Walter Wanger had long contemplated producing a biographical film about Cleopatra. In 1958, his production company partnered with Twentieth Century Fox to supply the film. Following an in-depth casting search, Elizabeth Taylor signed on to portray the title role for a record-setting salary of $1 million. Rouben Mamoulian was hired as director, and therefore the script underwent numerous revisions from Nigel Balchin, Dale Wasserman, Lawrence Durrell, and Nunnally Johnson. Principal photography began at Pinewood Studios on September 28, 1960, but Taylor's health problems delayed further filming. Production was suspended in November after it had gone over budget with only ten minutes of usable footage.
Mamoulian resigned as director and was subsequently replaced by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who had previously directed Taylor in Suddenly, Last Summer (1959). Production was relocated to Cinecittà, where filming resumed on September 25, 1961, without a finished script. During filming, a private scandal made worldwide headlines when it was reported that co-stars Taylor and Richard Burton had an adulterous affair. Filming wrapped on July 28, 1962, and further reshoots were made up from February to March 1963. With the estimated production costs totalling $31 million, the film became the foremost expensive film ever made up to that point and nearly bankrupted the studio.
Cleopatra premiered at the Rivoli Theatre in NY City on June 12, 1963. It received a generally favourable response from film critics and has become the highest-grossing film of 1963, earning box-office receipts of $57.7 million within the United States and Canada, and one among the highest-grossing films of the decade at a worldwide level. However, the film initially lost money due to its production and marketing costs of $44 million. It received nine nominations at the 36th Academy Awards, including for Best Picture, and won four: Best Art Direction (Color), Best Cinematography (Color), Best Visual Effects and Best Costume Design (Color).
CAST
Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra
Richard Burton as Mark Antony
Rex Harrison as Julius Caesar
Pamela Brown as the High Priestess
George Cole as Flavius
Hume Cronyn as Sosigenes
Cesare Danova as Apollodorus
Kenneth Haigh as Brutus
Andrew Keir as Agrippa
Martin Landau as Rufio
Roddy McDowall as Octavian
Robert Stephens as Germanicus
Francesca Annis as Eiras
Grégoire Aslan as Pothinus
Martin Benson as Ramos
Herbert Berghof as Theodotus of Chios
John Cairney as Phoebus
Jacqui Chan as Lotos
Isabelle Cooley as Charmian
John Doucette as Achillas
Andrew Faulds as Canidius
Michael Gwynn as Cimber
Michael Hordern as Cicero
John Hoyt as Cassius
Marne Maitland as Euphranor
Carroll O'Connor as Servilius Casca
Richard O'Sullivan as Pharaoh Ptolemy XIII
Gwen Watford as Calpurnia
Douglas Wilmer as Decimus
Marina Berti as Queen at Tarsus
John Karlsen as High Priest
Loris Loddi as Caesarion, age 4
Jean Marsh as Octavia the Younger
Gin Mart as Marcellus
Furio Meniconi as Mithridates II of the Bosporus
Del Russell as Caesarion, age 7
Kenneth Nash as Caesarion, age 12
John Valva as Valvus
Finlay Currie as Titus
Laurence Naismith as Archesilius
STORYLINE
After the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 BC, Caesar goes to Egypt, under the pretext of being named the executor of the desire of the father of the young Pharaoh Ptolemy XIII and his sister Cleopatra. Ptolemy and Cleopatra are in the midst of a civil war of their own and she has been driven out of the city of Alexandria. Ptolemy rules alone under the care of his three "guardians", the chief eunuch Pothinus, his tutor Theodotus and General Achillas.
Cleopatra convinces Caesar to revive her throne from her younger brother. Caesar, in effective control of the dominion, sentences Pothinus to death for arranging an assassination attempt on Cleopatra and banishes Ptolemy to the eastern desert, where he and his outnumbered army would face certain death against Mithridates. Cleopatra is crowned queen of Egypt and begins to develop megalomaniacal dreams of ruling the planet with Caesar, who successively desires to become king of Rome. They marry, and when their son Caesarion is born, Caesar accepts him publicly, which becomes the talk about Rome and the Senate.
After he's made dictator for life, Caesar sends for Cleopatra. She arrives in Rome during a lavish procession and wins the adulation of the Roman people. The Senate grows increasingly discontented amid rumours that Caesar wishes to be made king, which is anathema to the Romans. On the Ides of March in 44 BC, a gaggle of conspirators assassinate Caesar and flee the city, starting a rebellion. An alliance between Octavian (Caesar's adopted son), Antony (Caesar's right-hand man and general) and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus puts down the rebellion and splits the republic. Cleopatra is angered after Caesar's will recognizes Octavian, instead of Caesarion, as his official heir, and she or he returns to Egypt.
While planning a campaign against Parthia within the east, Antony realizes that he needs money and supplies that only Egypt can sufficiently provide. After refusing several times to go away to Egypt, Cleopatra acquiesces and meets him on her royal barge in Tarsus. the 2 begin a love affair, and Cleopatra assures Antony that he's much more than a pale reflection of Caesar. Octavian's removal of Lepidus forces Antony to return to Rome, where he marries Octavian's sister Octavia to stop the political conflict. This upsets and enrages Cleopatra. Antony and Cleopatra reconcile and marry, with Antony divorcing Octavia. Octavian, incensed, reads Antony's will to the Roman senate, revealing that Antony wishes to be buried in Egypt. Rome turns against Antony, and Octavian's involved war against Egypt receives a rapturous response. The war is set at the naval Battle of Actium on September 2, 31 BC, where Octavian's fleet, under the command of Agrippa, defeats the lead ships of the Antony-Egyptian fleet. Cleopatra assumes that Antony is dead and orders the Egyptian forces home. Antony follows her, leaving the remainder of his fleet leaderless and soon defeated.
Several months later, Cleopatra sends Cesarion under disguise out of Alexandria. She manages to convince Antony to resume command of his troops and fight Octavian's advancing army. However, Antony's soldiers abandon him during the night. Rufio, the last man loyal to Antony, kills himself. Antony tries to goad Octavian into single combat but is finally forced to escape into the city. When Antony returns to the palace, Apollodorus, crazy with Cleopatra himself, tells him she is in her tomb as she had instructed, and lets Antony believe she is dead. Antony falls on his own sword. Apollodorus then confesses that he misled Antony and assists him to the tomb where Cleopatra and two servants have taken refuge. Antony dies in Cleopatra's arms.
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