Danny McBride told us how he got involved in that fake ‘Crocodile Dundee’ movie, which was actually a $27 million ad campaign for Australian tourism

“Dundee: The Son of a Legend Returns” is actually an advertisement for Australian tourism.Tourism Australia

• The internet went crazy when the trailer “Dundee: The Son of a Legend Returns” starring Danny McBride went online.
• Its Super Bowl trailer revealed it was all part of an elaborate ad campaign for Australian tourism.
• Danny McBride said he had to be a part of it just to see the reaction people would have.

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In late January trailers started showing up on the internet for the movie, “Dundee: The Son of a Legend Returns Home,” with Danny McBride playing the son of “Crocodile” Dundee, the title character of the 1980s hit movie.

Social media instantly went into a frenzy.

The first trailer, which got over 1 million views, had McBride dressed as Dundee saying “G’day” and playing with his giant knife. The second trailer got over 2.5 million views and featured Chris Hemsworth as McBride’s Australian sidekick.

By the time the “cast intro” video was released — which along with McBride and Hemsworth featured Hugh Jackman, Margot Robbie, Russell Crowe, Isla Fisher, Ruby Rose, and Liam Hemsworth — the jig was up. Australian newspaper Brisbane Times found out that this was all part of an advertising campaign for Australian tourism.

That was also revealed in the final trailer that played during the Super Bowl on Sunday.

The commercial starts off like the others, the trailer for a movie starring McBride and Hemsworth, but then Hemsworth suddenly takes McBride’s Dundee character to a winery and fancy restaurant that has the Sydney Opera House in the background (there’s even a cameo by “Crocodile” Dundee himself, actor Paul Hogan). That’s when McBride realizes this is a commercial to come to Australia.

McBride couldn’t resist taking the job just to see how people would react

McBride said he was offered the campaign last fall and that the plan was always to do the promotion as a fake Dundee movie that would culminate with a reveal during the Super Bowl that it all was just a commercial for Australian tourism.

He instantly jumped on. Like the Mountain Dew videos he’s done (and the hilarious one for Southern Comfort), he loved the idea of coming in on an idea and adding his style of comedy. Not to mention getting the chance to mess with people.

“It wasn’t like I was looking to do a Super Bowl commercial, but I just thought the concept of this was just too funny to see what people’s reaction would be like,” McBride told Business Insider. “I just sat back and watched the whole thing unfold.”

The trailers were so convincing that even one of McBride’s sisters reached out to him wanting to know why he didn’t tell her he was doing a reboot of “Crocodile Dundee.”

“My sister was pissed off,” McBride said. “She texted me, ‘What’s up?’ and I’m like ‘With what?’ and she’s like, ‘This Dundee movie, you didn’t tell me about this!’ And I was just like, ‘I’ll talk to you about it later.'”

The week-long shoot that was done last Thanksgiving was a campaign directed to American audiences to make Australia one of their vacation destinations in the coming years. The campaign cost $27 million, according to a Tourism Australia press release sent out Sunday.

Tourism Australia

Looking back on the attention the fake Dundee movie got, McBride admits he’s a little surprised how many people were into the idea.

“I thought, personally, with the current state of movies, people for sure would assume, like, ‘What a terrible idea for a movie,’” McBride said. “And there were definitely people who thought that, but there were also people who were into the idea. I thought for a second, ‘Maybe I was too harsh, this would be a cool movie.'”

But don’t expect a real son of Dundee movie coming soon. McBride has a better idea for a movie starring he and Hemsworth.

“Chris and I had never worked before and we had a blast on this, so who knows, maybe me and him can come up with something to do together — maybe we’ll be the children of ‘Mad Max,’” McBride said.

Watch the “Dundee” Super Bowl commercial below: