Ranald MacDougall Video | Clips from Films Directed and Interviews

Cleopatra is a 1963 film directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. The screenplay was adapted by Sidney Buchman, Ben Hecht, Ranald MacDougall, and Joseph L. Mankiewicz from a book by Carlo Maria Franzero. The film starred Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Roddy McDowall and Martin Landau. The music score was by Alex North. It was photographed in 70 mm Todd-AO by Leon Shamroy and Jack Hildyard. Cleopatra chronicles the struggles of Cleopatra VII, the young Queen of Egypt, to resist the imperialist ambitions of Rome. Despite being a critical failure, it won four Academy Awards. It was the highest grossing film of 1963, earning US $26 million, yet made a loss due to its cost of $44 million, the only film ever to be the highest grossing film of the year yet to run at a loss Elizabeth Taylor was awarded a record-setting contract of $1 million. This amount eventually swelled to $7 million due to the delays of the production, equivalent to over $47 million today. Taylor became very ill during the early filming and was rushed to an emergency room where a tracheotomy had to be performed to save her life. The resulting scar can be seen in some shots. All of this resulted in the film being shut down. The production was moved to Rome after six months as the English weather proved detrimental to her recovery, as well as being responsible for the constant deterioration of the costly sets and exotic plants required for the production (the English sets were utilised for the spoof ...