Hi there. You're listening to the Hellenistic Age podcast. Bonus episode, Elizabeth Taylor's Cleopatra.

Few figures in history can claim the star power of Cleopatra the 7th.

Between literature, theater, painting, sculpture, cinema, cartoons, comics, and video games,

you would be hard pressed to find a woman who is as popular as subject as the last independent queen of the Ptolemaic dynasty. The Wikipedia page for a list of cultural depictions of Cleopatra turns up over 150 entries, and there are at least eight feature-length movies that go solely by the name Cleopatra, and a ninth one was just announced

to be in production as of 2020. But the most famous, or infamous depiction, can be found in the

1963 film Leopatra, a four-hour epic starring Elizabeth Taylor playing as the titular character.

As of late, I've been going back to the Golden Age of Hollywood to visit the great epics

about the ancient world and sat down to watch Cleopatra over a period of two days.

While we are some ways from covering the final days of Hellenistic Egypt, I thought it would be

a fun title to talk about. Considering my well-spoken love of the Oliver

Stone Alexander movie, it was high time that I took a look at the other great epic film

about the Hellenistic period, and maybe explore the challenges that are faced with portraying such

a complex character. I, of course, would be remiss to talk about Cleopatra without giving

context to the film's

production history, which is notorious for being one of the most disastrous and troubling

in the history of cinema. There are many excellent books, articles, and documentaries that

outline the full story, which I will link to in the episode notes, so my overview is going

to be a bit more cursory.

Production began in the late 1950s as 20th century Fox was struggling to find their next big hit

after years of little success.

A remake of the 1917 silent film Cleopatra was proposed by producer Walter Wanger,

who considered it a pet project,

...