| Caligula | |
|---|---|
 US release poster | |
| Directed by | Tinto Brass (later disowned) Giancarlo Lui Bob Guccione (additional scenes) |
| Produced by | Bob Guccione Franco Rossellini |
| Written by | Gore Vidal (disowned) Malcolm McDowell Massolino D'Amico Tinto Brass Ted Whitehead (uncredited) |
| Starring | Malcolm McDowell John Gielgud Peter O'Toole Helen Mirren Teresa Ann Savoy |
| Music by | Sergei Prokofiev Aram Khachaturyan Paul Clemente |
| Cinematography | Silvano Ippoliti |
| Editing by | Nino Baragli Enzo Micarelli (1984) Russell Lloyd (uncredited) |
| Studio | Penthouse |
| Distributed by | Produzioni Atlas Consorziate (Italy) Analysis Film Releasing (US) |
| Release date(s) |
|
| Running time | 156 minutes (Wide release) See alternate versions |
| Country | Italy United States |
| Language | Italian English |
| Budget | $17.5 million (initial) $22 million (final) |
| Box office | $23,438,120 (US) |
Caligula is a 1979 Italian–American biographical film. It was directed by Tinto Brass, with additional scenes filmed by Giancarlo Lui and Penthouse founder Bob Guccione. The film concerns the rise and fall of Roman Emperor Gaius Iulius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, better known as Caligula. It was based on a screenplay by Gore Vidal, co-financed by Penthouse magazine and produced by Guccione and Franco Rossellini. It stars Malcolm McDowell, Teresa Ann Savoy, Helen Mirren, Peter O'Toole and John Gielgud. It was the first major motion picture to feature both eminent film actors and pornographic scenes. It remains one of the most infamous cult films ever made[1] and remains banned in several countries to this day.[2][3]
Plot
Caligula (Malcolm McDowell), the young heir to the throne of the syphilis-ridden, half-mad Emperor Tiberius (Peter O'Toole), thinks he has received a bad omen after a blackbird flies into his room early one morning. Shortly afterward, Macro (Guido Mannari), the head of the Praetorian Guards, appears to tell the young man that his great uncle (Tiberius) demands that he report at once to the Island of Capri, where Tiberius has been residing for a number of years with a close friend Nerva (John Gielgud), a dim-witted relative Claudius (Giancarlo Badessi), and Caligula's younger stepbrother Gemellus (Bruno Brive) (Tiberius's favorite). Fearing assassination, Caligula is afraid to leave, but his beloved sister and lover Drusilla (Teresa Ann Savoy) convinces him to go.
At Capri, Caligula finds his great uncle has become depraved, showing signs of advanced venereal diseases, and embittered with Rome and politics. Tiberius enjoys watching degrading sexual shows, often including children and various freaks of nature. Caligula observes with a mixture of fascination and horror. Tensions rise when Tiberius jokingly tries to poison Caligula in front of Gemellus. After Nerva commits suicide on the prospect of Caligula's rule, Tiberius, now dying, is at the mercy of being murdered by Caligula but Macro halts Caligula's action and commits the deed himself by choking Tiberius and thus hastening Caligula's ascent to the throne.
Caligula triumphantly removes the imperial signet from Tiberius's finger and suddenly realizes that Gemellus has witnessed the murder. Tiberius is buried with honors and Caligula is proclaimed the new Emperor; he in turn proclaims Drusilla his equal, to the apparent disgust of the Senate. Afterwards, Drusilla, fearful of Macro's influence, convinces Caligula to get rid of him. Caligula obliges by setting up a mock trial in which Gemellus is intimidated into testifying that Macro alone murdered Tiberius. With the powerful Macro gone, Caligula appoints Tiberius's former adviser Longinus (John Steiner) as his right-hand man, and pronounces the docile Senator Chaerea (Paolo Bonacelli) as the new head of the Praetorian Guard. Drusilla endeavors to find Caligula a wife amongst the priestesses of the goddess Isis, the cult they secretly practice. Caligula only wants to marry Drusilla, but when she insists that they cannot marry because she is his sister, he marries, Caesonia (Helen Mirren), a priestess of the Goddess Isis and a known courtesan, but only after she bears him an heir. At her home, Drusilla had arranged Caligula's introduction to many of the priestesses of Isis, and while she would have been happier had Caligula chosen someone other than Caesonia, she did not strongly object
Caligula proves to be a popular but eccentric ruler, cutting taxes and overturning all the oppressive laws that Tiberius enacted. The Senate begins to dislike the young emperor for his eccentricities and various insults directed towards them. Darker aspects of his personality begin to emerge as well; he rapes a bride and groom on their wedding day because of a minor fit of jealousy, and orders the execution of Gemellus merely to provoke a reaction from Drusilla.
