“Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes” uses over 40 hours of never-before-heard interviews with the actress.
She was in the public eye for most of her life.
Given that, one might think there isn’t anything new to discover about Taylor.
Elziabeth Taylor.Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images
The tapes belonged to Taylor, but Meryman’s widow was unaware of that fact.
“It’s very confessional and intimate.
“The screen kiss was better,” she told Meryman.
Elizabeth Taylor in ‘National Velvet’.Everett Collection
The couple did not consummate their marriage until three days after the ceremony.
“She didn’t have a normal childhood in any way,” says the director.
“She was playing roles in all these movies as an adult woman when she was a teenager.
Elizabeth Taylor in her white satin bridal gown for her wedding to Nick Hilton, May 13, 1950.Photo Credit: Keystone/Getty Images
And her costars were more than twice her age often.
Because the way it was portrayed in the movies is not how love is in real life.
“I had just been with him that day, driving around the studio,” she remembered.
(L-R) Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, and James Dean.Everett Collection
But in her relationships, she preferred an alpha male.
Discussing her marriage to Michael Wilding, she admitted that she henpecked him to provoke a response.
“I needed someone to dominate me,” she said.
Elizabeth Taylor and (then) husband Eddie Fisher in 1961.Photo of Elizabeth Taylor by Darlene Hammond/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
She felt the same with her next husband, Mike Todd, who was significantly older than her.
Then, when it worked, “I would just purr inside,” she said.
“I never loved Eddie.
Elizabeth Taylor in 1953.Photo of Elizabeth Taylor by Hulton Archive/Getty Images
I liked him and liked talking about Mike with him…
So, she just went ahead with it.
I wouldn’t shoot you.”
Elizabeth Taylor in ‘Cleopatra’.Everett Collection
“Some part of me is sorry that I became a public utility,” she said.
“I don’t like the sense of belonging to the public.
I like being an actress.”
Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and Mike Nichols.Everett Collection
Burstein was particularly surprised by how much Taylor wrestled with her public image and felt disrespected as an actress.
“I was surprised at her level of insecurity being so famous and successful,” the director says.
She really wanted that respect from not just her peers but from the audiences.
Elizabeth Taylor.Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images
She is very aware that the public thinks that she’s a home-wrecker.
She imagined that they might rush her platform and venture to hurt her.
But instead, they chanted “Baci!”
(that means “kisses” in Italian) and blew her kisses.
“If you have a go at explain, you lose yourself,” she remarked.
Instead, she was excited for time and for Mother Nature to take care of it for her.
“I’m looking foriiiiward to getting fat, obese, and saggy,” she quipped to Meryman.
“I was appalled.
I’m like, ‘This is really the most important question you want to ask her?’
I don’t want to talk about it, and I don’t agree.
I’m an actress.'”
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“What the hell is a sex symbol?”
“I don’t think I am; I don’t want to be a sex symbol.
I know I’m an actress.
I know I’m a female.
I’m just a broad.”
