6. Cleopatra
The Film: Cleopatra achieved notoriety during filming for its massive cost overruns and production troubles, which included a change of director and cast members, a change of filming locale, sets that had to be constructed twice, lack of a firm shooting script, and personal scandal surrounding its costars. It was the most expensive film ever made to that date and almost bankrupted 20th Century Fox. It received mixed reviews, although critics and audiences alike generally praised Liz Taylor as Cleopatra and Richard Burton as Mark Antony.
It was the highest-grossing film of 1963, earning $57.7 million (equivalent to $450 million in 2018), yet took a loss due to its $44 million in production and marketing costs (equivalent to $340 million in 2018), making it the only highest-grossing film of the year yet to run at a loss.
The Historical Events: Cleopatra, arguably the most famous Egyptian woman of all time, wasn’t even Egyptian in blood. She was a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, a family of Greek origin that ruled Egypt after Alexander the Great’s death during the Hellenistic period. The Ptolemies, throughout their dynasty, spoke Greek and refused to speak Egyptian, which is the reason that Greek, as well as Egyptian languages, were used on official court documents such as the Rosetta Stone. By contrast, Cleopatra did learn to speak Egyptian and represented herself as the reincarnation of an Egyptian goddess, Isis.
Her romance with Mark Anthony is probably the most famous love story in the world behind that of Romeo and Juliet and without a doubt, the greatest historically recorded love of all time. The two fell in love at first sight and their love was so great to the point it became a threat to the Roman Empire, which kept losing power and control to Egypt because of the decisions a blinded-by-love Mark Antony made. Despite all the obstacles and warnings, Mark Anthony and Cleopatra got married and Anthony ended up fighting his own people.
According to one version of their story, it is believed that while fighting a battle against the Romans, Antony was informed falsely that Cleopatra was dead and, devastated by this news, took his own life with his sword. When Cleopatra learned of Antony’s death, she took her own life, putting an end to one of the greatest loves that ended in tragedy.