FactMundo: World of Facts :: Entertainment

April 13, 2008

Based on the Chinese epic story ‘Journey to the West’, one of the four great classic novels of Chinese Literature. The novel is a fictionalized account of the legends around the Buddhist monk Tang Sanzhuang’s pilgrimage to India during the Tang dynasty in order to obtain Buddhist scriptures. Many programs have been based on this tale, such as television show "Saiyûki" (1978), and anime series _"Dragon Ball Z" (1989)_ holds a few loose facts from the same story.

The characters are mostly taken from Chinese mythology and adventure pulps. Lu Yan is a famous Taoist Saint. The Jade Emperor is the ruler of the Heavens in Chinese myth. The Monkey King is from a 16th Century fantasy epic by Wu Cheng En. Golden Swallow was the name of the character played by Cheng Pei Pei in a number of Shaw Bros films like Da zui xia (1966). The White Haired Demoness is the anti-heroine of a pulp novel by Liang Yusheng (filmed twice) with the same title.

This movie marks the very first collaboration between martial arts masters Jet Li and Jackie Chan.

This is the very first movie that Jackie Chan has made in Hollywood where he hasn’t served as martial arts choreographer.

This movie went through five script re-writes before it was completed, many of which were done in the middle of filming.

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Odd accidents, odd people, strange objects and pictures from around the world.

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Cameron Monaghan auditioned for the part of Ethan.
Guillermo del Toro, Will Smith’s first choice, turned down the offer to direct this film so he could make Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008).
Warner Bros. Pictures has owned the rights to the book since the 1970s. The studio first attempted adapting it was as The Omega Man (1971) with director Boris Sagal, starring Charlton Heston. Then as ‘I Am Legend’ with director Ridley Scott, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, which fell through when the production went over-budget. And then in 2002, Michael Bay was set to direct Will Smith, but they decided to make Bad Boys II (2003) instead.
The scenes at the Brooklyn Bridge involved over 1000 extras and various military vehicles and aircraft.
Plants were transported via trucks from Florida to dress up the city streets as if weeds had overtaken them.
In the film, Will Smith’s character holds up a CD calling it "…the best album ever made." The album is Bob Marley’s "Legend."
Will Smith grew so enamored of his canine co-star, Abby, that he tried to adopt her when the shooting was finished, but the dog’s trainer could not be persuaded to give her up.
Will Smith left the production for a couple of days to attend Tom Cruise’s wedding to Katie Holmes in Rome, Italy.

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