Has she actually pulled it off? Lindsay Lohan captures turmoil of Liz Taylor's scandalous past in recreation of iconic Cleopatra scene

By Amelia Proud

Published: 13:21 EST, 30 August 2012 | Updated: 03:42 EST, 31 August 2012

It is the most expensive film ever made, and a huge box office flop.

But Cleopatra was the setting for Elizabeth Taylor to fall in love with Richard Burton, a happening christened 'le scandale' after the adulterous pair became the first ever tabloid sensation.

The juggernaut of attraction between Taylor and Burton amidst the over-spending and bickering on set destroyed the facade of old Hollywood and ushered in the era of access all areas celebrity gossip that we have today.

Lindsay Lohan knows quite a bit about that, of course, and aptly enough, she's playing her icon in forthcoming Lifetime movie, Liz & Dick, which tells the couple's story.

And it's in the recreated Cleopatra scene, a time that was the most chaotic in Liz's life, that Lindsay looks most like the fabled raven beauty.

The haunted look on her face captures the inner turmoil of the indigo-eyed goddess as her life fell apart and the rollercoaster ride with the love of her life began.

After falling for Burton, Taylor was denounced in the senate and criticised by the Vatican for 'erotic vagrancy,' which makes criticism of Lohan look like a series of gentle tuts in comparison.

And unbelievable as it may seem, the debacle surrounding the bungled historical epic prompted many observers to declare Taylor's career dead in the water in the early '60s.

This was despite Cleopatra being the highest grossing film of 1963; as its gargantuan cost of $44 million meant the $26 million yield failed to even cover costs.

The four-hour film employed two directors, two separate casts, and needed two and a half years of on-and-off filming in England, Italy, Egypt, and Spain; it nearly destroyed Twentieth Century Fox.

But its place in legend was assured by a starring role in the epic love story.

The film cultivated Taylor's 'difficult' reputation as there were whispers of a diva-like attitude, myriad costume changes and of course, that on-set attraction.

So it's appropriate that she should be played in the film by the 26-year-old, who has been as beset by controversy during filming as any other time in her tumultuous short life.

After Liz and Dick left their husband and wife to be together, they married twice and made the classic Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? as well as some awful duds.

But despite being engulfed by scandal and enjoying a booze-sodden see-saw romance with the roaring Welshman, Taylor remained a prosperous A list star until her death.

Could this have a prescience for Lindsay?

This film will tell us so, for if she charms us - or even proves interesting - on screen, it's likely the fascination with this wild child, Taylor's heir in so many ways, will continue. 

The film will air on the cable channel this autumn.