 The film was originally intended to be made after  _El Cid (1961)_ (qv) and to reunite Charlton Heston (qv) and  Sophia Loren (qv). The set for the Forum Romanum was actually  being built when Heston rejected the script but expressed an  interest in 55 Days at Peking instead. Samuel Bronston immediately  ordered that the work on the Forum be stopped and the landscaping  and foundation work be adapted for the Peking set. After filming,  the Peking set was torn down and replaced by the Forum. If you look  carefully, both sets share a very similar topography.