My Life with Cleopatra (6 page)
Read My Life with Cleopatra Online
Authors: Walter Wanger
To Greece to meet Skouras in Athens. Then to Egypt to check on locations for
Cleopatra
.
Flying with Skouras is an adventure all by itself. When he gets on an airplane he talks to everybody—always fingering the worry beads. If there is a pretty woman aboard, he will go up to her and say, “You’re very pretty. Are you married?” If the answer is yes, he will say, “What a lucky man your husband is.”
He never gets to the plane until the last minute and has everybody in a nervous sweat all the time. One of his habits is to take
a secretary from the office along in the car so he can dictate on his way to the airport. Invariably, however, he falls asleep and doesn’t dictate a single line.
Tomorrow we go to Egypt where we will see Okasha, the Minister of Culture, and, hopefully, talk him into letting us shoot there.
J
ULY
20, 1960
Skouras is incredible.
Skouras is one of the most charming men in the world—when he wants to be. He seems to know everyone in the Egyptian government, and they love and respect him. At a big luncheon today he announced plans to make five pictures in Egypt, including
Salammbo
, starring Harry Belafonte and Gina Lollobrigida. He made it sound as though—thanks to him—Egypt would soon rival Rome as a world film center. The audience was enthusiastic.
Then he introduced me as Walter Wanger, who “will be in charge of all Fox operations in Europe, the Near and Middle East.” That got a big hand too.
The last thing he did before we raced at seventy miles an hour for the plane was to arrange for the services of 10,000 men from the Egyptian Army to play the legions of Cleopatra. He also arranged for several locations in Egypt.
J
ULY
22, 1960
Extract from a letter from Patrick Barthropp, Ltd:
Thank you for your inquiry with regard to a car for Miss Taylor from 8th August, 1960, for a period of sixteen weeks. We have pleasure in reserving the same Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud that she had last year, with the same chauffeur, Mr. Peter Bowden.…
J
ULY
27, 1960
Dear Rouben:
When the public buys tickets to see
Cleopatra
, they have every right to expect to see a great love story containing many passionate scenes between the most extraordinary people in history—Cleopatra, Caesar, and Antony. This is not in the shooting script and it is essential.
I am glad we are in agreement about this shooting script and I am sending you the following memorandum in the event that you wish to use it with Durrell.
I think some of his speeches are excellent and are of great value. However, for every good speech there have been injected more silly speeches than we have ever had in the script before. The elimination of these cozy, small-time sections of dialogue will help straighten out the shooting script in my opinion very much and should be done as soon as possible, even without Durrell.
The main facts and the important defects are the fact that the script is no longer attempting to be taut, suspenseful, melodramatic, or full of fast action. The whole canvas of this great world, with four dynamic personalities fighting for its domination, has been reduced to a bucolic, domestic, provincial picture of the nature of
Our Town
. The opportunity of using the greatest background of antiquity and shooting actually on the spot in Egypt gives us the opportunity to lift this picture to the great heights that are, in my opinion, obligatory.
To be precise, all of the scenes in the palace are completely without any sense of siege or feeling that the characters are prisoners in the palace and that there is doubt as to what is going to happen to our leading protagonists. It seems more like a nice weekend in Surrey where the water is going
to be turned off. I still prefer the action and the impact in the potentials of the January 11th script as far as the great motion picture is concerned than I do this shooting script, although if the intent of the January 11th script can be injected into this shooting script, which I agree with you has better characterizations in many instances, we will get on the right track.
To be of service to us, Durrell must follow our plans rather than to try to reorganize the entire matter into a soft and unsuspenseful sonnet. The feeling of conspiracy, of distrust, of fast-acting spies, of life and death at great price is all lacking. There is plenty of material in the January 11th script that can be quickly put back and improve the script from the standpoint of making a successful motion picture. (For example, there is Taylor in such vital scenes as the establishment of the tremendous excitement of her achievement in presenting Caesar with a child named Caesarion, who becomes the hostage, in her mind, that is going to help her achieve her ambition to assume for him the throne of the world.) As a matter of fact, not even the name of Caesarion is established before Caesar’s return to Rome. This is a vital thread in history and in the drama that must not be toyed with. Beyond that, it is essential that he be old enough to be reasonable in the last scenes. I do not believe that twelve years old, after a period of eighteen years, can be accepted by any intelligent picture-goer in 1961. I agree with you that the entrance into Rome is obligatory.
