Read My Life with Cleopatra Online
Authors: Walter Wanger
We had a meeting today to discuss plans for the battle of Actium but spent most of our time trying to handle the press situation. We decided to release the story which Liz told me: That the car stopped suddenly and she hit her face during the ride back from San Stefano—alone.
A
PRIL
26, 1962
Our publicity story got a lot of space.
Liz came to the studio this morning with a bruised face and nose. She can’t be photographed.
I talked with Colonel Waters of NATO regarding arrangements on firing the big NATO guns at Torre Astura where we are scheduled to shoot tomorrow. He said there would be no firing. Three hours later he phoned back to say we are forbidden to film on our set at Torre Astura tomorrow. The guns will be firing. We can’t go to another setup because Liz can’t be photographed.
A
PRIL
27, 1962
The front page again.
Burton and Sybil went to the airport to meet their children. He neglected to notify us, but the paparazzi found them.
Elizabeth was the subject of more uncalled-for criticism today when Egidio Ariosto, Under Secretary of the Interior, got into the act by giving out a statement after a predawn automobile accident on the Appian Way in front of Liz’s house. Burton’s car was demolished. First reports incorrectly said Liz was with him.
Sr. Ariosto, who once headed the ministry which supervises Italian films, is now in charge of Italy’s national police which safeguards public health, welfare, safety, and morals. He neglected to find out whether Liz was really along and got himself some publicity by saying, “Miss Taylor with her amorous and non-amorous conduct which, unfortunately, morbidly interests and in fact occupies too much space in newspapers and weeklies, perhaps without her wishing to do so, defies Italian public opinion, which has always been very understanding of the sometimes strange conduct of actors and actresses of the film world.
“But I have the impression this time Miss Taylor is exceeding the limits and, in fact, risks destroying herself.”
On the other hand, not everyone had such a bleak view of our picture, and I hastened to write that to Skouras:
Dear Spyros:
Dick Berlin and his family left today and I think they were more than impressed, as they will tell you when they see you. I am enclosing a letter from his charming daughter who, as you know, is a student in a convent and all her life has been in Catholic schools. On the way over, Dick said that he thought that through his influence he might be able to arrange an audience with the Holy Father for Chrissie. She looked up at him and said “That’s wonderful, Daddy, but do you think you could get me on the
Cleopatra
set?”
Dick told me this as an example of how far he thought the attacks against Elizabeth would affect the film. From this source I think it is quite significant.
Very best regards, as always, to your wife and yourself.
Sincerely,
Walter Wanger
A
PRIL
30, 1962
Sent Leon Shamroy over to the villa to see if Liz can be photographed yet. She can’t.
M
AY
2, 1962
Hanley says Liz looks better but still has a black eye and is swollen at the bridge of the nose.
Had my blood and cholesterol test and I am in fine shape. JLM, ill with a temperature and strep throat, must remain in bed two days.
M
AY
3, 1962
Shooting canceled because of JLM’s illness.
The second-unit call had to be canceled also because Rex refused to report for work with any director other than JLM.
Talked with Rex, who said he had contracted to work with JLM and would work with him only. He offered to work Friday night, when JLM will be better. Eventually he agreed to work with Bundy Martin, the second-unit director.
Elizabeth sent for her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Francis Taylor, who arrived today.
Sheilah Graham also arrived. After refusing to see her, let alone talk with her, Burton changed his mind. He said he and Liz agreed they wanted to protect Sybil. So he saw Sheilah and gave her an exclusive story.
Asked by Sheilah if he was going to marry Elizabeth, Burton gave a resounding one word answer: “No.”
“He was casual and unconcerned about it [the romance] in his debonair British way, admitting frankly that he is enjoying all the publicity,” Sheilah wrote.
Burton told her, “A famous actor, whose name I won’t tell you, cabled to me,”—and here Burton imitated his good friend Sir Laurence Olivier—“ ‘Make up your mind, dear heart, do you wish to be a household word, or a great actor?’ My answer to that was ‘Both’.”
