But we are having problems with the costumes—I fear sabotage. Some of them were mysteriously ripped, seams torn, none of them perfect. Rogell has sent to the Coast for Courtney Haslem, the studio wardrobe chief, to come here and reorganize the costume situation. An excellent idea, since we have 20,000 costumes.
A problem with Rex’s costumes. During the period we were negotiating for him, Rex was working in a play in London and going to fittings after work. Apparently he didn’t pay much attention to the costumes. We are all unhappy about his wardrobe. We have asked Irene Sharaff to re-do his entire wardrobe. Another delay but well worth it.
SEPTEMBER 13, 1961
Liz was on set before 10 A.M. and in high spirits.
Her dressing room suite is completed. When Liz saw it for the first time she said with some surprise, “Isn’t this a bit much?”
Although she never asked for it, she ended up with an entire building converted for her use. It includes an office for Eddie, a salon, a special room for her wigs, a dressing room, and a make-up room with bath and shower.
SEPTEMBER 14, 1961
Johnny Johnston has come up with a $14 million budget and a report that Skouras is “upset.”
Skouras claims the budget shouldn’t be more than eight million dollars. JLM, who is always forthright, has told Skouras that we already are committed to more than ten million, but apparently Skouras is keeping some of the facts from the Board of Directors. This means we are making the picture on two budgets: the unrealistic New York budget, and the actual costs.
SEPTEMBER 21, 1961
Skouras arrived. We spent a difficult day in budget meetings.
Skouras said that unless budget was under eight, the Board of Directors would cancel the production. JLM handed Skouras the phone and said, “Greatest favor you could do the board would be to call them at once and say this film will cost a great deal over ten. Shall I put the call through for you?”
Skouras turned white and put down the phone. “We have to cut the budget somehow,” he said.
That ended the meeting with JLM.
Later in the afternoon Skouras called a big meeting in my office with different department heads. “The budget is cut to ten million dollars,” he said with finality.
Ridiculous—we had spent at least ten million dollars by the time of his announcement.
SEPTEMBER 22, 1961
Skouras very flattering to me and pleased with JLM, which worries me. He must have something in mind.
Liz and Eddie finally found a villa. It is in a little park, about seven minutes from the studio and near one of the Middle East embassies. The Villa Papa is a magnificent place, more like a California ranch house than an Italian villa.
It stands in eight acres of parklike grounds with beautiful pools and huge trees. The villa itself, California ranch style, contains seven bedrooms, six bathrooms, a huge living room, another smaller salon, and a well-appointed dining room.
The villa—rented for $3,000 a month—is ideal for the Fishers because the children can have one section of the house, and Liz and Eddie the other. The animals—five dogs, including a St. Bernard, collie, three small terriers; and two Siamese cats—have the run of the place.
SEPTEMBER 23, 1961
L’Unitá, the Communist daily, headlines that “Cleopatra is an Italian Little Rock.” They claim that our white and colored dancers have to take separate buses, eat separately, and use different dressing rooms. Somehow they put the blame on Liz.
We denied the story instantly, but the matter actually came up in the Italian Parliament. Meanwhile, a collective letter signed by over sixty members (both white and colored) of the dance groups, including such people as Leo Coleman and Claude Marchant, protested strongly against the false charges. The letter was sent to left-wing papers which, nevertheless, never made any retraction.
Now it’s elephant and horse trouble.
The horses won’t work with the elephants in the big procession. Magli, our Italian production manager, has a relative who owns a troupe of elephants which we hired. The elephants, however, won’t do what they’re supposed to do, and one of the beasts is, I am sure, mad. He started to pull up some stakes, which caused Cinecitta to tell us we had to get the elephants out. We are writing to England for more elephants.
The cameras haven’t started to turn yet and we already have one lawsuit against us. Santi’s company, Galatea Films, is suing us for “notable damages” of a million dollars for not fulfilling our agreement made with him in 1959. We are in the papers every day without any assistance from the entertainment editor. Something newsworthy always seems to be happening.
