Trivia

The real King Mongkut was paralyzed on one side of his face.This fact is completely omitted from the film.

On the French audio track on the DVD, Jodie Foster dubs her own character's voice.

The film was banned in Thailand because of historical inaccuracies about the King of Siam and the time period of the film.

The movie was filmed in Malaysia because the Thai government refused to give permission to film in Thailand. Despite several script revisions, the Thai authorities maintained that the film had too many historical inaccuracies.

Jodie Foster was paid $15 million for playing the lead role.