If attention to cultural detail makes a great epic, “Anna and the King’’ will be a blockbuster. Its creators insist that the movie, due out from Twentieth Century Fox at the end of the year, will be different from the musical about the charming but buffoonish Siamese king and the governess who melted his heart. This tale of English schoolteacher Anna Leonowens’s travels to Siam in 1862, where she taught in the royal court, will be far more historically accurate, the filmmakers say. They hired Thai consultants to ensure that the love story portrays the king as the visionary modernizer that Thai historians say he was. The fictional love story also aims to challenge stereotypes. The king and Anna “are both victims–unconventional people living in conventional times,” says Foster. “There will be no king saying ’et cetelah, et cetelah, et cetelah’,” adds Tennant, referring to Yul Brynner’s comical English in the musical.
But that didn’t prevent Fox from running into controversy. The Thais, who had banned “The King and I” 44 years ago, worried that King Mongkut would look clownish. They outlawed it, and Fox had to make the film in Malaysia on a seven-acre set–one of the biggest ever built. (Fox has had a rough year in Thailand: Leonardo DiCaprio’s “The Beach” sparked protests when Fox planted palm trees on a pristine beach.) Among other things, the Thais objected to eye contact between Anna and the king. “Mongkut said there’s nothing to fear in foreign culture, but his lessons haven’t been learned,” says Tennant. If the film was absolutely accurate, he adds, “the king would have betel-nut-stained teeth, and Anna would look like Austin Powers.”
Reinventing Leonowens was almost as hard as re-creating Siam. Foster–who is reportedly making $15 million on the film–was determined to make Leonowens real. “Anna’s role is pretty dubious historically. She’s very prejudiced,” says Foster. The hardest part was making the two characters, restrained by stiff 19th-century manners, show real emotions. On the set, as Tennant painstakingly shoots the king’s march down the corridor, Foster, in blue bonnet, bolero jacket and sweltering hoop skirt, stands primly in the blazing sun, hands clasped.
The biggest surprise for American audiences may be the king, played by Hong Kong heartthrob Chow. Idolized throughout Asia as a Cary Grant-like figure, Chow has recently broken into Hollywood. The affable son of a Hong Kong farmer starred in “The Replacement Killers.’’ Chow, who is reportedly making $5 million on “Anna,” hopes to smash his pistol-toting image.
At the end of the day, the director calls Chow back for a final shot. A Thai consultant hurries about, making sure that ceremonial umbrellas protect his royal visage from the sun. The kowtow wave has been perfected, and the king’s procession has reached Anna. It is a close-up shot, filmed from the waist up. In the heat, Foster stands stoically in her bonnet and bolero. Underneath, hidden from the camera, she has dropped her hoop skirt. She is wearing yellow-and-white polka-dot shorts. After all, this is just a movie.
