different characters to describe Steve as a \\u201Chas-been\\u201D and as ready for the pension.
The trouble is, just because you say it out loud doesn\\u2019t make it not true. Giannopoulos may be a generation younger than the 80-something Paul Hogan, but his subdued yet hammy presence recalls the Hogan of the recent, little-seen The Excellent Mr Dundee, another listless comeback vehicle for a comic who often looks as if he would rather be anywhere else.
Both films feel almost as out of touch as their respective heroes, too removed from present-day reality for effective satire. In the world of Wog Boys Forever, not only does Steve\\u2019s old nemesis Derryn Hinch still host a nightly TV show, but almost every character spontaneously tunes in to witness Steve being publicly shamed once more.
Still, the director Frank Lotito has an eye for Melbourne locations if not for much otherwise, and while there are far more characters than the plot strictly requires, this at least acknowledges that the word \\u201Cmulticultural\\u201D today covers more ground than it tended to in the 1980s and \\u201990s when Giannopoulos and his mates set out to make the most of the \\u201Cwog\\u201D brand.
The strongest moments of both drama and comedy come from one of the stayers, Vince Colosimo as Steve\\u2019s old mate Frank, who\\u2019s now married and wealthy but hasn\\u2019t lost his cocky style, Versace tracksuit and all.
No more well-rounded but certainly more baffling is femme fatale Brianna Beagle-Thorpe (Annabel Marshall-Roth), the character who answers the question \\u201CWhat if Pauline Hanson\\u2019s daughter were a smirking dominatrix?\\u201D
Steve liked Celia from the moment they met. But following a clash with her boss, Raelene Beagle-Thorpe, Minister for Employment, he finds himself on national television branded as Australia's biggest dole bludger. Now Steve has to prove to Celia, to himself, and to the whole country, that there's more to him than meets the eye. With a little help from his friends, he might just do it.
Growing up I didn't know a Greek family that didn't hold this movie in the highest regard. It's such a staple of ethnic culture in Melbourne and I can absolutely see why. It's Black Panther for Greek aussies. A funny, spunky love letter made by them and for them.
But I also think it holds up on its own as a great piece of battler-cinema. The little guy (an incredibly charismatic Nick Giannopoulos) standing up against stuffy public service jobbers. Quintessentially Aussie.
The Melbourne actor turned director went from joining Nick Giannopoulos, Vince Colosimo, and Alex Dimitriades in The Wogboys Live tour of 2015 to being behind the camera for the upcoming third instalment of the film franchise. 041b061a72