Caligula (film)

Caligula is a 1979 film directed by Tinto Brass (with additional scenes filmed by Bob Guccione and Giancarlo Lui) about the Roman Emperor Gaius Caesar Germanicus also known as "Caligula". Caligula was written by Gore Vidal and co-financed by Penthouse magazine, though the script underwent several re-writes after Tinto Brass and Malcolm McDowell found Gore Vidal's interpretation of the infamous Emperor to be unsatisfactory. The producers were Bob Guccione and Franco Rosselini. The film was budgeted at about 20 million dollars. The production advertised itself as "the most controversial film in history. Only one movie dares to show the perversion behind Imperial Rome...".

Critical reaction

The film was heavily panned by critics. Roger Ebert gave it zero stars, describing it as "sickening, utterly worthless, shameful trash"; a generation later it remained on the list of his most hated films. Both Peter O'Toole and Malcolm McDowell have since expressed regret in participating in the film. The director Tinto Brass disowned the film altogether, since the film was taken out of his hands and given to Bob Guccione's close friend Giancarlo Lui to complete the editing. Gore Vidal, the writer, also disowned the film, but that happened much earlier than the incident with Brass and for an entirely different reason. Gore and Tinto had major creative differences over the subject matter, and though both had strong ideas concerning Caligula's reasons and motivations behind the madness, neither could find a common ground. The majority of those behind the film backed Tinto Brass, which infuriated Gore Vidal, who left the project bad mouthing the entire production.

Related Topics:
Roger Ebert - The list of his most hated films - Tinto Brass - Gore Vidal - Caligula

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~