The Last Emperor - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of The Last Emperor or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to The Last Emperor

[elmer]

Over 1,000 schoolchildren were brought in to play Red Guards in the 1967 Cultural Revolution march. Bernardo Bertolucci had problems instilling the right amount of anger in them, as none of them knew of the attitudes of the Cultural Revolution.

[frederick]

Two thousand soldiers had the front of their heads shaved in order to play Qing banner men. They were persuaded to do so by their officers who convinced them that it show friendship to the Italians and British. They were given a bonus of $3.50.

[ivan]

Victor Wong, Lisa Lu, and Vivian Wu would appear together again, in the cinematic adaptation of Amy Tan's "The Joy Luck Club" (1993).

[francisco]

This was the first film made in and about the country to be produced with full Chinese government cooperation since 1949.

[chad]

The real Reginald Johnston spoke fluent Chinese and was extremely well versed in the history of China, as well as its poetry. In the film, he and Pu Yi speak English to each other.

[jesus]

Hairdresser Giancarlo De Leonardis imported 2,200 pounds of human hair to make the elaborate wigs needed for the court. For the coronation scenes, his staff spent 10 days training 50 Chinese to pin wigs and plaits onto 2,000 extras in under two hours.

[frederick]

Puyi's younger brother, Pu Chieh, and Li Wenda, who helped Pu Yi write his autobiography, were brought in to act as advisors on the film.

[bessie]

The Buddhist lamas who appear in the film could not be touched by women, so extra male wardrobe helpers were hired to dress them.

[ruby]

Ruocheng Ying, playing the Governor in the film, was at that time, the vice president of Department of Culture in the People's Republic of China.

[kristina]

Tony Chiu-Wai Leung turned down the lead role, because he felt his English wasn't strong enough.

[claude]

An Italian chef was brought in to cook for the international cast. He brought with him 22,000 bottles of Italian mineral water, 450 pounds of Italian coffee, 250 gallons of olive oil and 4,500 pounds of pasta.

[caroline]

Security was so tight around the shoot that when Peter O'Toole forgot his pass one day, he was denied entrance to the set.

[ella]

Because no private automobiles were permitted, even Peter O'Toole was limited to the use of a bicycle for personal transportation.

[violet]

In real life, when Puyi met Empress Cixi, he screamed in terror. He later described seeing an eerie yellow curtain with an ugly thin face behind it. She was displeased, and had one of her servants offer him candy. When he screamed even louder, she had him taken away. She died the next day.

[ava]

The first feature film granted permission by the Chinese government to be filmed in the Forbidden City. A documentary produced and directed by Lucy Jarvis for NBC Films Ltd. in 1973 named "The Forbidden City" was the first ever film permitted to film within the Forbidden City.

[lynn]

The 250-acre Forbidden City, built in the early 15th century with high walls up to 50 feet thick, provided an excellent soundproof filming environment, although the Chinese crews weren't used to making films with live sound.

[cameron]

19,000 extras were needed over the course of the film.