After he discovers Caesonia is pregnant, Caligula suffers severe fever, but Drusilla nurses him back to health. Just as he fully recovers, Caesonia bears him a daughter, Julia Drusilla, and Caligula marries her on the spot, at first thinking that she had borne him a son. During the celebration, Drusilla collapses in Caligula's arms from the same fever he'd suffered. Soon afterwards, Caligula receives another ill omen in the guise of a black bird. He rushes to Drusilla's side, prays to Isis for her recovery, and watches her die, but, initially, cannot accept that she is dead. Caligula has a nervous breakdown; he smashes a statue of Isis and lovingly attends Drusilla's body, but then fully accepting her death screams hysterically. Now in a deep depression, Caligula walks the Roman streets, disguised as a beggar; Caligula then causes a disturbance after watching an amateur performance mocking his relationship with Drusilla. After a brief stay in a city jail, Caligula proclaims himself a god and becomes determined to destroy the senatorial class, which he has come to loathe. His reign becomes a series of humiliations against the foundations of Rome; senators' wives are forced to work in the service of the state as prostitutes, estates are confiscated, the old religion is desecrated, and he initiates an absurd war on Britain to humiliate the army; the army never actually fights in Britain, but is ordered to attack stalks of papyrus on the shores. It is obvious to the senators and the military that Caligula must be assassinated, and Longinus conspires with Chaerea to carry out the deed.
Caligula wanders into his bedroom where a nervous Caesonia awaits him. The blackbird makes a final appearance, but only Caesonia is frightened of it. The next morning, after rehearsing an Egyptian play, Caligula and his family are attacked as they leave the stadium in a coup headed by Chaerea. His wife and daughter are brutally murdered and Chaerea himself stabs Caligula in the stomach. With his final breaths, he defiantly whimpers "I live!"
As Caligula and his family's bodies are thrown down the marble steps and their blood is washed off the marble floor, Claudius is proclaimed the new Emperor.
Production
Gore Vidal developed a screenplay from Roberto Rossellini's unproduced Caligula television mini-series. Franco Rossellini, nephew of Roberto, and Vidal's original choice, was to create a modestly-budgeted historical drama. When the pair could not obtain financing, Vidal contacted media mogul and Penthouse founder and publisher Bob Guccione. Guccione agreed to finance the project on two conditions: that the film would be transformed into a flamboyant, luxurious spectacle akin to Hollywood's sword-and-sandal epics of the 1950s and 1960s, and that extra sex and nudity would be added to the script in order to promote Guccione's magazine. Vidal and Rossellini agreed and the project was launched.
Federico Fellini's art director, Danilo Donati, was hired to build the expensive and complex sets and costumes. Renowned acting talent, including Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren, Peter O'Toole and Sir John Gielgud were cast. Maria Schneider was originally cast as Caligula's doomed sister Drusilla, but later dropped out and was replaced by Teresa Ann Savoy. After Guccione was unable to come to an agreement with more established directors John Huston and Lina Wertmuller,[4] Tinto Brass, a relatively young Italian director, was selected by Guccione to direct the film. Guccione was impressed by Brass' previous work, the controversial 1976 film Salon Kitty, which fused explicit sex with a big budget historical drama. Caligula production was housed in Dear Studios, Rome, where the infamous Cleopatra had been filmed thirteen years earlier. Shooting began in September 1976, with plans for a 1977 release.