SEPTEMBER 24, 1961
The first scene of the movie, to be shot tomorrow, is of Cleopatra going to the temple to pray to the goddess Isis. JLM and I visited the set today to look it over, and the statue of Isis looks comic rather than imposing. We have a crew working all night remodeling it.
JLM is writing in longhand every day, laboring over the script, trying to get it as near right as possible. We are waiting for the costumes to be completed and fitted. Of the sixty sets needed only one is ready.
Every day that we are not before the cameras costs us $67,000 in overhead. So, tomorrow—ready or not—we start the picture.
BOOK IV
CLEOPATRA AND CAESAR
[1961–1962]
SEPTEMBER 25, 1961
Today, finally, after years of work and headaches, we shot the first scene of Cleopatra.
Since our starting date coincided with the 100th anniversary of Italian unification, Treves, who is an enthusiastic Italian-American as well as one of the minority leaders in the Fox fight, promoted a junket to Italy for eleven U. S. Congressmen. As a highlight of the junket he promised to bring them to Cinecitta with their wives.
I said they could come to the studio but not on the set. Liz was working in a revealing costume. I knew that like the rest of us she would be likely to have first-day nerves—we had been through so much for so long in getting the picture started.
Predictably, the band of Congressmen with wives showed up at the studio wanting photographs taken everywhere, most especially with Elizabeth. They were taken on a full tour, finally ending up at our Forum set across the street from the set where we were shooting. I went to the Forum and announced over the loudspeaker that because of the pressure of the first day of shooting Miss Taylor would not be available, but that we had a cocktail party planned for later.
Some of the Congressmen, however, got tired of waiting and angrily left the studio. When Elizabeth heard what happened, she invited the Congressmen and wives who remained to come to her dressing room where they had some drinks and pleasant conversation.
SEPTEMBER 26, 1961
I learn that our eager publicity department had given out in advance “Press Release No. 2,” which said, “On their tour of the Forum set, the group of Congressmen was accompanied by Elizabeth Taylor, who left her set for the specific purpose of greeting them.” No wonder there was a misunderstanding as the papers reported today, with poor Liz catching the blame.
SEPTEMBER 28, 1961
Elizabeth is truly Queen of Rome.
Shooting stopped at 5:30 today so Liz could go home to get dressed for an appearance tonight at the Sistine Theater. She is to be awarded the Maschera d’Argento (Silver Mask) for her performance in Suddenly Last Summer. A big honor, as the award is the Italian equivalent of an Oscar.
Liz was wearing a fabulous silver evening gown with a neckline that plunged to the waist. The mob went wild when they saw her enter the theater. When she went on stage, it took about forty uniformed and plain-clothes policemen to stop the paparazzi from rushing right up to the stage to take pictures of Liz. About sixty photographers eventually ran into the wings where they took turns standing on each other’s shoulders to get pictures.
After the award ceremonies the photographers literally fought with the police to get pictures, while a mob of 2,000 or more screaming Italians overwhelmed L
iz and Eddie.
Eddie pushed Liz into a car that was parked at the curb and locked the door. When their own car came up, the police made a passageway for them to change to it.
Elizabeth’s impact on the public is incredible, which bodes well for our movie.
SEPTEMBER 29, 1961
Doctors, bankers, and elephants.
Dr. Kennamer left for home amid reports in the Italian press that he had argued with Liz. Lo Specchio quoted Dr. Kennamer as saying that if she didn’t obey him she wouldn’t be able to finish the picture.
I don’t think, however, that Liz and the doctor parted on anything less than friendly terms. She and Eddie gave him a beautiful gold wristwatch engraved affectionately.
Now we are being sued about the elephants.
Circus owner, Ennio Togni—uncle of our production man, Magli—is suing us for $100,000 because we supposedly broke his contract for supplying us with elephants. He is also claiming we slandered his pachyderms when we called them wild.
