Australia has a long cinema history — starting with the world's first feature film, The Story of the Kelly Gang, made in Melbourne and released in 1906. Today, much of Australia's film talent goes to the United States, looking for bigger and more lucrative opportunities overseas. But what does this mean for both the history and future of Australian cinema?

The larger-than-life personalities that form the heart of this book — Errol Flynn, Peter Finch, David Gulpilil AM and Nicole Kidman — have dominated cinema screens both locally and internationally and starred in some of the biggest films of their eras — including The Adventures of Robin Hood, Network, Crocodile Dundee and Eyes Wide Shut among others.

From the Golden Age of Hollywood in the 1930s to the streaming wars of today, the lives of these four actors, and their many cast mates, tell a story of how a nation's cinema was founded, then faltered, before finding itself again.