From the start, Caligula was plagued by difficulties. According to Guccione in a 1980 Penthouse magazine interview, Vidal (whom Guccione called a "prodigious talent") started trouble with a Time magazine interview in which he called directors "parasites living off writers", and that the director need only follow the directions provided by the author of the screenplay. According to Guccione, an enraged Brass responded to Vidal's comments by throwing Vidal out of the studio. Guccione was forced to side with Brass (whom he called "a megalomaniac") because "Gore's work was basically done and Tinto's work was about to begin."[4]
Casting and logistical issues were problems. Uncomfortable with the sex and nudity in the script, the female lead Schneider quickly resigned from the film.[5] It was soon apparent to the filmmakers that the aggressive shooting schedule developed by the inexperienced Rossellini and Guccione was unrealistic for a film of such scope. Donati had to scrap some of his more elaborate original ideas for the sets and replace them with such surreal imagery as bizarre scenic backings, blacked-out areas, silk backdrops and curtains. This resulted in significant script changes, with Brass and the actors improvising scenes written to take place in entirely different locations, and sometimes shooting entirely new scenes (such as the frolicking scene that opens the film) in order to show progress while the incomplete or redone sets were unavailable. The production was plagued by delays due to disagreements between Brass and Donati over Brass not using Donati's completed sets,[4] as well as Brass and Guccione disagreeing over the sexual content of the film.
Brass was similarly unhappy with Vidal's script. "It was the work of an aging arteriosclerotic. Vidal redid it five times, but it was still absurd."[5] With the help of McDowell, Brass rewrote some of the screenplay.
By the time the principal photography on Caligula was completed, Vidal (having a previous issue with his involvement in the infamous Myra Breckinridge) was concerned about being associated with such an out-of-control production. Fearing the film would turn out incoherent, Vidal distanced himself from the project. Of Vidal, Brass concluded, "If I ever really get mad at Gore Vidal, I'll publish his script."[5]
As the film entered post-production, Guccione took control of the film footage, fired Brass for running up huge costs (Guccione claims Brass shot enough film to "make the original version of Ben-Hur about 50 times over"),[4] casting actual criminals as Roman senators,[6] and using what Guccione considered "fat, ugly, and wrinkled old women"[4] in the sex scenes instead of his Penthouse Pets. Guccione hired friend Giancarlo Lui to re-edit the film. Lui was instructed to refashion the film into something more in keeping with what Vidal had first scripted, while delivering the sexual content demanded by Guccione. In their most controversial move, the pair shot extra scenes of hardcore sexual material[6] which would be used to replace scenes shot by Brass.
With much footage improvised and rewritten from the original draft of the film, Lui further scrambled, re-cut and deleted scenes altogether. Many of the disturbing sexual images shot by Brass were removed, replaced by approximately six minutes of hardcore sex shot by Guccione and Lui. In the end, the final cut of the film had strayed far afield from what Brass had intended. Ironically, perhaps, it bore little resemblance to what Vidal had scripted as well.
In the unpleasant aftermath, both Brass and Vidal launched independent tirades against the film and lawsuits against Guccione, delaying the release of the film. Vidal, who was paid $200,000 for his script, agreed to drop his contractual claim for 10% of the film profits in exchange for having his name removed from the title of the film (original billing was to have been Gore Vidal's Caligula).[4] In 1981, Anneka Di Lorenzo, who played Messalina, sued Guccione, claiming that he damaged her career by using hardcore sexual scenes in the final cut of Caligula without her knowledge, thereby associating her with a pornographic film. After a protracted litigation, in 1990 a New York state court awarded her $60,000 in compensatory damages and $4,000,000 in punitive damages. On appeal, the punitive damages were determined to be not recoverable and the court vacated the award.[7]
In late 1979, three years after production began, Caligula made its debut.
Reception
The film was panned by critics.[8] Roger Ebert gave it a rare zero stars rating, calling it "sickening, utterly worthless, shameful trash."[9] It is one of only three films Ebert ever walked out of ("two hours into its 170 minute length"), the other two being Tru Loved and Jonathan Livingston Seagull.[10][11] Time Out London called the film "a dreary shambles".[12]
Versions
Caligula was shown in various versions:
- The unrated version, available in the US and mainland Europe, running 156 minutes (NTSC) and 150 minutes (PAL), is the most widely seen cut of the film. It enjoyed a limited, albeit highly profitable, run in North American cinemas. This version contains the unedited sequences of both simulated and un-simulated scenes of sexual depravity and extreme violence and gore.
