We’re doing our first-ever Q&A bonus episode, and we want your questions! Call 404-885-0013 to leave a voicemail for Ben. You can ask about Cleopatra, Ben's great-uncle Joe Mankiewicz or the stars of the movie. Remember to tell us your first name and where you're calling from. We might use your voice in the episode so keep it clean! And be on the lookout for the Q&A bonus episode next month.
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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.
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Mankiewicz vs. Zanuck
Joe’s body reaches its breaking point, and he’s forced to film the last few scenes from a wheelchair. But when production wraps, Fox installs a new studio head, Darryl F. Zanuck, who undercuts Joe’s authority and takes over the edit of Cleopatra. Soon, Joe and Zanuck wage a very public battle for control of the movie, just months before it’s finally released.
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Le Scandale
Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton’s love affair becomes a tabloid sensation. Richard drinks and Elizabeth cries, they fight and make up, all while trying to keep the affair from their spouses and the public. When the press infiltrates the set and reports on every ugly development, Joe struggles to hold the production together. But as the budget balloons, Joe starts taking the blame for everything that’s gone wrong.
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The Girl is on Salary
Joe Mankiewicz decides to recast two leading men and hires Richard Burton and Rex Harrison – major talents who turn out to be major headaches. He also moves filming to a new country, where the budget spirals out of control. Joe works against the clock to meet the studio’s deadline to start shooting, and he nearly pulls it off… until Richard Burton puts the moves on his married co-star Elizabeth Taylor, throwing the entire production into chaos.
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Our sixth season is Cleopatra, a six-episode series about one of the most expensive and infamous movies ever made. Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and starring Elizabeth Taylor, Cleopatra should have been a smash. Instead, it was a shoot plagued by medical emergencies, climate disasters, nervous breakdowns, and the most scandalous love affair to ever hit a movie set. Join host Ben Mankiewicz as he digs through his own family stories to understand how it turned out so badly for his Oscar-winning uncle. Cleopatra starts July 17.
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