In 2019, art historian Thomas Negovan undertook an ambitious project to “rescue” Caligula’s reputation. Re-edited completely from previously unreleased footage, Negovan reconstructed the film to properly present Gore Vidal and Tinto Brass’s original vision of the transformative perversity of power. The 1980 release was notoriously hijacked by Penthouse magazine owner Bob Guccione, one of the wealthiest men in America at the time, who envisioned a “new kind of art film” but ultimately discarded the plot in favor of disconnected pornographic elements.

Malcolm McDowell, the film’s Caligula, shares:
“It’s Tinto Brass’s movie, then Guccione took hold. He recut the movie but didn’t care about continuity or story. He just wanted names above the title in porn. That’s what he got. It became a scandal. Unfortunately, nobody saw the movie that I made and it really depressed me. We’re going back 47 years, but critics would say: ‘Why would Malcolm McDowell do this pile of crap?’ Why indeed? The answer is: I didn’t do that pile of crap. It was rejiggered by a pornographer who had an eye for money.”

Critics are calling McDowell’s performance in Caligula: The Ultimate Cut a complete revelation, and one of the best of his career. This unprecedented reconstruction presents the complete performances of Malcolm McDowell as Caligula and Helen Mirren as Caesonia for the first time, and features many voices which were overdubbed in the 1980 release, most notably the complete vocal performance of Teresa Ann Savoy as Caligula’s sister, Drusilla and a powerful never-before-seen monologue performed by Sir John Gielgud.

Not one frame from the nefarious 1980 release was used: the three-hour film is composed entirely of unseen takes, extended footage, and over an hour of scenes that were left on the cutting room floor. Helen Mirren’s role substantially increases, from under ten minutes of screen time in the 1980 release to nearly an hour in The Ultimate Cut.

“Caligula: The Ultimate Cut” was invited to premiere as an official selection at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, was subsequently ranked in the Guardian (UK) as the number 5 film on their list of the best films about Ancient Rome, and was honored with an honorable mention on LA Weekly’s prestigious Top Ten Films of 2024.

“What is coming out is not a re-edit so much as a new film. There’s not one frame of the Guccione Caligula, the old one. The new one was put together by this incredibly talented guy called Tom Negovan. Negovan’s Caligula is very much the movie I thought I was making with Tinto Brass.”
— Malcolm McDowell

Featuring the talents of Helen Mirren as Empress Caesonia, Peter O’Toole and John Gielgud as Emperor Tiberius and his advisor Nerva, and Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange) as Caligula, audiences can witness the latest incarnation of Rome’s most infamous tyrant:

“Caligula: The Ultimate Cut“,
on September 23rd at Teatro Niccolini,
with Malcolm McDowell and Helen Mirren in conversation following the movie
for their first ever public discussion about the film.

Q&A moderated by Taylor Hackford.