Caligula () is a 1979 historical drama film about the rise and fall of Roman Emperor Caligula. The film stars Malcolm McDowell in the title role, alongside Teresa Ann Savoy, Helen Mirren, Peter O'Toole, John Steiner, and John Gielgud.
Original screenwriter Gore Vidal and film director Tinto Brass both disavowed the extensive changes to their contributions, with Brass dismissed prior to editing. Financier/producer Bob Guccione, founder of Penthouse magazine, engaged Giancarlo Lui to film post-production scenes featuring hardcore sex, significantly altering the film's tone and style.What Culture#14 : Caligula
Initially released to Italian cinemas in 1979, then screened in the United States the following year, Caligula was met with legal issues and controversies over its violent and sexual content. Different abridged versions were released worldwide, while its uncut form remains banned in several countries. Despite a generally negative reception, the film has gained notoriety as a cult classic with significant merit for its political content and historical portrayal.
A 178-minute Ultimate Cut, approved by McDowell, who always felt his performance was hindered in the original version, and consisting entirely of new archival footage not used for the previous theatrical release, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2023, receiving more favourable reviews from critics.
Plot Caligula is the young heir to the throne of his great-uncle, Emperor Tiberius. After a blackbird flies into his room, interpreted by Caligula as a bad omen, a head of the Praetorian Guard, Naevius Sutorius Macro, tells Caligula that Tiberius has summoned him to Capri where the Emperor lives with his close friend Nerva, Caligula's dim-witted uncle Claudius, and Caligula's cousin (Tiberius's grandson) Gemellus. Caligula fears assassination but his sister and lover Drusilla persuades him to go.
Caligula finds that Tiberius is showing signs of advanced venereal diseases and has become embittered with Rome and politics. The depraved Tiberius swims with naked youths and watches degrading sex shows involving deformed people and animals. Caligula observes with fascination and horror. Tensions rise when Tiberius tries to poison Caligula in front of Gemellus. Nerva commits suicide and Caligula tries to kill Tiberius but loses his nerve. Macro kills Tiberius to prove his loyalty to Caligula, witnessed by Gemellus.
Caligula is proclaimed the new Emperor and proclaims Drusilla as his equal, to the apparent disgust of the Roman Senate. Drusilla, fearful of Macro's influence, persuades Caligula to get rid of him. Gemellus testifies at a mock trial that Macro murdered Tiberius, then has Macro's wife Ennia banished from Rome. After Macro is executed in a gruesome public game, Caligula appoints Tiberius's former adviser Longinus as his personal assistant while pronouncing the docile Senator Chaerea as the new head of the Praetorian Guard.
Drusilla tries to find Caligula a wife among the priestesses of the goddess Isis, the cult they secretly practice. Drusilla rejects Caligula's marriage offers because they are siblings and he marries Caesonia, a priestess and notorious courtesan, after she bears him an heir. Caligula is popular with the masses but the Senate disapproves of his eccentricities. Caligula's true personality emerges when he jealously rapes both a virgin bride and her husband on their wedding day and orders Gemellus's execution to provoke a reaction from Drusilla.
After discovering that Caesonia is pregnant, Caligula develops a severe fever. Drusilla nurses him back to health and Caesonia bears him a daughter, Julia Drusilla. During the celebration, Drusilla collapses with the same fever he had. Soon afterward, Caligula receives another ill omen in the form of a blackbird. Despite praying to Isis out of desperation, Drusilla dies and Caligula has a nervous breakdown.
Caligula walks through Rome in a deep depression disguised as a beggar and is briefly jailed for causing a disturbance after watching an amateur performance mocking his relationship with Drusilla. Caligula proclaims himself a god and vows to destroy the senatorial class he loathes. Senators' wives are forced to work as prostitutes, estates are confiscated, the old religion is desecrated, and the army embarks on a mock invasion of Britain. Unable to tolerate his actions, Longinus conspires with Chaerea to assassinate Caligula.
Another blackbird appears in Caligula's bedroom but only Caesonia is frightened of it. Claudius becomes suspicious of Chaerea and follows him to a play where Caligula and his family are attacked in a coup led by Longinus and Chaerea. Caesonia and Julia are murdered, and Chaerea stabs Caligula in the stomach. With his final breath, the Emperor defiantly declares "I live!" as his and his family's bodies are thrown down the stadium's stairs. A horrified Claudius is proclaimed Emperor by the Praetorian Guard. The people of Rome, accustomed to chaos, clean the blood off the marble floors. The film ends with Caligula's horse, Incitatus, discovering the dead bodies of Caligula and his family.
