Trivia for
The Last Emperor (1987) More at IMDbPro »

• 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 western film permitted to film within the Forbidden City.
  
  
• This was the first western film made in and about the country to be produced with full Chinese government cooperation since 1949.
  
  
• Pu Yi's eldest brother, Pu Chieh, and Li Wenda, who helped Pu Yi write his autobiography, were brought in to act as advisors on the film.
  
  
• The production tracked down several people from Pu Yi's life, including the prison governor and his manservant, to unofficially advise the director.
  
  
• 19,000 extras were needed over the course of the film.
  
  
• The Buddhist lamas who appear in the film could not be touched by women, so extra male wardrobe helpers were hired to dress them.
  
  
• 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 ten days training fifty Chinese to pin wigs and plaits onto two thousand extras in under two hours.
  
  
• 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.
  
  
• Security was so tight around the shoot, that when, one day, Peter O'Toole forgot his pass, he was denied entrance to the set.
  
  
• 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.
  
  
• 1,100 schoolchildren were brought in to play Red Guards who composed the Cultural Revolution march (1967). Bernardo Bertolucci had problems instilling the right amount of anger in them, as none of them knew of the attitudes of the Cultural Revolution.
  
  
• Bernardo Bertolucci proposed the film to the Chinese government as one of two possible projects - the other was "La Condition Humaine" by André Malraux. The Chinese preferred this project, and made no restrictions on the content.
  
  
• The China Film Co-Production Corporation provided their studios and unlimited extras in exchange for domestic distribution rights.
  
  
• 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 were unused to making films with live sound recording.
  
  
• Because no private automobiles were permitted, even Peter O'Toole was limited to the use of a bicycle for personal transportation.
  
  
• This is the first MPAA-rated PG-13 film to win the Academy Award for "Best Picture" (not counting subsequent films that have since been re-rated).
  
  
• Jeremy Thomas managed to raise the $25 million budget for his independent production single-handedly.
  
  
• During filming of the immense coronation scene in the Forbidden City, Queen Elizabeth II was in Beijing on a state visit. The production was given priority over her by the Chinese authorities and she was therefore unable to visit the Forbidden City.
  
  
• Ying Ruocheng, playing the Governor in the film, was at that time, the vice president of Department of Culture in the People's Republic of China.
  
  
• Bernardo Bertolucci talked at length with Sean Connery, regarding the role of Reginald Johnston. Connery ended up convincing the director not to cast him.
  
  
• THe first PG-13-rated film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture.
  
  

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