Zulu’s! Everywhere!
Way back in 1964 a film called ‘Zulu’ about the outnumbered British soldiers doing battle with Zulu warriors at Rourke’s Drift made a star of hitherto unknown actor Michael Caine (whatever happened to him?). Written and directed by Cy Enfield who was fascinated by the British armies encounters with the Zulu’s it was intended as the start of a trilogy films. However for one reason or another Zulu Dawn which would be the second and what would turn out to be the last film in the intended trilogy, was not made until 1979 with a star packed cast but without Enfield.
The story of Zulu Dawn…
Zulu Dawn was a dramatization of the Battle of Isandlwana, where the British Army, once again, met its match against the Zulu nation. With a cast led by Peter O’Toole and Burt Lancaster it would also include Bob Hoskins, Denholm Elliott, Sir John Mills, Freddie Jones, Simon Ward , Ronald Lacy (that villainous Nazi in Raiders of the Lost Ark) and a fledgling Phil Daniels.
The behind the scenes stories….
Starring and producing the film was James Faulkner along with David (Dai) Bradley who had made such an impression with his lead role in ‘Kes’ (1969). At the time it was the moist expensive independent British film to have been made. We had the opportunity to speak to both James and Dai about every aspect of the film that included the enmity between O’Toole and Lancaster, the casting of tens of thousands of locals as Zulu’s, Bob Hoskins covertly reshooting his own death scene and a whole load of unforeseen circumstances that sent the film dangerously near to going off the rails.
related feature : ‘Warfare’ – director Alex Garland & actors Cosmo Jarvis & Kit Connor talk about the true life film
related feature : How they recreated Coming 2 America characters….
Take a look at out chat with James and Dai as we go behind the scenes of Zulu Dawn…
Zulu Dawn Limited Edition will be released on 6th July 2026
The post Zulu Dawn – we talk to the cast about the shooting of the 1979 epic appeared first on Any Good Films.
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