The TCM podcast The Plot Thickens returns in July with host Ben Mankiewicz taking a deep dive into the making of Cleopatra, the troubled 1963 drama that starred Elizabeth Taylor and was directed and co-written by his uncle, Joseph L. Mankiewicz.

As TCM notes, the production of the 20th Century Fox film was “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 [Joe] Mankiewicz to somehow wrest an epic out of chaos.”

The most expensive film ever made at the time — some estimates put the cost at $49 million, or $512 million in today’s dollars — Cleopatra began principal photography in September 1960 and wrapped in July 1962, with reshoots taking place through the following March. It nearly bankrupted the studio.

The lavish movie opened in June 1963, was the highest-grossing film...