John Adams: belief

Transcript context

…Was Elizabeth Taylor the perfect Cleopatra? So sensual, so luscious. Is she your mental Cleopatra? I looked at some of the classical actresses. You can go on YouTube and see different performances. The greatest one is Janet Suzman, who’s actually a South African actress. I think she was active in the early 1960s or so. But ultimately, I follow my own vision. And what drew me to these two characters, Antony and Cleopatra, was the fact that they were older people. One could say they’d been there, done that. Each of them had a background. Each of them actually had had children by other people. So, in a way, this is a story about older people. I’m reminded of the great Edward Albee play, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? There’s just some really, really knock-down, drag-out fights between these two people, but in the end they love each other. I guess my model was just my own life, my parents, people that I’ve known, people who’ve had difficulties in their relationships and who’ve somehow managed to find love. How old are Antony and Cleopatra in your vision?…

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