Burton candidly admitted that the publicity had hard cash value—his agent is now asking $500,000 per picture for him, based on his new image as a great lover.
“Maybe I should give Elizabeth Taylor ten per cent,” he joked.
M
AY
4, 1962
Had a long telephone chat with Mrs. Taylor about Liz and her problems.
The Taylors are very fond of the children and Eddie. They hope their presence in Rome will serve as a steadying influence on Liz. I hope so, too.
M
AY 5
, 1962
Elizabeth’s housekeeper sold a gossipy story to one of the local magazines. I should say, Liz’s ex-housekeeper sold a story.
M
AY
6, 1962
In contrast to the housekeeper’s story yesterday, there was a different kind of story in today’s
Sunday Express
.
In an interview with Roderick Mann, Stanley Baker, who is a friend of Burton’s and a happily married father of four children, discussed relationships between actors and their leading ladies.
“I understand completely why Richard went out with Liz,” said Baker, who is a top British film star. “It is absolutely essential for an actor to establish some sort of emotional rapport with an actress if any kind of performance is to be given on the screen. And, after all, they had to play some of the great love scenes of all time—between Antony and Cleopatra
.
“You cannot just turn up at the studio, make love, and then say good night. It’s impossible. I always take my leading ladies out, and my wife Ellen knows it. How otherwise could one establish any kind of relationship?
“And I’d go this far: if one is a single man, and the actress is single too, a love affair is not a bad thing. Because that way you break down all the barriers—and get the kind of performance every actor desperately hopes to give
.
“The parallel is the same in real life, after all. One’s relationship with a woman after making love is not the same as it was before. The sympathy is there. And it shows. It shows in real life and it shows on the screen …
“It’s hard, of course, for one’s wife. Fortunately, Ellen understands the emotional hazards of this profession. And in my case she knows something else too—she knows I’d be nothing without her. That gives her added security.”
M
AY
7, 1962
A beautiful day at last. Liz back at work for the first time since April 20. JLM in good shape too.
M
AY
8, 1962
Months after we began rehearsals for it, we started to film the procession scene—one of the most fantastic ever conceived.
The procession is a key scene in the first half of the film. At the time it took place historically, the world was Caesar’s. Cleopatra was determined to have Caesar, therefore the world. While he had been in Egypt, near her, she controlled him, but he left her, knowing that the Roman people had granted him his power and he must be in Rome to placate them.
In making her entrance into Rome, Cleopatra could as easily be stoned by the mob as worshiped. To turn the tables in her favor she decided to dazzle and tempt the crowd by presenting a show unlike any they had ever seen. To capture Caesar she must capture the mob.
The question faced by JLM is the same question Cleopatra must have asked: What can surprise and seduce Caesar and the Romans?
The scene he wrote is a highlight of the movie and, to my mind, the most exciting scene ever filmed. As outlined by JLM, the scene opens on a mass of people charging toward the Arch of Rome. Suddenly there is a chilling blast of fifty trumpeteers mounted on matched Arabian horses that explode through the crowd. The spectators scramble back and away from the flying horses. Clearing the arch, the trumpeteers crisscross in a Cossack manner and station themselves along the road. On their heels charge eight chariots drawn by matching teams. Beside each charioteer stands a bow-man. At the point where visual impact will be greatest, they shoot their arrows skyward. Trailing from each arrow is a long streamer of various shades of warm color. Colors range from pink to cerise, from yellow to orange
to vermilion. These arch into the sky and start downward. As the streamer-laden shafts reach the road on their descent, we see through them a group of dancers using streamer poles. By the deft handling of these poles they are able to shoot the streamers thirty feet into the air.
As the dancers flash by, we see their streamers shoot skyward like flames around us. This effect will give us a transition, not for a change of pace, but contrast—cut-away shots, etc. The last reaction shot must be faces that change rapidly from enjoyment to utter amazement because …
Watusi! Charging in a savage manner are tall Negroes, twelve of them, carrying staffs from which yellow smoke pours. As they stab from side to side in ever increasing cadence, the yellow smoke-plumes trail from the staffs as the beat quickens. Behind them, six men suddenly raise a golden backdrop of sparkling silk butterfly wings. No sooner are they raised than they separate, and bursting through them into the yellow smoke comes the wild but controlled savage dance of these strange people. The drummers are not there for the beat alone; instead they are an integral part of the dance itself.
