Michael Caine was just 29 when he shot Zulu, the 1964 war classic depicting the 1879 Battle of Rorke’s Drift, which took place during the Anglo-Zulu War.
Earning £4000 (around £70,000 today) for his first major film role, he became a millionaire movie star within five years.
Yet his time on the South African set wasn’t the easiest for the young actor, who became ill from nerves while watching the dailies and never looked at them again.
Yet he shouldn’t have worried, as the critically acclaimed movie is now considered one of the greatest British films ever made.
This is in part due to the levels of accuracy the production went to in hiring actual Zulus, including descendants of those who fought in the battle.
A Zulu Princess was one of the film’s technical advisors and her tribe’s historian, who knew the battle’s strategy incredibly well. She drew it in the sand for director Cy Endfield, who shot the movie exactly as she had laid out. Meanwhile, Zulu chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi, a future South African political leader, played his great-grandfather Zulu King Cetshwayo kaMpande. Additionally, over 700 Zulu extras, who were mostly descendants of those who fought in the Battle of Rorke’s Drift, were hired on the film and mocked Caine with a nickname on set.
Many of the Zulu extras had never seen a movie before and didn’t quite understand what their job was in front of a camera. So the film’s star, Stanley Baker, had silent movies starring Laurel and Hardy and Buster Keaton sent over from Johannesburg, which the Zulus loved. Meanwhile, they would laugh at Caine for his long blond hair and nicknamed him “Lady” in Zulu. As a result, their princess (the technical advisor) had to step in to tell them to stop, which they promptly did.