Trivia / Kung Fu Panda

• Actor-Inspired Element: According to an interview with James Hong, his father owned a noodle shop. When the producers found out about this, they incorporated it into his character, Mr. Ping.
• Actor-Inspired Heroism: In an early version of the script, Po was intended to be something of a Parody Sue, expecting the Furious Five to love him and adore him as much as he liked them. Apparently, Jack Black intervened because he realized how unlikable this made the character, and urged the writers to change Po to being insecure and well aware of his own flaws.
• All-Star Cast:
  • Jack Black, Lucy Liu, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Dustin Hoffman, Seth Rogen, David Cross, Ian McShane, and Michael Clarke Duncan are either primary focus characters or have significant roles in the film.
  • In the Japanese dub, Po is voiced by the musician and bassist Tatsuya Yamaguchi, albeit only in the first two films, when he's replaced with Setsuji Sato instead in the third one. Master Tigress is voiced by Yoshino Kimura, who played the Japanese wife in Blindness.
  • In the Latin American Spanish dub, Po is voiced by the comedian Omar Chaparro, Shifu is voiced by the actor Pedro Armendáriz Jr. (first two films), and Monkey is voiced by TV host Víctor Moreno (first film only).
  • In the Castillian Spanish dub, Po is voiced by the comedian Florentino "Flo" Fernandez.
• Celebrity Voice Actor:
  • Aside from the All-Star Cast, Wayne Knight does the voice of the lead thug during the opening Dream Sequence.
  • Famous comedian Florentino Fernández voiced Po in Spain.
• Children Voicing Children: Baby Tai Lung is voiced by director Mark Osborne's then-six-year-old son, Riley.
• Creator Couple: The bunny during the dream opening of the film who calls Po attractive is voiced by Jack Black's wife, Tanya Haden.
• Kids' Meal Toy: McDonald's sold a set of eight action figures in their Happy Meals. These consisted of Po, the Furious Five, Master Shifu, and Tai Lung.
• Life Imitates Art: Dustin Hoffman (Shifu) tutored Jack Black (Po) on acting during production.
• Mid-Development Genre Shift: The film was originally going to be a spoof of the Kung Fu genre, but one of the directors, John Stevenson, wanted to have a blend of comedy and action to make this movie more epic, saying, "I wasn't interested in making fun of martial arts movies, because I really think they can be great films. They can be as good as any genre movie when they're done properly."
• Multiple Languages, Same Voice Actor: Jackie Chan dubbed himself for the Mandarin and Cantonese versions.
• Production Nickname: The broken chunk of wood that Po picks up as a souvenir of Tigress' "awesomeness" was deemed "the love chunk" by the layout department.
• Sleeper Hit: At first, everyone thought that this would just be a comedic parody of Kung Fu films, never once suspecting that it would be the start of one of the most popular movie franchises in America and China.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The creators were going to make Mantis The Mole until character designer Nico Marlet gave him more of a playful look that played with the stereotype of a creepy praying mantis.
  • One of Viper's weapons was supposed to be a Parasol of Pain.
  • The script didn't have Tai Lung destroying the village in a rampage after being denied the scroll, but Word of God said test audiences found Tai Lung too likable and relatable, so they added that in order to make him seem more villainous.
  • The Wu Sisters, who later appeared in Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, were originally going to be minions of Tai Lung in the movie, but were taken out to make Tai Lung seem like more of a badass. Their original designs also differ greatly from their current ones, including them looking completely identical and having a rather obnoxious Verbal Tic. See for yourself.
  • In addition to the Wu Sisters, Tai Lung was meant to lead the Lang Shadow Army, composed of legions of wolves, gorillas, crocodiles and oxen. They were all cut to give Tai Lung more moments to shine on his own and were reworked for the video game adaptation, and then reworked again into Shen's army for the sequel, with the croc and ox bandits' design being used as the base for Master Croc's and Ox's own designs.
  • Mr. Ping was going to be Po's stern boss (which ironically would have fit voice James Hong's three previous roles as a Mean Character) before one of the storyboard artists thought it would be funnier if he was Po's doting father instead.
  • In earlier story treatments, Shifu and not Mr. Ping was supposed to be Po's adoptive father. This is why he was designed as a red panda, and why his name in Chinese (師父) translates to "Father Teacher."
  • Shifu was originally designed to be much older, possessing a more exaggerated hump, a wrinkled face, and jagged teeth. His age was ultimately reduced a bit to allow the character more activity.
• Working Title: Daydreamer.

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