- The UK version, running 149 minutes. Aside from removing eight minutes of explicit footage, the censors substituted some replacement shots, derived from Brass' principal shoot, as well as some remainder footage from Guccione's reshoots. It seems that the alternate footage was inserted carelessly, resulting in glaring continuity errors (especially obvious during the Rape of Proculus and Livia and the Temple of Isis scenes). This version is out-of-print, and was eventually replaced by the uncut version, which was finally granted classification in July 2008, 29 years after its initial release.[1]
- The rumored 210-minute unreleased version, shown as part of a private trade show for investors and distributors in Cannes, France (not to be confused with the Cannes Film Festival). The extra hour was a behind-the-scenes featurette included during the screening, which created the rumor of an extended cut of a running time of 210 minutes.[13]
- Guccione eventually authorized an R-rated cut, released in 1981, 105 minutes long, which earned the film a wider distribution. In this version the hardcore, bloody and violent footage was either trimmed or replaced with yet another set of alternate shots and angles.
- In 1984, Franco Rossellini, unhappy with Guccione's final edit of the film, re-edited an alternate pre-release print of Caligula and spliced in some minor scenes and shots that were found in the Italian post-production labs that housed the materials before the production moved to England. This new edition of the film, re-titled as Io, Caligola clocked in at 133 minutes and contains material not present in any other versions of the film, but the Italian censors had it cut down to only 86 minutes; after a public backlash, the film was restored to 123 minutes. The missing ten minutes are no doubt responsible for a few jump cuts that occur throughout the film. This version has been released on DVD, albeit available only in Italy.
- When Io, Caligola was released on video, the distributor put back in some of the hardcore material shot by Guccione (it was deleted by Franco Rossellini) in order to boost the sales. This version is available on DVD.
- A second R-rated version was released in 1999. It was released straight to DVD and contained no alternate angles. Various shots simply repeated themselves (instead of using the different takes of scenes seen in the R-rated theatrical release), resulting in continuity problems. Otherwise, this version is based on the 1981 censored release. This DVD version ran a total of 102 minutes and was released with a red cover.
- In 1999, the Film4 channel, frustrated by the lack of any extended version of the film available in the UK (only the low quality 1981 censored version was still in print), released their own cut of Caligula, running approximately 143 minutes (the missing 13 minutes can be mostly attributed to the PAL overspeeding and time compression). It was essentially the same as the 156 minute version, with most of Guccione's explicit sexual material removed, including a lesbian tryst and a handful of sexual inserts during the imperial bordello sequence.
- A 150-minute Italian cut; basically a shortened version of the U.S. edition. It was eventually pulled out of release in favor of Franco Rossellini's re-edited version, but a briefly released VHS tape exists, though it is now out-of print. Raro Video announced that it would release a re-mastered edition of this cut on December 5, 2006, along with an interview by Tinto Brass, in which he would discuss for the first time where the editing of the film went wrong. This release never came to fruition as Raro Video's distributor backed out, and the company replaced it with a remastered print of Franco Rossellini's edit.
- The uncut Twentieth Anniversary Edition DVD was refused classification in November 2005 by Australia's OFLC, effectively banning the film in its uncensored form (although a 102-minute version was passed with an R-rating in 2004). The OFLC deemed the film too sexually explicit to fall within the R18+ classification (despite sexually explicit mainstream films such as 9 Songs receiving this rating). The film could not be accommodated in the X classification (for explicit sex) as it contains depictions of violence (although a 143-minute version of the film had, in fact, been granted an X rating for video release in 1984, when the X rating had only just been introduced and still permitted depictions of violence; the 156-minute version was passed with an X rating in January 1985).[2] Although the film's sexual content was permissible in the X category, the OFLC's classification guidelines unambiguously state "No depiction of violence, sexual violence, sexualised violence, or coercion is allowed in the category." The film was once again refused classification in July 2010; the version was presumably the Imperial Edition, as it is mentioned as having a running time of 930 minutes and many special features.[2]
- In October 2007, Image Entertainment released a 3-disc special edition known as the Imperial Edition. It features two cuts of the film, the 156-minute print and a new edit created from an alternate pre-release version which re-arranges some scenes and does not include most of the explicit sexual inserts added by Guccione (a few shots were left in by mistake and various outtakes from Brass' shoot and a handful of 16 mm behind-the-scenes footage were used to fill in for the deleted material). Both versions have been digitally remastered. Commentary tracks featuring McDowell and Mirren are included on the non-hardcore, pre-release version, and the DVD includes interviews with Tinto Brass, who discusses the film's hectic production and botched editing; and Penthouse Pet Lori Wagner, who discusses the addition of the hardcore footage, including the lesbian sex scene in which she participated. DVD-ROM content includes Gore Vidal's original screenplay, an interview with Bob Guccione, and several hundred production photographs. Other extras include more than two hours of deleted and alternate footage. The DVD set was to carry a fourth disc with the film's complete musical soundtrack, but Penthouse later pulled the soundtrack, along with any mention of the music (and the people behind it) in the behind the scenes featurettes. The 156-minute and 102-minute versions will be released separately in new collectible packaging.[14] The booklet included with the 3-disc set includes a discussion of the many different versions of the film, and states that a significant amount of footage remains unaccounted for; the notes include a plea to viewers to contact Image if they are in possession of any footage not included in the DVD set. The Imperial Edition was released on Blu-ray on January 6, 2009 in the US and Canada.
