In less than four months, a richly-ornamented palace with Siamese-stepped roofs, mondhops and glazed tiles will rise up against a background of lakes, mountains and palm trees near the old tin-mining town of Ipoh in Malaysia.
It will be a stage set, built by 20th Century Fox as a replica of the Great Chakri Palace in Bangkok, home of the kings of Siam. Ipoh is to be the location for the film Anna and the King, a new version of the 1956 musical, The King and I, starring Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr, about a 19th century king of Siam (now Thailand) and a British governess.
The Hollywood film company wanted to make the movie on location in Thailand, but five months' negotiations between 20th Century Fox and the Thailand National Film Board broke down in November. Thailand officials objected to the Hollywood script of Anna and the King, which will feature Oscar-winner Jodie Foster as Anna, and they weren't too happy with the choice of Hong Kong tough-guy actor Chow Yunfat to play the king.
The royal family is revered in Thailand. Pictures of the present King Bhumibol decorate every home and office, and cinema audiences stand respectfully for the royal anthem. The constitution proscribes jail for anyone guilty of lese-majesty, literally "wounding the monarchy", which makes officials nervous about giving an imprimatur to any Hollywood version of royal history.
Thailand historians were outraged when The King And I appeared 42 years ago. They found it patronising and insulting. The musical, and another film, a 1946 version called Anna and the King of Siam, starring Rex Harrison and Irene Dunne, are to this day banned in Bangkok.
They told the supposedly true story of Anna Leonowens, a young Welsh widow who came to Siam as governess to the 67 children of King Mongkut (ruler from 1851 to 1868). She wrote two books about her experiences: The English Governess at the Siamese Court (1870) and The Romance of the Harem (1873). These were turned into a best-selling novel in 1943 by American author Margaret Landon, Anna and the King of Siam, which loosely forms the plot for the subsequent films.
Anna, however, apparently exaggerated her own importance, romanticised a lot and invented details and events. She was, in fact, an English teacher, not a governess. She depicted the king, with whom she had little contact, as a semi-civilised eccentric who had to be taught Victorian values.
Yul Brynner acted him as a playboy of the eastern world, a cruel buffoon who has to be told not to drink from a finger bowl and who abolished slavery only at the urging of very British, common-sense Anna. King Mongkut, the great-grandfather of the present monarch, was, by all accounts, a civilised and enlightened ruler, a linguist and Buddhist scholar who introduced a modern legal system.
The books, filed in most libraries under fiction, are not taken seriously by historians, though in fairness to Anna, some Thai commentators have praised her for providing a rare glimpse into forbidden territory and for her concern for Thai women.
Mike Moder, vice president of feature production of 20th Century Fox, acknowledged to the film board that King Mongkut was portrayed "foolishly" in the past and promised to "set the record straight" by making it a "movie that will live in history as a true representation of Thailand". He submitted the script to the board for approval.
At the insistence of a Thai historian several scenes were taken out, including King Mongkut using chopsticks instead of cutlery, receiving a massage and playing polo. But after several rewrites Thailand officials could not bring themselves to say they were satisfied, claiming it was still not historically accurate (what Holly wood movie ever is?). Thailand film board members told Bangkok television two weeks ago that the account of the romance between Anna and the king was itself unpalatable, and that historically inaccurate scenes where Anna helped the king escape an assassination attempt, went for a picnic with him to Phuket, and accepted his ring, all approached lese-maj- esty.
They also expressed fears that Chow would depict the king as a clown. Fox drew the line at ceding any more control and decided to move the $60 million production to neighbouring Malaysia, citing "excessive bureaucracy and political red tape", though it promised to respect the advice of Thai experts, some of whom will continue to act as advisers, and to treat the monarchy sensitively and with respect.
Incidentally, 20th Century Fox has drawn on the growing pool of talent in the Irish film industry to make Anna and the King. The unit production manager is Dubliner John G. Phelan, who worked on The Jackal and Maeve Binchy's Circle of Friends; Donal Geraghty and John Mulligan from Ireland are production accountants, and the horse wrangler is Tony Doyle from Bray.
Some Thai officials, including the minister for tourism, hope that Fox is bluffing and will at the last moment agree to return to Thailand, where producer Andy Tennant is keen to shoot scenes at the beautiful Temple of the Emerald Buddha. But John G. Phelan's bulldozers and diggers are already levelling a patch of ground at Ipoh for the fake palace (the construction of which is itself probably worth a film documentary).
For the record, the new film, due out in September, is not a musical so don't expect Judy Foster to sing Shall we dance? And Chow is not going to shave his head to look like Yul Brynner. As a matter of historical accuracy, King Mongkut had a full head of hair.