History Trivia / IClaudius

* PlayingForTwo: Freda Dowie plays both the Sybil priestess and Caesonia.

* Enforced: Because of the alleged curse that'd already claimed some lives, Creator/BrianBlessed was a bit anxious. While they were shooting Augustus' dying scene, there was a blackout. By the time they did the take, he was terrified he would actually die on set, so the terror in his eyes is authentic.

** Patrick Stewart not only has hair, but plays the opposite of Picard or Professor X, as Sejanus is a TheChessmaster who manipulates everyone, is coldly brutal and has some kinky fantasies with Livilla.
** John Hurt usually played nice men that were sometimes pitiful. You may feel pity for Caligula somewhat recognizing his own insanity, but he is a terrifying psychopath.

* RetroactiveRecognition: For fans of genre favorites and classic blockbuster films, along with Creator/PatrickStewart and Creator/JohnHurt, there is also Creator/JohnRhysDavies in the cast.

* EnforcedMethodActing:

** Because of the alleged curse that'd already claimed some lives, Creator/BrianBlessed was a bit anxious. While they were shooting Augustus' dying scene, there was a blackout. By the time they did the take, he was terrified he would actually die on set, so the terror in his eyes is authentic.
* FanNickname: ''I, Clavdivs'' (achieved by pronouncing the Roman U's as V's; later home-video reissues do away with the Roman styling).
* IAmNotSpock: Creator/DerekJacobi had people shout "Hail Cesar" at him in supermakets.

* ThrowItIn: For Livia's dying scene, Creator/JohnHurt suggested Caligula actually jumped in bed with her, as that would be more realistic for the character. They made the take, and he spontaneously kissed her full on the lips to emphasise the kind of degenerate person Caligula was (Livia was his great-grandmother).
* UnderageCasting: Thirty-two-year-old Creator/JohnRhysDavies, and looks it and isn't made up to look older, as Macro who lived to be fifty-eight.

** Creator/IanMcKellen turned down the role of Caligula because he didn't want to play second fiddle to his university friend Creator/DerekJacobi.

* ThrowItIn: For Livia's dying scene, Creator/JohnHurt suggested Caligula actually jumped in bed with her, as that would be more realistic for the character. They made the take, and he spontaneously kissed her full in the lips to emphasise the kind of degenerate person Caligula was (Livia was his great-grandmother).

** Creator/CharltonHeston and Creator/RonnieBarker were considered for Claudius. Seriously.

** Kevin Stoney reprises his role as Thrasyllus of Mendes from the 1968 ITV series ''Series/TheCaesars'', which also covered the reigns of the first four Roman Emperors.

* RoleReprise: Kevin Stoney reprises his role as Thrasyllus of Mendes from the 1968 ITV series ''Series/TheCaesars'', which also covered the reigns of the first four Roman Emperors.

** Margaret Tyzack, also aged 45, played Antonia from the age of ''12'' to her death at 73.

** Margaret Tyzack, also aged 45, played Antonia from the age of 27 to her death at 73.

* RoleReprise: Kevin Stoney reprises his role as Thrasyllus of Mendes from the 1968 ITV series ''The Caesars'', which also covered the reigns of the first four Roman Emperors.

* RoleReprisal: Kevin Stoney reprises his role as Thrasyllus of Mendes from the 1968 ITV series ''The Caesars'', which also covered the reigns of the first four Roman Emperors.

* DyeingForYourArt: George Baker, who was in his early forties, went on a regime of diet and exercise so he could realistically play a young Tiberius. He managed to equal the weight he used to have when he was twenty-four. It sort of doubles as accidental EnforcedMethodActing (does that even exist?) as his tiredness and exhaustion from working out so much and eating so little actually made it easier for him to play an often frustrated and bitter character prone to mood swings.

** On early episodes, Creator/DerekJacobi put a stone in his shoe so he would limp realistically. Once he got used to it, he didn't need the stone any more.

* NoBudget: The novel and its sequel, were big sprawling epics, with a few large battles, lots and ''lots'' of circuses and gladiatorial games, and the occasional riot. The TV adaptation manages to stage the whole thing without ever having a crowd larger than a meeting of the Roman Senate. (The battles all occur off-camera, with perhaps an aftermath scene in the general's tent; the gladiatorial games consist of a close-up camera on the Emperor's box.) Hey, Creator/TheBBC ain't made of money.

