Long before he became “The Boy from Oz,” and just as he was considering growing his sideburns for the role that made him, Hugh Jackman co-starred in a featherweight rom-com from Oz that established his sweet and “sensistive” credentionals on the screen. Well, “sweet and sensitive” by Australian standards, anyway.

As the “Paperback Hero,” he’s a man’s man in a manly line of work and best buds with his cattle dog Lance. Jack Willis is a shirt-opened, shorts and boots bloke who drives a tractor trailer, one of those Aussie Outback “Road Trains” with plenty of trailers and not much chance of braking on a “banana.” That’s the dollar coin Down Under, Bruce.

But under Jack’s furry and fit bloke’s bloke exterior beats a sensitive(ish) heart, a fellow who scribbles ideas and pages for his “trashy” WWII era romance novel on roadhouse napkins.

He’s a Lucktown lad with an assigned parking place at the Boomerang and an ongoing, lifelong prank contest with the fetching crop duster pilot, Ruby (Claudia Carvan) who inherited her plane and the Boomerang from her late father.

Ruby’s got a plan — marry steady beau Hamish (Andrew S. Gilbert), the local veterinarian and settle into a comfortable conventional life.

Silly Hamish. Did he not see “Four Weddings and a Funeral?” Guys named “Hamish” almost never “get the girl.” And when they do, they can’t keep her. Some actor named Hugh just won’t let it happen.

The comedy here is that Jack’s kept his writing a secret. When he pitched “Bird in the Hand” to publishers, he used Ruby’s name. Now the bloody book’s been put into print and the publishing house wants to publicize its new star writer, a woman named Ruby who writes bluff and blustery prose in a genre known for its femine floral excesses.

Ruby’s got to “be” him. C’mon, help a mate out!

“How could you write anything romantic?”

Before she knows it, Ruby’s accepted a deal to get her wedding paid for. And on the long truck drive (with campouts) to Sydney, she’ll get a half-assed crash course on the first novel and her “inspiration” for it. But not being a lass of letters, one comparison every interviewer makes is sure to throw her.

“Daphne Du Maurier” was a Hitchcock favorite (“Rebecca,” “The Birds” ) queen of “middlebrow romances” back in the day.

“Is she from Sydney?” No, dear.

Jackman is downright boyish as Jack, with a higher voice and shorter sideburns and not exactly as rough and tumble as the part suggests he has to be. There’ll be no roadhouse brawls or trucker throwdowns here, mate.

A karaoke sing-along to Roy Orbison? That’s the ticket.

Karvan had already had roles in Gillian Armstrong and Philip Noyce films in Oz and was top billed here. She has Tomboy credibility and great chemistry with Jackman, and has enjoyed a long career in Aussie TV in the decades since.

Jeanie Drynan, who plays the brassy co-owner of the struggling local hotel and waitress at the Boomerang, was in early Australian break-out films “Don’s Party” and “Muriel’s Wedding.” Nobody else in “Paperback,” in front of or behind the camera, went to make a mark in Hollywood or even widely exported Australian cinema.

But Jackman made a mark big enough for them all — Wolverine superstardom, “Les Miserables,” rom-coms to “Song Sung Blue.” All he had to do was deepen his voice and grow hair anywhere and everywhere he could.

And to think the earliest big screen signs of his hunky charm came from a mushy road train trucker who writes romance novels.

Rating: PG-13, profanity, alcohol consumption, sexual situations

Cast: Claudia Karvan, Hugh Jackman, Angie Milliken, Andrew S. Gilbert and Jeanie Drynan

Credits: Scripted and directed by Antony J. Bowman. a release streaming on Tubi, Amazon, etc.

Running time: 1:36