Hollywood star Jodie Foster will earn three times as much as local heart-throb Chow Yun-fat in the controversial remake of The King and I.
Oscar winner Foster is set to earn a near record US$15 million (HK$116 million) for the lead in 20th Century Fox's Anna and the King while Chow will be paid US$5 million, production sources confirmed.
Foster's fee is one third of the budget and has only been bettered by actress Julia Roberts who will reportedly earn US$17 million for the forthcoming Runaway Bride.
Chow plays revered 19th-century Thai monarch King Mongkut, a role made famous by Yul Brynner in 1956, while Foster plays Anna Leonowens, an English teacher who served in the Siamese court and wrote two hotly-disputed memoirs.
'Despite all the controversy, Foster remains at the heart of the film in a partnership . . . it is going to have to be a stunning Chow Yun-fat performance to steal the show,' a production source said.
Many Thais remain outraged that Brynner's King Mongkut was a vain eccentric rather than a heroic visionary who modernised his country while keeping foreign colonialists at bay.
