One Hollywood star was paid just £235 for his role in a comedy movie that grossed almost £60million.
That film was The Gods Must Be Crazy, a comedy directed by Jamie Uys. It follows a South African tribe who encounter a glass Coke bottle fallen from an aeroplane, and soon they become convinced the bottle was a mysterious gift sent by the Gods.
Plenty of misunderstandings ensue, with members of the tribe erupting into in-fighting to get their hands on the blessed object. Tribe leader Xi, played by N!xau ǂToma, embarked on a journey across the world to return the bottle to its real home and restore peace.
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But despite his central role in the film, ǂToma earned a mere pittance for his role – not even £300. The Namibia-born star was a member of the !Kung people before his tragic death, known as a Bushman – an Indigenous hunter-gatherer.
(Image: HistoryLand)
His ultimate aim was to be rich enough to build a house made of brick with electricity and running water, so his family had a comfortable place to live. Later in life, he splurged on a used car and a chauffeur to shuttle him around, as he couldn’t drive himself.
Despite being fluent in three separate languages, the star had no idea of his real age even when the film released in 1980. It soon became the highest-grossing film of that year in Japan, and later became the highest grossing foreign film in the US in 1984.
The money was flooding in, grossing $90million (£70million) worldwide. But despite that, the actor’s first 10 days on set earned him just £235 in a currency he didn’t understand, and he reportedly watched the notes he was given blow away in the wind.
(Image: Wikimedia Common)
The star was later given 12 heads of cattle – that’s 12 separate animals – as compensation instead. It was reported he couldn’t count to more than 20, so 20 was the limit he set on the number of cattle he could own at one time while farming. A further £78 was given to him every month after filming wrapped, while a trust account was set up in his name with £15,600 in.
The actor’s story didn’t end there. He eventually managed to negotiate a bigger salary for the sequel, The Gods Must Be Crazy II, and earned several hundred thousand US dollars for the job. The star also starred in films like Crazy Safari and The Gods Must Be Funny in China, before he went to work as a maize farmer in his native Namibia.
(Image: HistoryLand)
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While filming was going on, he was flown to and from his home to ease the culture shock, but apparently wasn’t fazed by either the planes or the hotels he stayed in – despite thinking the film crew were “magicians”.
ǂToma was sadly found dead close to his home in June 2003. He had gone out to collect wood and hunt guineafowl, but succumbed to drug resistant tuberculosis at the age of around 59. He was survived by his six children.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
