Cleopatra(1963)

         When most people think of the last ruling monarch of Egypt, Cleopatra VII, they think of the Twentieth Century Fox film of 1963 that nearly bankrupted the film studio. It had an original budget of 5 million dollars, of which Elizabeth Taylor signed on to play the title role for a record-breaking one million dollars. This deal established the common modern-day term 'movie star'. 

       

     The movie was based on a 1957 book by Carlo Maria Franzero, The Life and Times of Cleopatra, and also from the ancient histories of Plutarch, who was once a priest of Apollo's Temple at Delphi, the Roman historian Suetonius, and the Greek historian Appian. The idea that the exiled Egyptian queen hid herself inside a rug to meet the new ruler of Rome Julius Caesar in Alexandria comes from Plutarch. Cleopatra's death coming from the poisonous bite of an Egyptian cobra or asp also came from the historian Plutarch. Julius Caesar's death by the Roman Senate also comes from Plutarch and Suetonius. Appian's contributions were most likely to tell the tale of the conquests of Rome, as he was a Greek historian with Roman citizenship coming from some wealth, yet he was born in Alexandria about thirty years after Cleopatra's death. He wrote many books about Roman conquests that happened during Cleopatra's reign.

     They started shooting the film in England at Pinewood Studios. However, after two bouts of pneumonia followed by a tracheotomy and a 103 degree fever for Elizabeth Taylor , production in England formally stopped in March 1961. Filming resumed in September of 1961 in Rome with a few scenes shot in Egypt and California. The production team wanted Marlon Brando to play Mark Antony, but Elizabeth suggested Richard Burton for Antony after seeing him in Camelot. In January of 1962 Elizabeth and Richard filmed their first scene together. The director Joseph Mankiewicz writes in his journal that "you could almost feel the electricity in the air between Liz and Burton." By February it was reported in several tabloids that they were having a romantic love affair despite they were both married to other people.

     The production of Cleopatra which started out with a budget of $5 million dollars, eventually grew into $35 million, which included the tearing down of the set in England and restarting in Rome and the exorbitant amount of money expelled to put on Cleopatra's entrance into Rome and a few scenes had to be re-shot in Spain. Financially in 1963, it was considered a flop and a failure. But when you take into consideration what it has come to mean to American and worldwide modern culture today, the ends justify the means.