Taylor leaving Rome's Teatro Sistina after receiving a Silver Mask Award from the Italian press. Across the Tiber River, the pope later would call Taylor and Burton's affair "erotic vagrancy."
Courtesy of FoxTwentieth Century Fox’s home entertainment division and Italian jeweler Bulgari are teaming to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Cleopatra, the infamous production that cost an unprecedented $42 million to make and ignited the legendary love affair between its stars, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.
A meticulously restored version of Cleopatra will screen May 21 at the Cannes Film Festival (it is an official selection of the Cannes Classics sidebar). The evening will be hosted by Taylor’s son Christopher Wilding and Burton’s daughter Kate Burton.
Jessica Chastain — rumored to be a new face of Bulgari — is co-hosting the screening and afterparty, where Bulgari will display pieces it bought back from Taylor’s estate several years ago, including a hand-held mirror of turquoise and gold that can be seen in Cleopatra.
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Throughout their years together, Burton showered Taylor with jewelry, including many pieces from Bulgari (Chastain will wear the famous emerald and diamond necklace Burton gave Taylor during Cleopatra’s three-year production in Rome).
Bulgari also will unveil an exclusive jewelry piece inspired by Taylor and the film that will be auctioned off this year, with proceeds benefiting the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation. Fox has made a donation to ETAF in support of Taylor’s work in raising awareness and providing care for those affected by HIV/AIDS around the world.
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“My mother would have been thrilled about this spectacular celebration of Cleopatra‘s anniversary by Fox and Bulgari,” said Wilding, who as a youngster often visited his mother on the set of Cleopatra.
On May 22, Fox will rerelease Cleopatra in a limited theatrical run in more than 200 theaters around the world, followed by the Blu-ray debut of a two-disc 50th anniversary edition.
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