Cast
CharacterOriginalEnglishMacroGuido MannariPatrick Allen (uncredited)Cassius ChaereaPaolo BonacelliJoss Ackland (uncredited) Uncredited Joan Baker Seán Barrett David Dixon Olive Gregg Neville Jason Geoffrey Matthews Robert Rietti Gennie Nevinson
Production Development
The men's magazine Penthouse had long been involved in film funding, helping invest in films made by other studios, including Chinatown, The Longest Yard and The Day of the Locust, but it had never produced a film on its own. The magazine's founder Bob Guccione wanted to produce an explicit adult film within a feature film narrative that had high production values; he decided to produce a film about the rise and fall of the Roman emperor Caligula. Development began under producer Franco Rossellini, the nephew of filmmaker Roberto Rossellini. A screenplay was written by Lina Wertmüller, but Guccione rejected Wertmüller's script and hired Gore Vidal to write a new screenplay. Vidal's script had a strong focus on homosexuality, leading Guccione to demand rewrites which toned down the gay content for wider audience appeal. Guccione was concerned that Vidal's script contained several gay sex scenes and only one scene of heterosexual sex, which was between Caligula and his sister Drusilla. Vidal was paid $200,000 for his screenplay, titled Gore Vidal's Caligula.
Elaborate sets were built by production designer Danilo Donati, who also designed the film's costumes, jewelry, hairstyles, wigs, and makeup. Several mainstream actors were cast, Guccione intending to make a film that he felt, like Citizen Kane, would be a landmark in cinematic history. Guccione offered directing duties to John Huston and Lina Wertmüller, both of whom rejected the film. After viewing scenes from the film Salon Kitty, Guccione agreed to have lunch with that film's director, Tinto Brass, believing Brass would be the ideal person to direct Caligula. Brass had a reputation for being difficult to deal with on film sets but Guccione thought the film's epic scope would "keep [Brass] in line" and that Brass understood the concept of the film enough to direct it. Brass described Vidal's screenplay as "the work of an ageing arteriosclerotic" and agreed to direct only if he was allowed to rewrite Vidal's screenplay. Brass's screenplay expanded the sexual content to include orgies, decorative phalluses, and much female nudity. Guccione said Brass's rewrites were done out of necessity to the film's visual narrative and did not alter the dialogue or content.
In an interview for Time magazine, Vidal said that in film production, directors were "parasites" and a film's author was its screenwriter; in response, Brass demanded Vidal's removal from the set and Guccione agreed. Guccione considered the film to be a "collective effort, involving the input of a great number of artists and craftsmen", and the director to be the leader of a "team effort". Vidal filed a contractual dispute over the film because of Brass's rewrites; Guccione said Vidal had demanded 10% of the film's profits, which Vidal said was not the case. Vidal distanced himself from the production, calling Brass a "megalomaniac". Brass publicly stated, "If I ever really get mad at Gore Vidal, I'll publish his script". Vidal's name was removed from the film's title; the credits were changed to state that the film was "adapted from a screenplay by Gore Vidal", crediting no official screenwriter. Guccione said, "Gore's work was basically done and Tinto's work was about to begin".
Themes
The film's primary theme is "absolute power corrupts absolutely". Vidal's script presented Caligula as a good man driven to madness by absolute power; Brass's screenplay envisioned Caligula as a "born monster". In The Encyclopedia of Epic Films, author Djoymi Baker describes Brass's screenplay as "an antiepic with an antihero, on a path of self-inflicted, antisocial descent". Guccione said this final draft was more violent than sexual, stating, "I maintain the film is actually anti-erotic ... in every one of its scenes you'll find a mixture of gore or violence or some other rather ugly things".
Casting Orson Welles was initially offered $1 million to star as Tiberius,Brady, Frank (1990) Citizen Welles, London: Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 9780340513897. p. 563 a figure which would have been his highest ever salary, but he refused on moral grounds when he read the script. Gore Vidal expressed disbelief that this could have ever been the case as he felt that Welles could not have portrayed Tiberius, but then recalled Kenneth Tynan remarking to him at the time that Welles was "upset" by the script.Vidal, Gore (1989) "Remembering Orson Welles", New York Review of Books, June 1, 1989 Renowned actors who did accept roles in the film included Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren, Peter O'Toole and Sir John Gielgud, with Maria Schneider cast as Caligula's doomed sister Drusilla. Owing to her lingering discomfort from her work in Last Tango in Paris four years prior, Schneider became uncomfortable with appearing nude and in sexual scenes, and left the production, to be replaced by Teresa Ann Savoy, with whom Brass had previously worked on Salon Kitty. Schneider had also apparently angered Brass by sewing up the open tunics she was supposed to wear on camera."Stracult Movie - Therese Ann Savoy" , Video Rai TV (July 31, 2012) Gielgud was also offered the role of Tiberius, which he declined, as he felt Vidal's script was "pornographic", but he later accepted the shorter role of Nerva. Director Tinto Brass cast his own acquaintances as senators and noblemen, including ex-convicts, thieves and anarchists. Guccione cast Penthouse Pets as female extras in sexual scenes.
Filming
Principal photography began in 1976 in Rome. McDowell got along well with Tinto Brass, while Peter O'Toole immediately disliked the director. John Gielgud and Helen Mirren were indifferent to Brass; they ultimately trusted his direction and focused on their own performances. O'Toole had stopped drinking alcohol before filming, but Guccione described O'Toole as being "strung out on something" and said the actor was not sober during the entire filming schedule.