Tara Morice, played Fran

Baz Luhrmann was this cool guy two years ahead of me at NIDA, the drama school in Sydney. When I graduated, I joined his theatre company Six Years Old and the play of Strictly Ballroom came out of that. It was inspired by Keith Bain, who taught movement at the school. He was a ballroom-dancer who had left Australia for South America in the 1950s then came back with these shocking new steps. We talked a lot in rehearsals about the paso doble, and from that came Fran’s Spanish immigrant background. I thought up the name Frangipani because Sydney has frangipani trees everywhere. On my walk to rehearsals, I’d often pick one of the flowers to put in my hair.

It was while doing the play that I met Craig Pearce; he and Baz were ancient friends and ended up working on the screenplay. Craig and I were together for 13 years, and we have a daughter. But it was never a foregone conclusion that I would play Fran in the film. I did seven screen tests over the course of a year. Craig would say to me, “I’m only ever thinking of you when I write Fran.” Meanwhile, I was wondering: “What’s going to happen with me and him if I don’t get the part?” I felt this ownership of Fran because I’d worked on her for so long.

I was only told I’d been cast the night before we started. Even once we were filming, I had this sense of doubt: I’m not pretty enough, I can’t dance well enough – which is 100% Fran.

Baz had already got me doing pre-production work with Paul Mercurio, who played Scott. Paul was an extraordinary dancer with the Sydney Dance Company but he hadn’t done any acting, whereas I’d done the play but had less experience dancing. We sort of met in the middle. Fran and Scott are the centre of their own naturalistic world surrounded by all these larger-than-life characters. That’s typical of Baz’s peculiar, unique style. It’s morphed over the years but Strictly Ballroom is where he developed it.

None of us could believe we were making the film. It had been so hard to get funding, and everyone had told Baz it wouldn’t work. But I’ll never forget stepping on to the set. Fran’s house was so perfect. It was winter and frangipani wasn’t in flower so Catherine Martin [production designer and Lurhmann’s wife] had some made and stuck them in the trees. We stayed up doing those scenes until 2am because they needed the goods train to go past Fran’s house.

Paul and I travelled the world for a year promoting the film. There’d been Crocodile Dundee, but this was different. Muriel’s Wedding and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert came a bit later, and I think Strictly Ballroom established that trajectory of Australian film-makers taking bolder choices and creating a different image of the country. It’s still a blokey culture, let’s be honest. But it changed something.

Paul Mercurio, played Scott

I got a call from this eccentric person called Baz, who said he was making a film about ballroom dancing. He needed someone to choreograph Scott’s unconventional steps. I said: “No probs.” Then he rang back a year later when he finally had the money to make the film. He wanted me to audition to play Scott.

I always loved watching Baz work. He was so considered but also a genius: a little bit loopy, a bit out there. I have that line from the film on my fridge: “Dance your own steps.” I’d always done that myself, even as a young kid doing ballet in the 1970s. I had friends at primary school who wanted to beat me up. There was that attitude: boys don’t do ballet. Billy Elliot was kind of my story.

One of the things I love most about Strictly is it achieved this dream I had, which was to say: “Men dancing is OK.” A bloke came up to me once, a big dude 6ft 3in tall and wide, in singlet and shorts. He said: “My wife dragged me kicking and screaming to your movie – and it was the best thing she’s ever done.” People who would ordinarily want to fight me were buying me beers instead.

The premiere at Cannes was over-the-top crazy. To go from being this little Aussie movie that no one wanted to make to being the midnight screening with a standing ovation was amazing. I think the fact that I had a wife and kids at home, and I knew I’d be going back to change nappies, helped to keep me grounded.

I used to get mobbed in Sydney. I was walking down the street one time and a bunch of screaming schoolgirls chased me. That doesn’t happen any more, sadly.

• Strictly Ballroom in 4K is in cinemas and on digital platforms from 12 June