to proceed filming without Taylor, instead shooting scenes with Finch and Boyd. Taylor's cold soon progressed into a lingering fever, and for the next few weeks, she was treated by several doctors, including Lord Evans, Queen Elizabeth II's physician. On November 13, Taylor's fever reached 103 degrees and she was diagnosed with meningitis. By November 19, Wanger indefinitely postponed shooting, giving studio employees two weeks' notice until Taylor's health recovered. Taylor remained hospitalized for a week and then flew to Palm Springs, Florida with Eddie Fisher to recuperate. The Lloyd's of London insurance agency paid $2 million to cover Taylor's medical expenses. During the pause in filming, Nunnally Johnson was hired to write a new script. Johnson wrote a 75-page draft for the first half of the film, mostly involving Cleopatra and Julius Caesar, that was similar in its tone to that of Cecil B. DeMille's Cleopatra (1934) and Caesar and Cleopatra (1945). Filming resumed on January 3, 1961, but Mamoulian was dissatisfied with Johnson's script. Taylor, who expressed similar displeasure, then appealed for Paddy Chayefsky to write a new script. Chayefsky demurred, saying that a rewrite would take six months. After sixteen weeks of filming and costs of $7 million, the crew had produced just ten minutes of film. Skouras blamed Mamoulian for the production having exceeded its budget. On January 18, 1961, Mamoulian resigned as director. Mankiewicz takes over To replace Mamoulian, Taylor announced that she would approve either George Stevens, who had directed her in A Place in the Sun, or Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who had directed her in Suddenly, Last Summer (1959). At the time, Mankiewicz was developing a film adaptation of the novel Justine, which was also a Wanger production. He initially declined the offer, but after meeting with Skouras and his agent Charles K. Feldman at the Colony Restaurant, he agreed to write and direct the project. As an additional incentive, Skouras acquired Figaro, Inc., Mankiewicz's independent production company, for $3 million. In addition to his salary as writer and director, Mankiewicz received $1.5 million from the purchase, while his partner, NBC, received the other half. Having directed Julius Caesar (1953), Mankiewicz expressed his displeasure with the shooting script, stating it was "unreadable and unshootable." Mankiewicz also described Cleopatra's depiction as a "strange, frustrating mixture of an American soap-opera virgin and an hysterical Slavic vamp of the type Nazimova used to play." Because of