Turner Classic Movies’ (TCM) award-winning podcast The Plot Thickens returns on July 17 with host Ben Mankiewicz, diving deep into the tumultuous production of the 1963 epic Cleopatra — a film written and directed by his Oscar-winning uncle, Joseph L. Mankiewicz. With Joe Mankiewicz calling the shots and with the luminous Elizabeth Taylor in the title role, Cleopatra should have been a smash. Instead, it was a shoot plagued from the start by medical emergencies, location changes, climate disasters, nervous breakdowns, and egos as big as pyramids… not to mention Taylor’s scandalous love affair with co-star Richard Burton. It fell to Mankiewicz to somehow wrest an epic out of chaos. Writing at night and directing during the day, Mankiewicz struggled to stay one step ahead of financial disaster and his own failing health.
Buy My Life with Cleopatra: The Making of a Hollywood Classic paperback“I didn’t really know Joe well, even though I was already 25 years old when he died,” said TCM Host Ben Mankiewicz. “I had the basics. The highs: He had four Academy Awards. The lows: Writer’s block plagued him for the last two decades of his life. But reading Joe’s diaries from the Cleopatra production reveals a man far more complicated. And far more human. First of all, he’s wickedly funny, like my dad, my brother, my grandfather, and most of my cousins. Second, he’s exasperated. I think he could feel the movie slipping away. And there is nothing he can do about it.”
In this highly anticipated sixth season, listeners will enjoy never-before-heard, candid archival interviews with the cast and crew, offering an unflinching look at their experiences on the film, as well as new expert interviews from today’s top movie historians and pop-culture aficionados. Ben Mankiewicz will also share captivating family stories and give fans an exclusive peek into his Uncle Joe’s filmmaking process, drawn from his private diaries and detailed production logs. It’s an exciting, behind-the-scenes journey into one of Hollywood’s most legendary films.
The six-episode limited series will begin July 17, 2025, on all major podcast apps and platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.
Dovetailing with the podcast’s return, Turner Classic Movies will also air a Joe Mankiewicz and Elizabeth Taylor double feature Spotlight on Friday, July 18, with Cleopatra at 8PM and Suddenly Last Summer (1959) at 12:30PM.
