At first, everything went as expected withCleopatra.
This was when everything began to go wrong.
Critical reception was mixed, however.
The overwhelming conclusion seemed to be thatCleopatrawas just okay.
However, no one could have predicted how much Twentieth Century Fox would end up spending on the project.
Another $5 million was added to cover Nigel Balchin’s script and a potential leading lady.
Shooting forCleopatrastarted in England, and this was the first of many expensive mistakes Fox made.
The England set was scrapped, and filming was brought to Italy instead.
Naturally, all of this costs an excessive amount of money.
Cleopatra (1963) is an epic historical drama that chronicles the ambitious and tumultuous life of Cleopatra, the last active ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt. Starring Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and Rex Harrison, the film explores her relationships with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, and her enduring struggle to protect her realm from the expanding Roman Empire.
In the end,Cleopatracost $44 million to make, about $350 million today.
There were also frequent reports of drug and alcohol use, compounding the already disorganized state of filming.
Despite being the biggest movie of 1963, it took Twentieth Century Fox years to recover fromCleopatra.