** The first attempt to do this for the big screen was Alexander Korda's production in 1937, with Creator/JosefVonSternberg directing. It had Merle Oberon as Messalina (more DawsonCasting), Emlyn Williams as Caligula, Flora Robson as Livia and Robert Newton as Cassius, and Creator/CharlesLaughton as Claudius. It was to be a gigantic, lavish production filmed at Korda's Denham Studios, with sets designed by Korda's brother Vincent. The project was plagued with difficulties from the beginning, among them Merle Oberon sustaining injuries in a car crash and Laughton seemingly having great difficulty getting into the role. In the 1965 BBC documentary ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUbt0sweIjI The Epic That Never Was]]'', you get the history and background information, plus the outtakes of Laughton having to stop filming again and again. The project was finally abandoned as a train wreck. But Charles was not just being a drama queen. Trained as a stage actor, it always took him a while to kind of "find" the character and and speak and act just right. [[https://youtu.be/NUbt0sweIjI?t=3326 Skip to minute 55 to see how he finally did it]].

** The first attempt to do this for the big screen was Alexander Korda's production in 1937, with Josef von Sternberg directing. It had Merle Oberon as Messalina (more Dawson casting), Emlyn Williams as Caligula, Flora Robson as Livia and Robert Newton as Cassius, and Creator/CharlesLaughton as Claudius. It was to be a gigantic, lavish production filmed at Korda's Denham Studios, with sets designed by Korda's brother Vincent. The project was plagued with difficulties from the beginning, among them Merle Oberon sustaining injuries in a car crash and Laughton seemingly having great difficulty getting into the role. In the 1965 BBC documentary ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUbt0sweIjI The Epic That Never Was]]'', you get the history and background information, plus the outtakes of Laughton having to stop filming again and again. The project was finally abandoned as a train wreck. But Charles was not just being a drama queen. Trained as a stage actor, it always took him a while to kind of "find" the character and and speak and act just right. [[https://youtu.be/NUbt0sweIjI?t=3326 Skip to minute 55 to see how he finally did it]].

** The first attempt to do this for the big screen was Alexander Korda's production in 1937, with Josef von Sternberg directing. It had Merle Oberon as Messalina (more Dawson casting), Emlyn Williams as Caligula, Flora Robson as Livia and Robert Newton as Cassius, and Creator/CharlesLaughton as Claudius. It was to be a gigantic, lavish production filmed at Korda's Denham Studios, with sets designed by Korda's brother Vincent. The project was plagued with difficulties from the beginning, among them Merle Oberon sustaining injuries in a car crash and Laughton seemingly having great difficulty getting into the role. In the 1965 BBC documentary ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUbt0sweIjI The Epic That Never Was]]'', you get the history and background information, plus the outtakes of Laughton having to stop filming again and again. He was not just being a drama queen. Trained as a stage actor, it always took him a while to kind of "find" the character and and speak and act just right. [[https://youtu.be/NUbt0sweIjI?t=3326 Skip to minute 55 to see how he finally did it]].

* {{Plagiarism}}: Not this work, but it turns out that Richard Condon plagiarized several passages from ''I, Claudius'' in ''Film/TheManchurianCandidate''. This went unnoticed until a few years after Condon died.

** Baker lost a lot of weight to play Tiberius, which also made it easier for him to realistically play the mood swings, as the amount of diet and exercise provoked a lot of that for him in RealLife.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Creator/HelenMirren turned down the role of Drusilla. Ironically, she would later star in ''Film/{{Caligula}}'', which funnily enough, also featured Siân Phillips' then-husband Creator/PeterOToole.

** Because of the alleged curse that'd already claimed some lives, Brian Blessed was a bit anxious. While they were shooting Augustus' dying scene, there was a blackout. By the time they did the take, he was terrified he would actually die on set, so the terror in his eyes is authentic.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Creator/HelenMirren turned down the role of Drusilla. Ironically, she would later star in ''Film/{{Caligula}}'', which funnily enough, also featured Siân Phillips' then-husband Creator/PeterOToole.