Line #8 Trivia/TheKingAndI


1	!!The original Broadway production:
2	* CutSong: Several songs were cut during rehearsals and tryouts, including "Waiting," a trio for Anna, the King and the Kralahome; "Who Would Refuse (A Man Like Him)?" sung by the Kralahome about his respect for the King, and "Now You Leave," Lady Thiang's musical TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to Anna, which was replaced out of town by the gentler "Something Wonderful."
3	* DiedDuringProduction: Gertrude Lawrence died during the Broadway run, meaning she couldn't reprise her role in the film version. She was buried in her "Shall We Dance?" costume.
4	* DyeingForYourArt: Yul Brynner shaved his head to play the King in the stage version, and kept it that way for the rest of his career.
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6	!!The 1956 film:
7	* BannedInChina: No matter how the filmmakers rework the story, it always ends up getting banned in Thailand, where there are very strict laws about lèse-majesté (basically, insulting the monarch). It wasn't so long ago that the Thai King was revered as a god, and he still has a very special status. Even an affectionate parody of any member of the Thai Royal Family can land you in jail. Anna Leonowens' story and all its adaptations portray King Mongkut as an intelligent but unsophisticated barbarian who is trying to become civilized. The fundamental problem that modern directors seem to miss is that however respectfully the King is portrayed, the basic story still requires that Thailand be a backwards country in dire need of being civilized by Westerners — Mongkut had already put the country on the fast track to modernization long before Anna got there — and ultimately that their King is wrong, which is not only disrespectful but illegal.
8	* EnforcedMethodActing: A variation. Marni Nixon initially had a hard time singing for Creator/DeborahKerr because, at the age of twenty one, it was tricky to make the singing sound more mature. But she caught a cold sometime before the recording sessions, and that deepened her voice.
9	* FakeBrit: Rex Thompson was New York born playing Anna's son Louis (who is English).
10	* FakeNationality: Patrick Adiarte was the only main cast member who was actually Asian, and even he was of Filipino ancestry rather than Thai. There were some Asians in the roles of the wives and children though.
11	* FriendshipOnTheSet: Creator/YulBrynner hand-picked Creator/DeborahKerr to play Anna after seeing her onstage. They became lifelong friends afterwards.
12	* NonSingingVoice:
13	** Famously with Marni Nixon dubbing Creator/DeborahKerr. Unlike in ''Film/MyFairLady'' and ''Film/WestSideStory1961'', the latter was aware from the start that she would be dubbed and they worked carefully together to intertwine their voicals.
14	** Leona Gordon dubs Rita Moreno as Tuptim, but she does her own singing for "Small House of Uncle Thomas".
15	** Reuben Fuentes dubs Carlos Rivas as Lun Tha.
16	* TheOtherDarrin: Due to Gertrude Lawrence dying of cancer before the 1956 film's production, Anna is portrayed by Creator/DeborahKerr.
17	* ProductionPosse: Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox's movie adaptation shares a director, Walter Lang, with Fox's first R&H movie, ''Film/StateFair'', and a screenwriter, Ernest Lehman, with Fox's final R&H movie, ''Film/TheSoundOfMusic''.
18	* TheRedStapler: Creator/DeborahKerr's iconic pink ballgown. You'll find plenty of replicas these days, some of them going for thousands.
19	* UncreditedRole: Miss Universe contestant Judy Dan appears as one of the wives, but is uncredited.
20	* UnderageCasting: Mongkut was fifty-eight when Anna arrived in Siam and lived to be sixty-three. Yul Brynner was thirty-six when the film was made. Later inverted when he resumed the role on Broadway in his 60s. Martin Vidnovic on the other hand, who voiced the King in the animated version, was closer to the historical Mongkut's age at fifty-one
21	* UrbanLegend: Yul Brynner dancing with Deborah Kerr after having a lung surgically removed. Possibly connected to the fact that for two years after being diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer in the early 1980s, Brynner continued to perform in a revival of the stage play, dying only a few months after it closed. In 1956, however, he was perfectly healthy.
22	** Brynner played the role of the king non-stop continually from 1952 until his death in 1985, only taking breaks to make movies (such as the 1956 adaptation and the 1972 sitcom ''Series/AnnaAndTheKing''). In truth, except for the sitcom, after making the film, Brynner left the role behind for 20 years until he was brought back for a revival in 1976, at which point he stepped away from making movies and focused on playing the King on stage for the rest of his life.
23	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
24	** Fox wanted the 1956 film to have the King gored by an elephant rather than suffering public humiliation. Creator/YulBrynner however insisted they stick to the stage version. In real life, he died of malaria.
25	** Creator/MaureenOHara was nearly cast as Anna, and she sent sample recordings of her singing voice (which would not need to be dubbed). Although Darryl Zanuck loved it, Richard Rogers said "no pirate queen is going to play my Anna." Brynner personally recommended Creator/DeborahKerr for the role afterwards.
26	** Creator/DorothyDandridge was offered the role of Tuptim, but was advised to refuse it - as Tuptim was technically a slave. Others say she turned it down because it was not a lead role. The role ended up going to Creator/RitaMoreno instead. France Nuyen, who had played Liat in ''Theatre/SouthPacific'', was also in consideration but was apparently turned down because she was not a contract player with Fox.
