Some reports have claimed that Loren was paid an enormous $1million for the role, but that didn’t happen until 1964’s The Fall of the Roman Empire.
It seems more likely she was paid $200,000, still a huge amount in those days ($1.9million today). And it is claimed more than Heston received.
Loren also negotiated $200 a week for her personal hairdresser, brought in her own screenwriter and had the script translated into Italian and then back into an English she was more comfortable with.
Her co-star was not happy and did not try to hide it.
In fact, he demanded that a stand-in was hired to take his place in any close-up scenes that only showed Loren’s face. As the situation deteriorated, director Antony Mann struggled to get the alpha male actor to look at Loren at all.