The Royal Treatment

The role that may draw the most heat in this film, at least in Asia, is the king. Chow has made his name playing tough villains in Hong Kong action movies, but he is stepping out of his old character to become the first Asian film star to play a complex, romantic leading man in a serious, big- budget Hollywood movie (box). It's a role that will offend at least some Thais, who argue that no foreigner should be allowed to play Mongkut. But Chow, whose regal bearing dazzles everyone on the set, says the movie is about shattering stereotypes in more ways than one. "Anna and the king have certain walls and boundaries because of the system they live in," says Chow. "The king is always slipping over the boundary."

The setting is a gloriously cleaned-up version of 19th-century Siam. The Oscar- winning production designer, Luciana Arrighi, created a "surreal reality" on seven acres--one of the biggest sets ever built. Some 500 Malaysian and Australian workmen erected the green and gold replica of Bangkok's royal palace and a royal barge fitted with golden oars. Dozens of Thai sculptors carved flying Buddhist angels and winged golden cornices from Styrofoam. The costumes were made from 15 kilometers of Thai silk. In one spectacular aerial shot, the royal barge sails down a river (meant to be the Chao Phraya, which runs past the imperial palace in Bangkok); 19 elephants, decorated with sparkling Thai fabrics, join the royal procession to a rice festival. The Thai consultants to "Anna" believe that Thais will clamor to see the film, even if they have to see it on bootleg videos. "Mongkut comes out as the great man he was. The film will show his love for his people," says Foster. "The film wasn't filmed in Thailand, but in the end, the Thais will say they love it anyway."

At the end of the day, Foster and Chow take their places for a final shot. A Thai consultant scurries about, making sure that ceremonial umbrellas protect Chow's royal visage from the sun. The kowtow wave has been perfected, and the king's procession has reached Anna, where the only lines of the day are spoken. It is a close-up shot, filmed from the waist up. In the tropical heat, Foster stands stoically in her bonnet and bolero. Underneath, hidden from the cameras' view, she has dropped her hoop skirt. She is wearing yellow and white polka-dot boxers. After all, this is just a movie.

© 1999