27	** There was an announcement that Rodgers and Hammerstein would write some new songs specifically for the film. This didn't come to pass, and the film does not contain any original songs.
28	** "Shall I Tell You What I Think of You?", "I Have Dreamed" and "My Lord and Master" were recorded and included on the soundtrack, but didn't make the final cut. A 50th Anniversary version announced to include the restored songs, but no footage could be found, with only production stills accompanying the audio.
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30	!!The 1999 animated film:
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32	* AccidentallyCorrectWriting: Given the incredible liberties this movie takes with its source material, the tiny details it ''does'' get right are perhaps best explained as this. For example, there [[https://coconuts.co/bangkok/news/khun-tito-story-king-bhumibols-one-and-only-royal-cat/ really was]] a pet cat in the King's palace.
33	** Chulalongkorn being a martial artist and constantly practicing in his spare time isn't just [[AllAsiansKnowMartialArts racist stereotyping]], the real Chulalongkorn was an avid Thai boxer and was one of the major forces behind adapting [[UsefulNotes/MuayThai Muay Thai]] as Thailand's national sport. The 1946 version refers to this when he and Louis get into an argument and he tells Louis that because his head and shoulders cannot be touched, stick fighting would be the only way: he's apparently referring to a type of ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AmdeJtoMR4 krabi krabong]]'', which he rightly describes as "a matter that takes much skill. I would have beaten him badly."
34	** Tuptim's lover Lun Tha is AdaptedOut, she becomes Chulalongkorn's love interest instead, and the two of them get a HappilyEverAfter ending in place of the original Tuptim and Lun Tha's tragic fate. This was obviously done to make the movie more family-friendly. However, [[https://web.archive.org/web/20200809215807/https://www.ilab.org/articles/king-and-lie according to Mongkut's great-granddaughter Princess Vudhichalerm Vudhijaya]], Anna Leonowens' story of Tuptim's forbidden romance and death was total fiction; there really was a Tuptim, but she outlived Mongkut ''and became one of Chulalongkorn's wives'' and the grandmother of [[https://www.pinterest.com/pin/432627107926682664/ Princess Vudhichalerm herself]]. So in this detail, the animated version is more accurate than the original!
35	* {{Blooper}}: During the climax, in several frames Kralahome can clearly be seen wearing his usual red shirt and black pants instead of the formal tuxedo he wears through the entire final act.
36	* BoxOfficeBomb: While this version had a $25 million budget, its original theatrical run grossed $11,993,021 worldwide.
37	* CreatorBacklash: Some of the animated film's voice cast have since expressed dissatisfaction with the film. Martin Vidnovic, who voiced The King, admits it was pretty bad. It was a bigger OldShame for the Rodgers & Hammerstein estates, who were really displeased with the result of Richard Rich's {{Disneyfication}} of their work and prompting them to put out a mandate that no other musical from the estate can be adapted for animation, something that derailed Rich's main animation career.
38	* CreatorKiller: The 3-strike combination of negative reviews, poor box office receipts, ''and'' the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization barring any further animated adaptations of their work effectively ended any chance of Creator/RichardRich being able to make a name out of being a master animator, and possibly vindicated Disney's decision to fire him 14 years earlier in the wake of ''WesternAnimation/TheBlackCauldron''. It and ''WesternAnimation/QuestForCamelot'' also locked the career of writer David Seidler away from movie theaters until 2010. Both films are major parts of the string that led to the closure of Warner Animation until The New 10's and Creator/DreamWorksAnimation effectively supplanting Warner Bros. as the traditional ArchEnemy to Creator/{{Disney}} as far as animation goes.
39	* DenialOfDigitalDistribution: Disappeared from digital retailers in late November 2023, a few months after the 1956 version, but remained available on free streaming sites afterwards.
40	* DisownedAdaptation: Since the film's release, the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization's then-president Ted Chapin viewed granting permission to adapt ''The King and I'' into an animated film as one of his biggest mistakes.
41	* DuelingMovies: A downright ''bizarre'' version where the dueling films were versions of the ''same story:'' the same year the animated film came out also saw the release of ''Anna and the King'', a live action film starring Chow Yun-Fat and Jodie Foster. And it wasn't received very well either.
42	* FranchiseKiller: The animated adaptation's failure caused the R&H Organization to put the kibosh on the animation ideas.
43	* KidsMealToy: Subway released a set of four finger puppets in their Kids' Meals.
44	* NoAdaptationsAllowed: The film's failure caused Creator/RodgersAndHammerstein to turn down any further plans to adapt their musicals into animated films.
45	* NonSingingVoice: Creator/MirandaRichardson provides Anna's speaking voice, while Christiane Noll sings.
46	* RoleReprise: A reversal of sorts: Martin Vidnovic, who voiced the King, would later reprise his role on stage in a touring production with Creator/SandyDuncan as Anna. Two decades earlier, he had played Lun Tha in the 1977 Broadway revival that starred Yul Brynner and Constance Towers.
47	* WhatCouldHaveBeen: An animated version of Rodgers & Hammerstein's ''Theatre/{{Oklahoma}}'' was in the works, but it was scrapped following the failure of this film.

Context Trivia / TheKingAndI