Trivia for
The Man Who Would Be King (1975) More at IMDbPro »

• John Huston tried to launch the film version of "The Man Who Would Be King" many times before completing it . It was originally conceived as a vehicle for Clark Gable and Humphrey Bogart in the fifties, and later as a vehicle for Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas. When it was considered as a vehicle for Robert Redford and Paul Newman, Newman suggested Sean Connery and Michael Caine.
  
  
• Director John Huston had failed to cast the role of Roxanne before shooting started. During filming, at a small dinner party for some cast and crew, Huston was asked if he had yet filled the part. When he answered no, all heads turned toward Shakira Caine, the wife of star Michael Caine. Huston cast her on the spot.
  
  
• Karroom Ben Bouih, who played the high priest Kafu-Selim, was 103 years old when he made his first and only film appearance. When he saw some of the footage he declared that now he would live on forever.
  
  
• The making of feature on the DVD contains footage of Sean Connery performing the fall from the bridge stunt. He fell some hundred feet to the bottom of the ravine floor before his fall was broken by a big pile of cardboard boxes.
  
  
• The main theme of the movie is an old Irish air "The Moreen", more often called "The Minstrel Boy" after Thomas Moore wrote the lyrics "The minstrel boy to the war is gone." However the words sung by Daniel and Peachie are from the Christian Hymn "The Son of God goes forth to war" by Reginald Heber.
  
  
• Albert Whitlock completed the matte painting of the fortress in only six hours.
  
  
• Leads Connery and Caine both later sued Allied Artists for what they felt was improper percentage profit share. They were reportedly awarded $250K each
  
  
• Karroom Ben Bouih (High Priest Kafu Selim) was the night watchman of an olive orchard near the filming location. He was hired after John Huston accidentally met him, and told to come to the set the following day. After he fell asleep a few times during filming, it was discovered that he had still kept his night watchman job. Huston had to explain to him that he didn't need that job any more - the film company would pay him enough that he could sleep at night.
  
  
• The words which Rudyard Kipling pens in the opening scene are the opening lines to an actual Kipling poem, "The Ballad of Boh da Thone". The poem contains several elements which feature in the movie.
  
  
• The scene where Danny meets Roxanne is shot at the kasbah of Ait Benhaddou, just north of the southern Moroccan city of Ouarzazate. This site was used in Gladiator as the North-African arena where Maximus first fights. Ouarzazate is known as "Morocco's Hollywood" since many international productions - such as Kingdom of Heaven and The Hills Have Eyes - were shot in the area.
  
  
• (2008) Only feature film to co-star Michael Caine and wife Shakira Caine.
  
  
• Peter O'Toole was asked to play Rudyard Kipling.
  
  
• The paintings on the wall in the scene where Peachy tells Daniel he's leaving are copied from the "spring" fresco unearthed on the Greek island of Santorini dating back to 1500 BC.
  
  

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