Cleopatra and the Undoing of Hollywood: How One Film Almost Sunk the Studios

Elizabeth Taylor and Cleopatra's combination was legendary, with a budget that skyrocketed due to extravagant sets, two directors, and six leading men. Their off-screen romance cemented the film's place in cinema history, with Richard Burton and Taylor embarking on a tumultuous and passionate love affair that kept the Cuban Missile Crisis off the front pages and was denounced by the Vatican.

Format: Hardback
Length: 240 pages
Publication date: 08 June 2023
Publisher: The History Press Ltd

There had been stars before, and there had been films prior to Cleopatra, but in the cynical, greedy, magical, and histrionic history of the movies, there had never been a combination like that of Elizabeth Taylor and Cleopatra. Other films may have taken more money, won more awards, or attracted better reviews, but none have come close to the legend that is Cleopatra. What began in 1958 as a remake of the 1917 Theda Bara film, which starred Joan Collins and was projected to cost $2 million, would open five years later, having cost nearly twenty times as much. The budget had skyrocketed enormously as the production went through extravagant sets in two different countries, two directors, and six leading men – and this was on top of Elizabeth Taylor's $1 million fee. But it was the off-screen romance between the two on-screen leads that really cemented Cleopatra's place in cinema history. Within weeks of Richard Burton's arrival in Italy, he and Taylor embarked on a tumultuous and passionate love affair that kept the Cuban Missile Crisis off the front pages and was denounced by the Vatican. Cleopatra and the Undoing of Hollywood is a story of lust, excess, and hubris – and how one film nearly brought Hollywood to its knees.

Weight: 554g
Dimension: 242 x 166 x 24 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781803990187