A scandal upon release, 1979’s Caligula was destroyed when porn scenes were sliced into the cut, unbeknownst to its director or stars Malcolm McDowell and Helen Mirren. But now rediscovered footage and painstaking work has rescued this raucous Roman epic. The first thing you learn about the film is that it’s shocking, disgusting, immoral. Keep going and soon enough someone dismisses the film – less as shocking, disgusting, and immoral, more as a slog. As Time magazine put it, the film enjoyed “all the success of an open-air orgy in Antarctica”. Such bad reputation’s persisted for nearly 45 years, making so much more commendable Thomas Negovan’s efforts to give Caligula new life. Hence Caligula: The Ultimate Cut, which uses more than 100 hours of footage to create a 173-minute revision. The new cut, among other things, gives more life to Mirren’s Caesonia, whose role was heavily cut for the 1979 theatrical version. As Malcolm Dowell mentions in a new interview with Total Film, “I never thought my full performance would ever be seen or Helen Mirren’s moving, commanding Caesonia would at last be unearthed. It is an unprecedented odyssey.”

August 6th, 2022

First Look: Helen Mirren hosts Documentary Now! Season 53, starting October 19

December 14th, 2016

“Collateral Beauty” New York premiere pictures

February 25th, 2023

“1923” screencaptures: Episode 7: The Rule of Five Hundred