I also feel that with the Zoo, the third largest in the world, in Cairo, plus some ingenuity in picking locations, we could do this at a proper price without going overboard.
I think it is obligatory to establish the fact that Octavian clearly declared war on Cleopatra and not on Antony, and that in all the conferences prior to Actium, Cleopatra was the sore spot, just as she was instrumental by her activities
in Rome in building toward Caesar’s assassination. I agree with you, the scene between Antony and Cleopatra after the assassination of Caesar is unemotional and weak, again with the important points left out and the tremendous feeling of defeat that she must have felt, having been so close to success, is unemotional and unrewarding. Following this scene, there must be a thrilling exit from Rome.
I was most gratified last night that we are of one mind regarding these obligatory scenes and the type of dialogue that must be omitted in order to make the great motion picture that this subject matter offers. I feel our major error with Durrell was allowing him to deviate from improving actual scenes and trying to rewrite without sufficient experience in motion-picture scripts from start to finish. I have enormous faith in his talent, his ingenuity, and his ability to state things, but not in his ability to devise visual action with a beginning of a scene to a climax of a scene and a great curtain, all of which it is essential for you to have, so that we can fulfill our destiny with this tremendous project.
I also agree with you that your concept of Cleopatra is the correct one. A woman of many moods, of many emotions, turning off and on her hate, her ambition, her love, her excitement, and her dreams. At present, she could be a placid heiress, living on a big estate in the British countryside, rather than the unique and most fascinating woman in the world with ambition to rule the world with Caesar and then to place her great son, Caesarion, on the throne as King of the World. The always-present spying, treacherous killing, dramatic Sword of Damocles over the existence of all the characters, the fantastic marriages for power, the deals, the accepted intrigue and suspicion which were indicated in the January 11th script, have been vacuumed out of this with weekend charades and silly sayings.
Excuse the continuity of the memorandum and the English, which is not Elizabethan, but it has been dictated by a very concerned producer at five o’clock in the morning. As I am going to New York in connection with the script and the deal with Taylor, I am writing this memorandum so that I can present our ultimate concept to her as clearly and forcefully as possible. I know that the Egyptian potential gives us a chance that has never been done on the screen before. I hope we can have another meeting before I leave.
With every good wish, as always,
Yours,
Walter Wanger
J
ULY
28, 1960
Elizabeth had refused to sign her contract so Goldstein ordered me to go to New York to “get her” to do it.
I met Schreiber, who had come from California just for this, at my hotel. He was in a sweat, certain we’d never get her to sign, particularly since the starting date had been pushed back again, and we wanted a further extension of time from her. The new starting date is September 25.
At the Park Lane, Elizabeth was lovely in a negligee, no make-up, demonstratively affectionate with Eddie in the living room. She was well aware of the turmoil she was causing with Skouras and Schreiber.
She told me the contract was fine, gave me the delay in starting I requested, and suggested we look at Peter Finch for Caesar. She promised to sign the contract later in the afternoon but told me to tell Skouras she was “still looking it over” to keep him on edge a little while longer.
While I was having dinner at the Colony, the contract was delivered to me as promised. I called Skouras instantly. “Walter, you are a miracle man,” he said, “How did you do it? I’ll never forget it.” I told him Elizabeth couldn’t have been nicer about the whole thing.
In my room that night I read her contract, from Elizabeth’s point of view. If the picture runs over schedule a few months, as I suspect it must, she stands to make two or three million dollars.
Some of the highlights of the contract were:
Salary of $125,000 for sixteen weeks’ work.
$50,000 per week after sixteen weeks.
10% of the gross income of the movie.
In addition, there was page after page of special conditions:
In lieu of reimbursing the Artist for her expenses in connection with her services hereunder, the Corporation shall pay the Artist the sum of Three Thousand Dollars ($3,000.00) per week for all living expenses, including food and lodging, while she is rendering her services hereunder, commencing on the date the Artist reports to the Corporation in London, England, or such other place as may be designated by the Corporation, until the Artist completes her said services.…
The Corporation shall pay the cost of first-class, round-trip transportation from Los Angeles, California, to London, England, or such other place as may be designated by the Corporation, for four (4) adults including the Artist, and three (3) children …
In the event that the Artist desires to consult with her agent, Kurt Frings, in reference to her services in connection with the picture contemplated herein, while she is rendering her services on location hereunder, and if said agent deems it necessary that he consult with the Artist, the Corporation shall pay the first-class, round-trip transportation of said agent from Los Angeles, California, to such location, and the incidental
expenses of said agent in connection with such trip; provided, however, that the obligation of the Corporation under this paragraph shall be limited to one (1) such round trip to such location
.
