History Trivia / Caligula

* DevelopmentHell: ''[[https://www.caligulammxx.com/ Caligula MMXX]]'', was announced back in 2020, but was only released in May 2023. For context, ''Caligula MMXX'' is a cut/edit that restores most of Creator/GoreVidal's original script and the planned production between him and Guccione and presenting the movie as how Vidal wanted, all done by archivist Thomas Negovan and edited by [[Film/SuspectZero E. Elias Merhige]]. Yes, ''[[Film/{{Begotten}} that]]'' Merhige.

* DevelopmentHell: ''[[https://www.caligulammxx.com/ Caligula MMXX]]'', was announced back in 2020, but so far nothing has come out aside from a book discussing the production of the film and the plans for the original cut. For context, ''Caligula MMXX'' is planned cut/edit that restores most of Creator/GoreVidal's original script and the planned production between him and Guccione and presenting the movie as how Vidal wanted, all done by archivist Thomas Negovan and edited by [[Film/SuspectZero E. Elias Merhige]]. Yes, ''[[Film/{{Begotten}} that]]'' Merhige.

* AllStarCast: The main cast includes the likes of Malcolm McDowell, Teresa Ann Savoy, Helen Mirren, Peter O'Toole, John Steiner, and John Gielgud.

** Creator/PeterFirth was offered the role of Caligula but was busy appearing in ''Literature/{{Equus}}''. Creator/JackNicholson and Helmut Berger were also considered.

** Creator/PeterFirth was offered the role of Caligula but was busy appearing in ''Film/{{Equus}}''. Creator/JackNicholson and Helmut Berger were also considered.

* CastTheExpert: The scene of Caesonia giving birth was filmed using three different real pregnant women, and real life doctors in costume.

* CreatorBacklash: Hoo boy, Caligula. Creator/GoreVidal walked away from production because he hated how director Tinto Brass wanted satire in the film. Brass was then cut loose because producer Bob Guccione wanted hardcore sex involving his Penthouse Pets. Neither Vidal or Brass are officially credited in their roles, both disowned the final film (for different reasons). Most of the actors (with the unsurprising exception of shame-challenged Creator/HelenMirren and Creator/JohnGielgud, who had a blast making it and saw it three times in the cinema) now look upon it with regret due to its reputation as a high-budget porno; Anneka Di Lorenzo eventually won a lawsuit claiming the film damaged her career (though the punitive damages were overturned on appeal). Peter O'Toole trashed the film before it had even been released, although some say he hadn't even seen any of the rushes. Malcolm [=McDowell=] even appeared on chat shows telling people not to see it.

* DawsonCasting: The real-life Caligula was 28 when was assassinated. Creator/MalcolmMcDowell, however, was in his thirties at the time of filming.

* GenreKiller: The "porno chic" movement of TheSeventies came to a screeching halt with the film's critical failure and overwhelming controversy. Known more for its incredibly heated production, characterized by constant infighting between Creator/GoreVidal, director Tinto Brass, and producer Bob Guccione, the film was chastised as being directionless and exploitative due to the immense CreativeDifferences between Vidal (who wanted to make a straightforward historical drama that strongly focused on homosexuality in a time when mainstream LGBT acceptance was still painfully low), Brass (who wanted to make a black comedy that satirized modern politics), and Guccione (who ordered rewrites to remove Vidal's homosexual elements and wanted to make a PornWithPlot film that paid homage to the campiness of 1950s historical epics). Creator/RogerEbert infamously walked out when he saw the film-- one of the only times in his career that he did so-- and slammed it as "sickening, utterly worthless, shameful trash." While the film was a commercial success and has started to become VindicatedByHistory with the help of recuts that reorient the film closer to Brass' vision, the combination of the sheer vitriol directed towards it and the emerging conservative revolution in the Anglosphere put the kibosh on the mainstream fashionability of pornographic films.

** The scene of three men bathing in red mud was actually filmed as happening before Nerva's death, but had new dialogue dubbed in where they discuss his death and Tiberius's imminent death.
** The scene of Chaerea, Longinus and the rest of the senate apparently plotting Caligula's murder was created using unused takes from an earlier scene where they discuss the possibility of Caligula dying from a fever. Dubbing achieved this, and you'll notice that whoever is speaking [[FilmingForEasyDub has their mouth obscured]].

* OnSetInjury: Peter O'Toole who, although he'd given up drinking beforehand was reportedly high during filming, accidentally knocked another actor out. In the scene where Tiberius stabs a drunken soldier, he snapped the sword up with such force the actor was knocked unconscious.
* TheOtherMarty: Maria Schneider was originally cast as Drusilla, but became uncomfortable with appearing nude and in sexual scenes, and left the production, to be replaced by Teresa Ann Savoy, whom Tinto Brass had previously worked with on ''Salon Kitty''. Schneider had also apparently angered Brass by sewing up the open tunics she was supposed to wear on camera. She'd already had a traumatic experience shooting the similarly explicit ''Film/LastTangoInParis'' and wasn't keen to go through that again.
* PopCultureUrbanLegends: Contrary to popular belief, the infamous three hour and thirty minute pre-release version of the movie never existed. The mix-up came from an erroneous movie program printed for the first public screening of this movie at the Cannes Trade Festival (not to be confused with the Cannes Film Festival that occurs around the same time of the year) that stated that the entirety of the "Caligula Screening" runs three hours and thirty minutes. What it forgot to say, however, was that the movie (in its two hour and thirty-six minute edition) and the one hour making-of featurette were shown back to back that night, thus creating the three and a half hour running time.
* RoleEndingMisdemeanor: Creator/GoreVidal gave an interview for ''Time'' magazine where he described directors as "parasites" and a film's author was its screenwriter. Tinto Brass demanded Vidal's removal from the set and Bob Guccione agreed. [[TroubledProduction It was the first and last time the two ever agreed on anything.]]

* ThrowItIn: Creator/MalcolmMcDowell ad-libbed putting a flower in Procclus' ass after fisting him.

* UnderageCasting: Creator/PeterOToole was in his forties when he played the 77 year old Tiberius.

** After raping Proculus' wife, Caligula was meant to sodomize Proculus. Creator/MalcolmMcDowell refused to do it, and Tinto Brass instead suggested the off-screen fisting, which is seen in the movie.
** The actors would only agree to ADR their dialogue if Bob Guccione's infamous inserts were removed from the film. They obliged, and the actors worked with a cut that didn't have his six minutes of re-shoots. Once the dubbing was done, he had them added back in.

** Creator/PeterFirth was offered the role of Caligula, but was busy appearing in ''Film/{{Equus}}''. Creator/JackNicholson and Helmut Berger were also considered.

** Creator/OrsonWelles claimed he had declined a role in this film for "moral reasons", despite being offered a very generous paycheck ($1 million to be specific, which would have been his highest ever salary).

** Creator/GoreVidal's script originally presented Caligula as a good man who is corrupted by power. His first draft also had a strong focus on homosexuality, and numerous same sex love scenes, with in fact only one heterosexual sex scene. Unsurprisingly, this was the first thing Bob Guccione complained about.