Trivia for
Anna and the King (1999) More at IMDbPro »

• This movie was banned in Thailand because of assumed historical inaccuracies about the King of Siam and the time period of the movie.
  
  
• At first it seemed that the film would be made on location in Thailand, but even after some script revisions had been made, negotiations between the production company and the Thai government failed to come to agreement about the script's final content and the production crew was denied permission to film in Thailand. The Thai authorities maintained that there were still too many historical inaccuracies for it to be acceptable. Instead it was filmed in neighboring Malaysia.
  
  
• The real King Rama IV, the King referred to in this movie by his given name of Mongkut, is the great-grandfather of the present King of Thailand, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, known formally as King Rama IX.
  
  
• The name Tuptim (the consort who had an affair) means 'Ruby' in Thai.
  
  
• The King doesn't have a queen who would have been the mother of the Crown Prince. Rama IV's queen died young, and after her death the King never raised another consort to be the queen.
  
  
• Ling Bai completely shaved her head bald for her role as Tuptim.
  
  
• The name given for the wealthy father of Tuptim is actually the name of a famous Thai political scientist. Thak Chaloemtiarana currently directs the Southeast Asia Studies Program at Cornell University.
  
  
• 3 months into filming an outbreak of Japanese encephalitis hampered the filming. Some sets had to be relocated because they were too close to pig farms (the main source, transmitted by mosquitoes). All the cast and crew were given a vaccine by the set doctor, and some sets were sprayed with insecticide before crew turned up to start filming.
  
  
• Kate Winslet and Emma Thompson both reportedly turned down the role of Anna. Shannen Doherty was offered the role of Anna but turned it down due to her commitment in the TV series "Charmed" (1998).
  
  
• Alyssa Milano was originally offered the leading role, but turned it down due to her commitment with the TV series "Charmed" (1998).
  
  

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