<Li> US $10.3 million </Li> <P> The Year of Living Dangerously is a 1982 Australian romantic, drama film directed by Peter Weir and co-written by Weir and David Williamson adapted from Christopher Koch's 1978 novel The Year of Living Dangerously . The story is about a love affair set in Indonesia during the overthrow of President Sukarno . It follows a group of foreign correspondents in Jakarta on the eve of an attempted coup by the 30 September Movement in 1965 . </P> <P> The film stars Mel Gibson as Australian journalist Guy Hamilton, and Sigourney Weaver as British Embassy officer Jill Bryant . It also stars Linda Hunt as the male dwarf Billy Kwan, Hamilton's local photographer contact, a role for which Hunt won the 1983 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress . The film was shot in both Australia and the Philippines and includes Australian actors Bill Kerr as Colonel Henderson and Noel Ferrier as Wally O'Sullivan . </P> <P> It was banned from being shown in Indonesia until 1999, after the forced resignation of coup - leader and political successor Suharto in 1998 . The title The Year of Living Dangerously is a quote which refers to a famous Italian phrase used by Sukarno; vivere pericolosamente, meaning "living dangerously". Sukarno used the line for the title of his Indonesian Independence Day speech of 1964 . </P>

Who played billy in the year of living dangerously