Anna and the King
Short description
In 1860s Siam, the British widow Anna Leonowens arrives in Bangkok to serve as tutor to the many children of King Mongkut. She brings Western ideas and a readiness to question court custom, while the king is a ruler regarded by his people as close to divine and determined to modernize his country without surrendering it to colonial powers. Their dealings begin in friction and suspicion, with Anna pressing for the treatment she considers her due and Mongkut testing her against the rigid etiquette of his court. Over time the two develop respect and affection, even as political intrigue threatens the kingdom. Anna and the King is a drama drawn from the same historical figure and material that earlier productions had used.
Andy Tennant directed the film, which followed his EverAfter and came before Sweet Home Alabama in his filmography. Steve Meerson and Peter Krikes wrote the screenplay, and Lawrence Bender and Ed Elbert produced it for Fox 2000 Pictures. Jodie Foster plays Anna opposite Chow Yun-fat as King Mongkut, with Bai Ling as Tuptim, Tom Felton as Louis, Syed Alwi as the Kralahome and Randall Duk Kim as General Alak, among a credited cast of forty-one.
Costing about 75 million dollars, the film returned roughly 114 million dollars worldwide. On IMDb it holds 6.7 out of 10 from around 40,000 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.8 from a much smaller body of 840 votes. A critics' rating of 6.3 from 99 reviews places it below both audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Most of the filming took place on Penang Island in Malaysia.
- The film is based on the diaries of Anna Leonowens, who arrived in Siam (modern-day Thailand) in 1862 to become a teacher at the court of King Mongkut, and left the country in 1867, a year before the king's death. Much of what is described in her diaries and personal stories was later seriously questioned, and a number of details of her biography were recognized as fictional in subsequent research. She never returned to Siam, unlike her son, Louis Leonowens, who became a captain in the royal cavalry and founded a large trading company that still bears his name today.
- When the film was released, diplomatic representatives and consuls of Thailand received reports that citizens of their country faced criminal liability for possessing copies of the film. The chairman of the Thai censorship commission, the one that banned the Hollywood film, demanded that every seller, owner, and anyone caught showing the film in Thailand be sentenced to a year in prison, a large fine, or both. Upon learning of the Thai authorities' decision, Twentieth Century Fox studio decided not to appeal to the court. Thai police, meanwhile, had to contend with a flood of pirated video cassettes and discs pouring into the country. A man and a woman were arrested in the Pratunam district with 400 video cassettes of the film. According to Thai censors, the reason for banning the film was the disrespectful and historically inaccurate depiction of the monarchy, and especially King Mongkut, which they considered an insult to the royal family.
- The story of King Mongkut's concubine, Tapthim, which occupies a significant place in the film's plot and Anna Leonowens' diaries, is not confirmed by historical documents. It may have been based either on unconfirmed rumors and gossip, or on events that occurred long before Mongkut became King of Siam.
- For the role of Tapthim, Chinese actress Bai Ling was forced to shave her head, which at the time was over 90 centimeters long.
- It was crucial for the producers to gain the support of the Thai government, which was very demanding regarding the depiction of the country's history in the film, and especially, the highly revered King Mongkut of Thailand. The National Film Board insisted on the removal of a large number of errors and inaccuracies, for which the film's script was rewritten five times, but approval was never obtained. As a result, the film crew was denied permission to shoot on Thai territory. Subsequently, the film was banned from distribution in Thai cinemas for the same reason.
- Due to the refusal of the Thai authorities, most of the previously invited local historians and advisors left the project, and filming took place in neighboring Malaysia, resulting in significant additional costs. An exact replica of the Thai Royal Palace was recreated on a huge set on a golf course in Ipoh with the participation of more than five hundred Malaysian and Australian workers.
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