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Dim Sims a winner
Sunday Herald Sun | October 9, 2005

Chris Lilley is proud of his Aussie heroes, despite what the "believers" say, writes SCOTT PODMORE

And the winner is ... Daniel Sims, of Dunt, South Australia.

Well, maybe not winner of the Australian of the Year in comedian Chris Lilley's hilarious mockumentary, We Can Be Heroes, but certainly a winner as far as favourites go.

And those who missed this ratings winner on the ABC can now buy the DVD, with deleted scenes and extras. In the series, Daniel, a young bogan with wide-eyed aspirations of becoming a rapper, was nominated for the show's Australian of the Year award for donating his eardrum to hearing-impaired twin brother, Nathan, a young man with a penchant far serving up "the bird" to all and sundry.

"Those characters, I really liked cutting that together. They're the mast successful for me. I just loved the relationship between them and the whole kind of youth culture thing," Lilley said.

"They live in the country, yet they have this city thing happening with this American culture influence as well." There were four other nominees in the series, which was a satire modelled on our nation's search for heroes and celebration of mediocrity:

JA'MIE KING, wealthy, snooty private schoolgirl who held the national record far sponsoring 85 Sudanese children.

PAT MULLINS, married and middle-aged, a pioneer of the sport of "rolling".

PHIL OLLIVETTI, excruciating former policeman who saved nine children from an un-secured jumping castle (our answer to David Brent of The Office fame).

RICKY WONG a Chinese/Australian uni student who plays an aboriginal man in his Chinese Musical Theatre Group’s production, Indigeridoo.

Was Lilley prepared for such ratings success and a surge of public attention?

"No I wasn't, I thought it would really be a cult kind of show. I thought it would have appealed more to a younger audience because It's a bit new and challenging, so I'm definitely surprised," he said.

To bring the characters to life, Lilley and team spent hours and interviews with relevant Individuals and groups.

"Once I locked them in – and that was a pretty long process in itself - I then started to research it and spent a lot of time with those types of people," he said.

"I hung out with some high achieving girls at private schools for girls for Ja'mie (pronounced Ja-may), then an Asian theatre group and met some young aspiring actors and interviewed their families. "I also went out to the country and spent some time with some teenagers out there."

But not all Australians embraced the characters - well, not the ones who believed they were the real deal, anyway. In character as Ja'mie on talkback radio, irate callers hurled abuse.

"That is something I never thought I would have to deal with. The fact people would think it was real, it just seemed crazy. I did one in Brisbane in which it was really intense. They were so angry with her.”

“There was this one truck driver guy who was really upset that Ja'mie's sponsor children had died, so he was completely sucked in by the storyline which was supposed to be appalling - so Ja'mie was telling him he had a weight issue and low self-esteem and stuff. And he just blew up at me."

There were occasional laughs on set, too.

"I was the culprit for giggles, mainly. The things that would make me laugh were when it was completely real, that's when I would just lose it," Lilley said.

"I can remember Pat sitting out the hack on the deck with the girls just chatting for an hour or two. It barely made the show and we were just raving on about middle-aged women's issues. 1 had to step outside of myself and say, 'What are you doing'?"

Lilley says he is keen to bring back another We Can Be Heroes series, but another project is his priority for now.

"I'm busy working an a new show, which is set in a high school, similar mockumentary style, sort of reviving a character I used to play called Mr. G, who appeared on the Big Bite and Hamish and Andy," he said.

"I've still gat a few spin-off things I want to do from We Can Be Heroes, too. A CD of the music from the show and a book, a scrapbook kind of thing in which there will be photos and all the characters are going to write some things."

We Can Be Heroes is out now on DVD through Roadshow Entertainment.