Elizabeth Taylor: Rebel Superstar will go beyond the actress’ film career to explore her work as a businesswoman and activist – roles in which Kardashian has alsocast herself.
Kardashian has described herself as “a huge Elizabeth Taylor nerd”. She will executive produce and appear in the documentary, which has been commissioned by the BBC Arts department.
The BBC said: “The series will feature interviews with a range of high-profile stars who knew Taylor personally – including Kim Kardashian, who conducted the last interview with her before she died.”
In that interview, conducted in February 2011 for Harper’s Bazaar, Kardashian opened by telling the eight-times married Taylor: “You are my idol. But I’m six husbands and some big jewels behind. What should I do?”
Announcing the three-part BBC Two documentary, Kardashian said: “Elizabeth Taylor was unapologetically herself, a fighter. She is proof that you can keep evolving and changing and have different chapters in your life – and she paved the way for all of us who came after her with that blueprint.”
Elizabeth Taylor in 1962 during the filming of the movie Cleopatra in Rome's Cinecitta Studio in Italy, which at the time of filming was the most expensive film ever made. Photo / AP
Taylor died in March 2011. The series will feature interviews with her family, friends and colleagues. They include Dame Joan Collins, who competed with Taylor for the role of Cleopatra, and Dr Anthony Fauci, who worked alongside her in the fight against Aids.
The BBC said: “For too long, the story of Elizabeth Taylor has been told as a soap opera. The eight marriages, the diamonds, the addictions. This series gives Elizabeth Taylor the significance she richly deserves, in all her incarnations.
“The series will take a deep dive into Taylor’s craft and technique as an actor – one who mesmerised cinemagoers, but also changed the relationship between audiences and stars.
“We’ll see how she reinvented the nature of fame, even as she smashed the glass ceiling in Hollywood, before going on to become a billion-dollar businesswoman, activist and advocate.
“Each episode will examine how she broke down barriers in every part of her life – and the price she paid for defying convention.”
Kardashian’s admiration for Taylor
Kardashian, 43, first found notoriety via a leaked sex tape before becoming a reality TV star, and latterly a businesswoman worth more than US$1 billion ($1.628 billion).
She has spoken often about her admiration for Taylor. In 2014, she considered buying Taylor’s former home in Bel Air. She told Vogue: “It was just so enchanting, with a garden with really pretty trellises and beautiful roses.
“But it wasn’t realistic for me to purchase. It only had a one-car garage.”
When Kardashian interviewed Taylor, weeks before the Hollywood legend’s death, she posed for an accompanying photoshoot as Cleopatra - although she called her version “Kleopatra”.
She quizzed Taylor about having “the world’s most iconic jewellery collection”, including the 69.42 carat Taylor-Burton diamond, and asked: “Does size matter?”
“Size does matter,” Taylor replied, “but so does the size of the emotion behind it.”
Kim Kardashian attends the 2023 Met Gala celebrating 'Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty' on May 1 in New York City. Photo / FilmMagic
Kardashian also asked, “Do you think if Richard Burton were alive today, you’d be married to him?” Taylor said that would have been “inevitable”.
Taylor and Burton were married from 1964-74 and again from 1975-76. Her eighth and final marriage, to a construction worker she met in rehab, ended in 1996.
Kardashian was married first to music producer Damon Thomas, then to basketball player Kris Humphries, and from 2014-22 to Kanye West, the controversial rapper who announced in 2020 that he would run for the US presidency but later withdrew.