The next section is introduced by green smoke, which is made by twelve men carrying baskets of sealed pottery. As they serpentine a few steps, they smash these smoke-filled bombs to the street and green smoke rises. Hardly has it started when a group of sixteen men in green costumes runs at the camera. At the last second they stick their spears in the street and vault into the air, over camera. Camera tilts up, at the top of their vault and from the end of their spears triggered bombs of multi-colored paper are ejected, then burst into a cascade of falling color.
When we return to the parade, we see a group of fan men who hold their golden fans interlocked in such a manner that it is almost like a bubble dance in which we get a peekaboo effect. Then they suddenly reveal a moving platform on which we see golden temples, obelisks, pyramids, etc., around which the
winged girls do a dance of supplication. Behind this float is a golden grove of trees that conceals everything. All at this moment is gold, then, on cue, the dancers drop to one knee and fold their wings and become still. At this precise moment, the monuments spring open and thousands of white doves fly skywards.
We now cut to the Forum and we see the doves circling overhead, and coming through the arch, the golden trees which part and reveal the Egyptian Honor Guard. The Honor Guard passes through the arch, the people rush into the Forum like a tidal wave. The senators perk up.
The camera now moves until it is in line with the parade, and above head height. This move, on the tilt up, reveals 400 slaves pulling the huge black marble Sphinx. Every golden rope leads back to the gold shield on its chest.
As they pull it through the arch, women gab, senators are amazed, Caesar is delighted.
The slaves pull the Sphinx close to the royal box and prostrate themselves. And now we see the golden statues of a queen and a boy being lifted by men who seem to be a part of the fretwork. As they carry the statues on the litter to the royal box, there is a silence louder than all that has happened before. At last Cleopatra steps onto the floor and, lifting her veil, bows to Caesar. For a second the silence holds, then complete pandemonium.
Cleopatra has conquered and won the Roman people. She looks proudly up at Caesar—and
winks
.
M
AY
9, 1962
The completion of the scene marked the end of Part I of the picture, and everyone burst into applause. Irene Sharaff gave a champagne party to celebrate.
Skouras arrived in Rome yesterday in time for the procession scene. I had a big luncheon on set both to celebrate the scene and to get a favorable turnout for Elizabeth. The attendance was impressive: His Royal Highness, the Prince of Hesse, and his
son, an artist who lives on Ischia; Prince and Princess Ahrenberg (she was Peggy Bancroft and is one of the most beautiful women in Paris); Count and Countess Bismarck (she is the widow of Harrison Williams); Count and Countess Pecci Blunt, who hosted Mrs. Kennedy in Rome; Princess Aldobrandini; Countess Volpi and the Duke of Caracculo; Prince and Princess Pignatelli; the Pallavicinis, and the Crespis. Obviously the publicity has not caused us to be shunned by Roman society.
M
AY
10, 1962
At 7:50 Liz phoned to say she was ill. It was impossible to arrange an exterior call due to insufficient time and bad weather reports.
M
AY
11, 1962
1:30
A
.
M
. Doc Merman awakened me to say that he has heard from Dr. Pennington, who says Liz is still ill and unable to report for work today. Pennington recommends she stay in bed 24 hours.
9:30
A
.
M
. Arrived at the studio and found JLM unhappy. Rex unhappy. The schedule is all fouled up again. Same old story.
M
AY
12, 1962
Went to the Lion Book Shop to get some books for Liz, who arrived on set tired and with teeth trouble.
Skouras wants some film to show at the next stockholders’ meeting in New York. He also wants a wire from me committing myself to a completion date for the picture.
Sybil says she understands Burton and Liz.
David Lewin of the London
Express
interviewed Sybil and Richard at their villa. “There is no question of a divorce between Rich and me. There never has been and there is not now,” she insisted.