She even got the promise of a 16 mm. print of the completed film for her personal use.
A
UGUST
20, 1960
Just received a construction report on the city of Alexandria and the other sets, which will cover eight acres.
According to the report, we have 142 miles of tubular steel; enough RR ties for four miles of track; 20,000 cubic feet of timber; seven tons of nails; 300 gallons of paint—in short, enough construction material for a development of about forty houses.
Rental for just the iron scaffolding supporting Cleopatra’s palace is costing us $2,000 a week.
The palm trees were imported from Hollywood; the fresh palm fronds are flown in from Egypt and Nice. I am told that hundreds of swallows roost in the palms at night. They must think they have already reached the Mediterranean.
A trail of spoiled fish was laid down in order to entice sea gulls away from a nearby gravel pit.
Cleopatra’s palace at Alexandria covers twenty acres, of which four acres are under water resting on 15,000 railroad ties supporting marbleized gold, gilt buildings. Cleopatra’s white marble palace on top of the railroad ties is the most remarkable set ever built in England. The interior is almost as large and twice as high as Grand Central Station.
Four large sphinxes, 52 feet high and 65 feet wide are being constructed.
A
UGUST
23, 1960
MR AND MRS EDDIE FISHER
FIRST CLASS PASSENGERS
SS LEONARDO DA VINCI
EN ROUTE TO NAPLES
HAVE LARGE CORNER SUITE AT DORCHESTER AND BATHROOM DRESSING ROOM LIVING ROOM FOR YOU AND EDDIE ADJOINING TWO DOUBLE BEDROOMS AND TWO BATHROOMS AND SITTING ROOM FOR NURSE AND CHILDREN FORTY THREE POUNDS A DAY STOP YOU CAN HAVE IT TEMPORARY OR PERMANENTLY STOP CHILDRENS SUITE AS OF TWENTY FIFTH AND YOUR SUITE AS OF THIRTY FIRST AUGUST
PLEASE CONFIRM
LOVE TO YOU BOTH
WALTER
A
UGUST
24, 1960
LEW SCHREIBER
CENTFOX
LOS ANGELES
DEAR LEW GUILAROFF CALLED ME TWICE FIRST TIME TO TELL ME COULDNT GET HERE BEFORE SATURDAY AND I ADVISED HIM WE HAD ORDERED WIGS AND WERE UNDERWAY AS WE COULD NOT WAIT FOR HIM SECONDLY MADE IT CLEAR THAT HE WOULD NOT BE ALLOWED ON SET BUT COULD WORK WITH ELIZABETH AT HOTEL AND I COULD GUARANTEE HIM NOTHING REGARDING ANY LESSENING OF REGULATIONS HERE BUT THOUGHT HE SHOULD GET ON WITH MESSEL AND HAIRDRESSERS HE AGAIN CALLED ME NEXT DAY AND SAID HE WAS WORRIED MAYBE HE SHOULDNT COME IF
HE COULDNT OPERATE AS HE WAS ACCUSTOMED TO I ASSURED HIM THAT I WOULD DO EVERYTHING I COULD PERSONALLY TO MAKE THINGS WORK BUT AGAIN MADE IT CLEAR I COULD NOT UPSET THE REGULATIONS HERE AND THAT MUST BE UNDERSTOOD I DONT KNOW WHAT HE MEANS BY MY TAKING CARE OF HIM I SIMPLY SAID I WOULD DO WHAT I COULD TO MAKE THINGS WORK AND IF THEY DIDNT HE COULD WITHDRAW FROM THE PICTURE I DONT SEE WHY WE SHOULD GIVE HIM A GUARANTEE IF THE SETUP WORKS HE WILL REMAIN AS ELIZABETH WANTS HIM AND IF HE IS NOT ABLE TO FUNCTION THIS NOT OUR FAULT I TOLD HIM I THOUGHT IT DEPENDED ON HOW HE HANDLED THE SITUATION HIMSELF CONFIDENTIALLY I FEEL IF HE DOESNT STEP ON OTHER PEOPLES TOES HE MIGHT BE HELPFUL TO ELIZABETH BUT IF HE ATTEMPTS TO EXERT TOO MUCH INFLUENCE IT MIGHT BE RESENTED BY THE PEOPLE HERE
.
REGARDS
WALTER
