this, he asked to rewrite the script from scratch, and the studio allowed him two months. By February 1961, Mankiewicz had conceived a "modern, psychiatrically rooted concept of the film," envisioning Marc Antony's self-destruction because of his "inability to match [Julius] Caesar." Within one month, Lawrence Durrell and Sidney Buchman were recruited to collaborate with Mankiewicz on the new script. Story conferences were held with the three writers, and Durrell and Buchman then separately wrote "story-step" outlines. Mankiewicz would expand their outlines into a new script. Mankiewicz consulted the relevant sources, adapting historical literature written by Plutarch and Petronius. In late April, Mankiewicz had grown displeased with Durrell's work, while Buchman was instructed to complete an outline for the film. By then, Buchman's outline only covered the first quarter of the film. Mankiewicz had petitioned for playwrights Lillian Hellman or Paul Osborn to help finish the script, but Wanger hired screenwriter Ranald MacDougall. Filming was set to resume on April 4, 1961. However, on March 4, Taylor was hospitalized again for pneumonia, and one news agency erroneously reported that she had died. She recovered after a tracheotomy was performed on her throat. On March 14, Twentieth Century Fox suspended production at Pinewood Studios. The sets were dismantled at the cost of $600,000. Skouras then decided to relocate the production to the studio's backlot in California. Meanwhile, Mankiewicz temporarily left his writing duties and scouted for suitable filming locations in Rome and Egypt. In June, Mankiewicz returned to the studio to report some Italian locations he had found, but was not eager to shoot in Egypt. On June 30, Skouras reversed his decision and agreed to allow Mankiewicz shoot the film at Cinecittà in Rome, where the sound stages had been occupied for the studio's television series and George Stevens's The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965). Casting and personnel changes During the interim, Finch and Boyd had left the production for other commitments, and each was paid his remaining salary. Laurence Olivier and Trevor Howard had turned down the role of Julius Caesar. Rex Harrison, who was the studio's fourth choice, was then cast. Mankiewicz then suggested Marlon Brando as Mark Antony, but Richard Burton landed the role after Taylor had seen him as King Arthur in the Broadway musical Camelot. Twentieth Century Fox paid Burton $250,000 plus $50,000 to buy out his contract. Roddy McDowall, who was also appearing in