OCTOBER 1, 1961
Raining. If the rainy season is starting, we are in real trouble.
Burton’s wife, Sybil, has arrived with his children and brother and taken a villa. Nice family.
Rachel Roberts, Rex Harrison’s fiancée, called me late at night to get a doctor for Rex Harrison. She blames his troubles on food and weather.
OCTOBER 2, 1961
The location at Lavinia is a mess.
We were shooting a scene in which Cleopatra is encamped facing Ptolemy’s troops. Her own army is close to rebellion and she is working on a plan to get to Caesar for help. The location was on the ocean and it was bitter cold and rainy. The sanitary conditions were so bad, the extras were complaining.
OCTOBER 3, 1961
JLM caught cold yesterday and spent the day in bed.
OCTOBER 4, 1961
Rain. The studio reports that the film they have received so far is great.
All the film we shoot is sent by air to Los Angeles to be processed and developed. It is then supposed to be returned to us in a week or ten days. In addition, Shamroy receives daily cable reports on the quality of the photography.
OCTOBER 7, 1961
Rained steadily the past few days, flooding the Forum, which is our next scheduled sequence. Even our rehearsals were halted by rain. This means JLM has to find something else to shoot.
Ponza has been scheduled as a location for the Tarsus sequence. I found out that Ponza is a rocky, barren island, so rough we would have trouble getting over the ground in jeeps. It has no hotels, no doctor, no accommodations of any kind for a crew. I asked an Italian assistant to suggest another spot. He came up with Ischia, which has been used many times by other productions. We canceled Ponza and are to explore Ischia.
OCTOBER 8, 1961
Rex Harrison asked for a meeting with JLM. He’s obviously disturbed about something. Since JLM doesn’t want to take time from the script, I took Rex to lunch.
We met at a restaurant in the Villa Borghese, where I discovered that Rex had done a great deal of reading about Caesar. He wanted to discuss the part and his concept of it and he wanted to be reassured that his thoughts coincided with ours.
A terribly serious, meticulous man and a great artist, Rex, like most of the other actors in the company, wanted to feel a part of the entire project and to believe he was important to it. It was easy for me to convince him of that, since next to Elizabeth, he is our most important player in the first half of the movie.
After lunch with Rex I saw Peter Levathes, who is in town to look over our situation. He is “understandably concerned.” Peter, who came to Hollywood from Young & Rubicam, is the kind of man who would be right at home placing an ad for a shredded-wheat campaign, but he is over his head here.
OCTOBER 9, 1961
At last, a beautiful day. Good news from the U. S.—the rushes continue to be excellent.
OCTOBER 10, 1961
Money meeting with Levathes.
Peter charged right in saying things like “God damn it, you’re ruining the studio! You have to fight costs! You have to stop Joe! Cut prices, trim the budget!”
I pointed out that back in July we warned it would be impossible to get everything ready by the time we needed it. I also said it was absolutely unconscionable that a company of Fox’s experience would expect Joe to write a screenplay and direct a picture of the scope of Cleopatra and still load him down with all the other problems.
OCTOBER 12, 1961
Weather beautiful. Rehearsed for the procession, which will be one of the most spectacular scenes ever filmed.
The sequence as planned is long, but JLM is writing under pressure and can’t find time to cut. So he is shooting a little long and planning on cutting later. This is an expensive way to work, but we are forced into it.
OCTOBER 14, 1961
Big party at the Grand Hotel given by the Kirk Douglases with Liz and Eddie to celebrate the first anniversary of Spartacus.
Liz wore a clinging white gown with an ostrich feather fringe which touched the floor. While doing a rhumba with JLM she stepped on some matches that had fallen on the floor, and they ignited. The feathers caught on fire. Only quick thinking by one of the Italian musicians, who leaped off the bandstand and put out the fire with his bare hands, prevented a new disaster.
