One of the most tempestuous relationships in Hollywood history set to be made into movie by Martin Scorsese
Their romance was one of the most tempestuous in Hollywood history and ushered in an era of intense media interest in celebrity lifestyles. Now the love affair between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton looks set to be immortalised on film following reports that Martin Scorsese is tipped to direct a forthcoming biopic.
The film will be based on the book Furious Love by Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger, a biography of Taylor and Burton's on-off relationship. Deadline reports that studio interest was almost non-existent when the authors put the movie rights up for sale last year, but Taylor's death in March has pushed the British-born actor's legacy back into the limelight. As well as Paramount, which has optioned the book for Scorsese to direct, there were enquiries from Black Swan star Natalie Portman and King's Speech screenwriter, David Seidler, both Oscar winners in March.
Furious Love's Hollywood appeal is clear: prior to her death, Taylor allowed Kashner and Schoenberger access to love letters from Burton. Producers of the film now hope to secure the support of her estate, having already reached agreement with Burton's heirs ? his widow Sally Hay Burton is said to have signed a "pledge of cooperation".
Burton and Taylor became romantically involved while filming Cleopatra in 1963, in which their characters share a similarly doomed passion. They were both married at the time and their romance became the source of intense media interest. The pair married in 1964 but divorced a decade later. In 1975 they married a second time, but divorced again the following year. Of their tempestuous relationship, Burton once said: "You can't keep clapping a couple of sticks [of dynamite] together without expecting them to blow up."
The pair appeared together in 11 films, including 1966's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, for which Taylor won a second Academy Award.
Scorsese is currently putting the finishing touches to Hugo Cabret, his debut venture into 3D, which stars Johnny Depp, Sacha Baron Cohen and Ben Kingsley. The film-maker maintains an interest in Hollywood history and is planning to direct a film about Frank Sinatra. He has also spent years working on a biopic of Dean Martin that has yet to see the light of day.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/jun/02/scorsese-elizabeth-taylor-richard-burton
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