FAQ

It shows the male and female anatomy in fully functional actions, it includes oral and vaginal sex. Uncut should be an x rated film.

Not quite. Bob Guccione was the executive producer and after firing Tinto Brass from the director's/editor's chair, personally re-shot six minutes worth of sex scenes and ordered massive re-edits on the film. Still, 95% of the finished movie was directed by Tinto Brass, albeit not edited the way he intended.

No. He disowned the film shortly after the principal photography began, when he found out that Tinto Brass and the lead actor, Malcolm McDowell, altered the film's historical drama into a surreal political satire. The film released today is the result of Giancarlo Lui's attempt to reconstruct Gore Vidal's original intention.

It's a mix. Most of the characters are condensed versions of various different historical figures, many have their real roles in the story changed, and some characters' fates are vastly altered. For example, Nerva starved himself to death in 33 AD and Drusilla died long before Caligula even met Caesonia. Also, all of Caligula's previous marriages are never mentioned and most of the sets, costumes and props in no way represent real Roman architecture or culture; they are, in fact, surreal and fantastical interpretations of Pagan Rome.

However, most of the events depicted in the film are faithful to Suetonius' biography of Caligula, practically down to the letter.

But that dumb clownesk figure of Claudius is not accurate. He only stuttered, but was very wise. He proved to be a worthy , righteous and honourable emperor.

Because it doesn't exist. Much speculation and erroneous claims about this alleged print have been made, but recent discoveries have confirmed that this urban myth sprawled from a vague film programme that was handed out to industry insiders at a private trade screening at Cannes in 1979 (not to be mistaken with the Cannes Film Festival that occurred at the same time) and stated that the entire screening of "Caligula" clocked in at 210 minutes. What the programme did NOT state is that the trade screening included both the film AND a one hour making-of featurette (which can be seen on the DVD), creating the error of a three and a half hour running time.

As with most films, there most likely WAS a marginally longer pre-release print floating around (some say around 170 minutes, but not any longer), but there was never a 210 minute version available, thus, most of the film's third act was always missing.

An edited version of Sergei Prokofiev's "Montegues & Capulets" theme from his ballet rendition of "Romeo & Juliet."

Drusilla gives Caligula an onion to sniff so he would appear teary-eyed when saying Tiberius' eulogy. If one listens closely, Caligula tells her "hand me the onion" before he sniffs it.

Some versions of the film omit the entire moment of Caligula coming up to Drusilla and sniffing the onion.

"Caligula" is spelled as "Caligola" in Italian and legally this film is an Italian production, so the Italian spelling of the title is used in the IMDb listing.

Despite the raw and explicit content in this film, this is in part false. The main lead roles, played by British actors and actresses, had fairly successful careers despite their contribution to the project. After this film, Malcolm McDowell (Caligula) had no other major roles, but this was because the British film industry collapsed, forcing him to flee to America to continue working. Peter O'Toole (Tiberius) returned to films with triumphant performances in The Stunt Man (1980) and My Favorite Year (1982). Needless to say, Helen Mirren went on to have an illustrious career as one of the most prestigious English actors and won an Oscar for The Queen (2006).

As for the supporting cast, Teresa Ann Savoy (Drusilla) simply grew tired of her career not moving beyond erotically themed films, retired from acting and lived in Italy until she died in 2017. Other actors, such as John Steiner (Longinus), never fully established a strong acting career in the first place and also retired from acting in the early 1990s. However, some of the Italian actors remained somewhat successful performers in the Italian film industry, like Adriana Asti, Mirella D'Angelo, and Paolo Bonacelli. Some of the Italian cast members weren't even professional actors at all, like Guido Mannari, who only got cast as Macro because at the time he was romantically involved with the film's producer, Franco Rossellini.

On the other hand, the tragic late Anneka Di Lorenzo's career suffered as a direct result of the extra hardcore lesbian footage that Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione filmed with her participation during post-production. In 1988, she sued Guccione on charges of sexual slavery and defamation. Anneka won a $4,000,000 judgment when the trial was over with but lost most of it due to numerous lawyer fees and successful appeals by the other party. She later went on to have a low-key life as a nursing assistant and died under mysterious circumstances in January of 2011.