The Last Emperor and the Director's interview with Jeremy Isaacs (ASIN: B000ZM1MIW, ). It includes a booklet featuring an essay by David Thomson, interviews with production designer Ferdinando Scarfiotti and actor Ying Ruocheng, a reminiscence by Bertolucci, and an essay and production-diary extracts from Fabien S. Gerard. The Last Emperor The Last Emperor () is a 1987 British-Italian epic biographical drama film about the life of Puyi, the last Emperor of China, whose autobiography was the basis for the screenplay written by Mark Peploe and Bernardo Bertolucci. Independently produced by Jeremy Thomas, it was directed by Bertolucci and released in 1987 by Columbia
The Last Emperor was an adaptation of "La Condition humaine" ("Man's Fate") by André Malraux. The Chinese preferred "The Last Emperor". Producer Jeremy Thomas managed to raise the $25 million budget for his ambitious independent production single-handedly. At one stage, he scoured the phone book for potential financiers. Bertolucci was given complete freedom by the authorities to shoot in The Forbidden City, which had never before been opened up for use in a Western film. For the first ninety minutes of the film, Bertolucci and Storaro made full use of its visual splendour. 19,000 extras were needed over the course of the film.