Episode 6 – Wildly Successful and Much Maligned
The fate of 20th Century Fox hangs in the balance as Cleopatra premieres. Critics and audiences weigh in, Elizabeth and Richard face momentous life decisions, and Joe sinks into a deep depression. For years to come, Joe and the Mankiewicz family reckon the difficult legacy of Cleopatra.
00:00 – The Guillotine
05:25 – Premiere Night
09:54 – Joe’s Humiliation
14:08 – Ripple Effects
17:27 – Liz & Dick
24:20 – True or False
29:42 – Post-Cleopatra Depression
34:33 – Writer’s Block
39:04 – An Epiphany
His studio was collapsing. His budget was skyrocketing. And his two stars were making headlines for all the wrong reasons. Those were just some of the headaches facing Joseph L. Mankiewicz, the writer and director of one of the most expensive and infamous movies ever made: Cleopatra. With Mankiewicz calling the shots and the luminous Elizabeth Taylor in the title role, Cleopatra should have been a smash. Instead, it was a shoot plagued by medical emergencies, climate disasters, nervous breakdowns, and egos as big as pyramids… not to mention Taylor’s scandalous love affair with Richard Burton. It fell to Mankiewicz to somehow wrest an epic out of chaos. Writing at night and directing during the day, he struggled to stay one step ahead of financial disaster and his own failing health. This season on The Plot Thickens, Ben Mankiewicz digs through his own family stories to understand how it turned out so badly for his Oscar-winning uncle.
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