Dino DiLaurentis warned me about one of our Italian production men whom we had been having problems with. This man seemed to have relatives all over Rome ready and willing to supply us with anything from elephants to equipment. We suspected that he boxed us into making certain choices or decisions because they were economically beneficial to him.
He was very resourceful. For weeks we wondered how he was able to know everything that went on daily on the Forum set when he wasn’t even there. For example, he knew just what shots were taken and when they were finished on the Forum set, which was a quarter-mile from his office. Finally we found he had taken a pair of our walkie-talkies and had a stooge on set who phoned him after every shot.
OCTOBER 16, 1961
Good weather. Finally started with the procession scene, which will require weeks to prepare and film. It calls for almost 6,000 extras plus animals ranging from horses to painted elephants.
The Italian extras are marvelous. They are paid $10 a day and are both enthusiastic and well organized. They work directly under group leaders. By phoning a few leaders we can summon an army of extras on very short notice. On the set, when they are required for a scene, a group leader holding a large wooden stick with his letter stands in the middle of the street and his extras fall in like well-trained soldiers.
Tony Martin was in Rome. He and Eddie started to sing during dinner, and the whole restaurant started applauding, so they went from table to table with a plate collecting tips for the waiters. They were very cute about it. Everyone enjoyed the party.
OCTOBER 19, 1961
Received word that Lloyd’s settled out of court for two million dollars—which doesn’t nearly cover the money lost in England.
OCTOBER 20, 1961
Rain, rain, rain. No shooting.
JLM is finished with the first half of the script. It’s 197 pages long and I am excited by what I have read. It’s not budget that counts on a picture like this—it’s what people see and hear on the screen.
Shamroy fuming about the operation.
Shammy has photographed many Todd-AO pictures, and JLM has never made one before. JLM, however, refused to change to fit this different kind of picture frame. He wants to shoot our picture as a personal story, not a spectacle. Shammy, who is a visual man, wants to shoot for size and scope—with less emphasis on dialogue and intimacy.
During the rushes Shammy talks over the dialogue so much, saying things like “Isn’t that beautiful?” “Isn’t that great?” that we invariably have to tell him to be quiet. He is interested only in what he sees visually and what his camera captures. Inspiration does not impress him as much as mechanical perfection, action, and getti
ng a full day’s work according to production standards.
JLM thinks Shammy is wrong, and Shammy thinks JLM is. Actually, however, they work beautifully together and both of them are expert at handling Liz—they know just what she needs.
OCTOBER 23, 1961
Beautiful day at last. Still rehearsing and photographing the procession.
I sometimes feel as though I am living in a scene from The Snake Pit. Every time I turn around there are grinning, leering, shouting photographers—the paparazzi. They are everything and everywhere. They are like the cats of Rome, hiding on rafters, hiding under beds, always screaming for a morsel.
They were like birds, too, with nests in the most unlikely places. The lovely trees surrounding Elizabeth’s swimming pool were alive with photographers with long-lens cameras fighting to get pictures.
Liz has always been subjected to spies. Her London chauffeur during Suddenly Last Summer wrote a scandalous story about her. She sued the paper and won the case.
Before she moved into the villa here, the news was leaked to the press, and pictures published of the bedrooms, even the bathrooms.
I suspect that half the servants—carefully screened as they were—are working for some magazine or newspaper.
Bitter because they are not getting the shots they want, the paparazzi report that Eddie is a slave to the whims of “Cleopatra,” that he waits on her like a handmaiden.
This brought forth a lot of editorials and mail in the Italian newspapers. The Italian daily Il Giorno commented typically, “Miss Taylor must have her children and husband around her every free moment she has. She treats Eddie like a slave but acts madly in love with him.”
The American reporters who have visited us thus far have not been much better. They all seek an “angle”—anything detrimental to the picture fits in that category. Our problem is not getting people to write about us. It’s getting people to leave us alone.
OCTOBER 24, 1961
Rex and Richard Burton started their scenes together, and they look great.
My Life with Cleopatra Page 10