15 Popular Movies Which Were Notoriously Difficult To Produce

Cleopatra is the ultimate definition of a bloated Hollywood epic – many big names attached to the picture, an extensive run time, affluent costumes and lavish set designs. Even adjusted for inflation, it’s still one of the most expensive movies ever made. But it does raise the question of whether it was all worth it.

Elizabeth Taylor fell ill to pneumonia after filming under the brutal conditions of the English weather. She was given an hour to live and an emergency tracheotomy meant a slow recovery for Liz and a stop in filming. Production was then moved to Rome.

It required over 26,000 costumes (65 of them alone belonged to the character of Cleopatra) and 79 different set pieces. As the large sets constantly had to be remedied, it caused a shortage of construction materials in Italy. An agreement in Taylor's contract meant she’d be paid $50,000 a week if production ran over sixteen weeks (which it did), plus 10% of the film’s gross. She ultimately accumulated $7,000,000 for herself.

Some female extras went on strike to demand protection from the Italian male extras. The studios eventually gave in to paying out bodyguards for them. Liz was initially refused from entering Egypt to complete location shots because she was Jewish. Cleopatra’s entry into Rome had to be reshot because an extra was selling gelato. Some construction workers died whilst building the Alexandria set due to an unexploded mine. Furthermore, employees often stole expensive props which ran up further costs.