- The Imperial Edition was released in the UK (Region 2) in September 2008 by Arrow Films. This edition contains four discs, retaining the three from the Region 1 Imperial Edition, and including a newly discovered half hour of deleted and alternate footage not present in the US release, and a fourth disc (third in order of the set) claiming to feature the 1981 R-rated version, but it ended up being the 1999 version. The set does not feature the booklet from the US Imperial Edition; it does, however, include the CD-ROM features on the fourth disc.
- A Japanese special edition was released, containing the newly discovered deleted footage, but without the R-rated release.
In 2005, a fake trailer for Gore Vidal's Caligula was produced by artist Francesco Vezzoli for an alleged remake as a promotion for Versace's new line of accessories, starring Helen Mirren, Gerard Butler, Milla Jovovich, Courtney Love, Benicio Del Toro and Karen Black and featuring an introduction by Gore Vidal. It was a parody, "ostensibly [promoting] a film about a mad Roman emperor who sleeps with his sister, executes his critics and presides over a crowd of ambisexual extras dressed only in the occasional accessory."[15] The trailer screened worldwide, including a showing at New York City's Whitney Museum of American Art's 2006 Whitney Biennial.[16]
See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Case Study: Caligula". Students' British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
- ^ a b c "Film Censorship: Caligula (1979)". Refused-Classification.com. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
- ^ Davis, Laura (5 October 2010). "Caligula (1979)". independent.co.uk. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
- ^ a b c d e f Ernest Volkman (May 1980). Bob Guccione Caligula Interview from Penthouse May 1980 "Penthouse Interview: Bob Guccione". Penthouse: 112–118, 146–115. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
- ^ a b c "Will the Real Caligula Stand Up?". Time (magazine). 3 January 1977. Retrieved 9 June 2012. (requires reader to be a registered member)
- ^ a b Vinciguerra, Thomas (6 September 1999). "Porn Again". nymag.com. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
- ^ "Marjorie Lee Thoreson A/K/A Anneka Dilorenzo, Appellant-Respondent, V. Penthouse International, Ltd. And Robert C. Guccione, Respondents-Appellants". law.cornell.edu. Retrieved 2011-01-19.
- ^ "Caligula (1979)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
- ^ Roger Ebert (22 September 1980). "Caligula". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
- ^ "Roger Ebert : IAmA". Reddit. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
- ^ Roger Ebert (16 October 2008). "Don't read me first!". blog.suntimes.com. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
- ^ "Caligula (1979)". timeout.com. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
- ^ "Caligula (1979) - FAQ". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
- ^ Image Entertainment / Feature Film / Caligula (Imperial Edition)[dead link]
- ^ "My Hustler". artforum.com. 16 June 2005. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
- ^ Yablonsky, Linda (26 February 2006). "'Caligula' Gives a Toga Party (but No One's Really Invited)". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
External links
- Caligula at the Internet Movie Database
- Caligula at AllRovi
- Caligula at Rotten Tomatoes
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Categories:
- 1979 films
- 1970s drama films
- 1970s pornographic films
- Italian films
- Italian drama films
- Italian pornographic films
- American films
- American drama films
- Italian-language films
- English-language films
- Films directed by Tinto Brass
- Biographical films about Roman emperors
- Depictions of Caligula on film
- Epic films
- Erotic films
- Exploitation films
- Films set in ancient Rome
- Films set in Rome
- Films set in the 1st century
- Films shot in Rome
- Incest in film
- Penthouse (magazine)
- Obscenity controversies
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