Changing Cleopatra's Nose and Every Thing Else.

One of my idols, Stephen Jay Gould wondered what would have happened if it had been raining instead of sunny when the earth came into existence? Thus began the theory of determinism which claims that history by and large is a series of accidents.

Gould was riffing on Blaise Pascal who famously stated "If Cleopatra's nose had been shorter, the entire history of the world would have been changed."

This all fits into my predisposition towards possibility thinking. In possibility thinking we ask 'what if' rather than 'what' or 'why..

We can't go back and change Cleopatra's nose but we can change the prevalent image of Cleopatra as depicted by Elizabeth Taylor. When Taylor was offered the role, she laughingly requested  the unheard of salary of a million dollars to take the role.

Twentieth century Fox turned down that request. They had several other candidates in mind. Fox offered the job to the leading actresses of the day who they believed could do the job less expensively. Those actresses included Audrey Hepburn, Natalie Wood, Shirley McClain and if they really wanted to save money Tuesday Weld.

They all turned down the job. Fox re-offered the role to Taylor for the mill but Taylor wanted more so she asked for the mill plus 10% of the films profits. She didn't think the studio would agree.

Fox agreed and the rest is Hollywood cultural history.

But wait.....

Something happened in the interim.

When Elizabeth heard that Marilyn Monroe was next in line for the job, Elizabeth contacted Marlyn and said that she could have the role if she wanted it but it was too late.

Marilyn passed.

Interesting.

So now we are left to wondering what would have happened if Marilyn would have accepted the role. The ramifications are profound but I'll leave those for another day but here's a couple.

Marilyn might not have got involved with JFK. JFK might not have gone to Dallas. MM might not have been murdered.  Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby would be unknown. Johnson might not have become President and mismanaged the situation in Viet Nam etc. Kennedy re-elected. No Nixon. No Waregate etc.

That's just for starters.

Yeah but how to imagine Marilyn as the Queen of the Nile. One thing for pretty sure is that Cleo wasn't blonde and pale skinned and kind of a joke.

No problem.

Dye her Marilyn's hair black or use wigs and darken her complexion.

Marilyn always wanted to be taken seriously as an actress but her trademark blonde hair ( which of course wasn't her natural hair color) had led her to the objectification and stereotype of the dumb blonde who wasn't as dumb as the stereotype might suggest but still kind of a joke.

She would get a chance to show off her acting chops.

Fox also considered Brando for Marc Antony as he had played him in Julius Caesar. 

Stephen Boyd, still hot after his performance as Messala in Ben Hur was offered the job but delays in production forced him to give up the role.

Back to Marilyn with the Marc Antony job still open. Marilyn learns that Brando is in the mix.

Marilyn accepts the offer from Fox.

Liz never becomes Cleopatra.

Now on top of the dark hair and complexion let's fix Marilyn up with some Egyptian style makeup.

She was the right height for the job based on Taylor. Both Liz and MM were five foot three. Both were statuesque.

So now we have Brando and Monroe in Cleopatra.

Liz never meets Burton.

Le scandale never happens.

Yeah, Marilyn was an insurance risk but as it turned out Liz was a health nightmare. She missed 40 days of shooting at a studio cost of $175,000 a day.

Yeah Marilyn was habitually late but so was Elizabeth.

The studio went bankrupt.

Let's imagine Marilyn as Cleo.

The movie itself would have cost less to make, saving the studio.

With both Brando and Monroe on their game, the finished product might have become the critical and popular success that the studio imagined.

We would have a different version of Cleopatra.

But aside from that, nothing much would have changed.

Except my life and everybody else's.

Rain or shine.