The Wog Boys Talk

In the converted Melbourne warehouse that is home to his company, G.O. Films, The Wog Boy creator Nick Giannopoulos is waiting for one of his best mates, Vince Colosimo. "He'll be whingeing about how hard it is to find parking," says Giannopoulos, 46, with a laugh. "He does it every time, and I've been in this place for nearly 14 years." When fellow Melburnian Colosimo, 43, whose parents are Italian, walks in, they hug and slap each other on the back. Their friendship is heavily based on their mutual experiences of growing up as ethnic boys in Anglo-Australia. Sydney-born Alex Dimitriades, 36 - a Greek Australian, like Giannopoulos - shares that bond. They talk to WHO's Sarah Marinos about The Kings of Mykonos: Wog Boy 2, which opens on May 20.

How do you describe a wog boy?
Nick: A bunch of my Aussie mates and Vince went to Mykonos in the 1990s for holidays and the Americans, Canadians, Germans, Italians and English were fascinated by how close the Aussie boys were, and we were a collection of Greek, Italian, Serbian, Croatian, Spanish.
Vince: We were born here, but our parents came from the Mediterranean. We could speak the languages somewhat. When I go back to Italy, they laugh at my broken Italian, then they hear me on the phone speaking English and think I'm a professor!

What is the most wog-boy thing about you?
Alex: My style. You can never take that wog-boy style away! No, the food. The culinary influence permeates my lifestyle. From a young age we never ate junk food, only homemade and fresh food. And we all become our parents. I have a lot of sayings Mum used to say that her dad said. One is, "He who is in a rush will always trip and fall." That happens to me, and I hear Mum saying that and think, "She was bloody right again."
Vince: I see myself as a wog. I'm Italian and born here so I'm Australian, too. People say I'm an Italo-Australian. What the f--k is that? That started confusing me from before I could read.

What was it like to talk your parents' languages onscreen for the first time?
Vince: Nerve-wracking. I said "ciao" in my first film in 1983, Moving Out, and then it stopped. It's like they heard me and said, "Never again."
Nick: I've said "malaka" [wanker] but never spoken sentences. When I first met my cousins, I started speaking Greek and they said, "Can you just speak English? It's easier for us and I think easier for you, too!"

What kind of racism did you experience when you were young?
Nick: On my first day at school I remember not being able to speak English and not being able to answer my teacher and her sending me out of the class for not being communicative. Can you understand what we copped? This is why we laugh now. We have to use humour to survive. All the guys I grew up with, half ended up in prison, some are dead.
Vince: I've got a twin brother and they sent us home from school with a note saying, "Mr and Mrs Colosimo, could you speak more English at home?" They did it in joined handwriting and my dad couldn't read the f--king note!

Did you have much time to party while making The Kings of Mykonos?
Nick: At night we'd go to the port and have a beautiful meal, watch the tourists and locals.
Vince: We were doing six days a week, but you know the Aussie work tradition of Friday-night drinks? They kept that. The crew kept forgetting they had to work the next day, so on Saturdays it always took a little time to get rolling - everyone was a bit hungover.
Alex: We had time to party. In that environment, there's magic in the water - you develop superpowers and can have fun and still work. Here, people work their arses off just to get ahead financially. Over there, they enjoy life more. You go there then come home and think, "What the f--k am I doing here?"

What funny moments don't we see on film?
Nick: We had a kri-kri goat. They go back to ancient mythological Greek times and he looked like he'd stepped out of Clash of the Titans. He was so aggressive. He gave me the shits at first because he attacked six of my crew. And he wouldn't let me go near him. We had to rewrite scenes so I wasn't close to the goat - it was too dangerous. But I came to admire him because he was so macho. He had giant balls! Massive! This thing knew who he was, what he liked and didn't like. He'd even attack his handler.
Alex: Those horns got in a few people's way. He almost got me. But he wasn't quick enough. He had these massive testicles that weighed him down too much, so he wasn't fast enough for Dimitriades. Sorry to paint such a grotesque picture, but they were like mangoes! He was a spooky-looking thing.
Vince: His trainer slept with the goat. Slept with his goat. Truth.
Nick: He loved this goat. And I'd say, "Aren't you scared?" And he'd say, "No. No. It's just him playing with me." I understand why he was attached to this animal because there are only about a hundred left. On-set we had more Greek tourists taking photos of the goat than anyone else!

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