Posted on 05/10/07
Huge set full of naked bodies turned Mirren's stomach
Caligula is a great, walloping mess of a movie, with horrific violence, wall-to-wall sex scenes and a fair share of inane dialogue. But visually it is marvellous, because the production designer is Danilo Donati, the man behind the sets and costumes for Federico Fellini's Satyricon, Roma and Amarcord. It also boasts Malcolm McDowell as the destructive Roman emperor, Peter O'Toole as the syphilitic Emperor Tiberius, John Gielgud as a senator and Helen Mirren as Caligula's new wife, whom he favours when not cavorting with his sister (Teresa Ann Savoy, who replaced Maria Schneider of Last Tango in Paris after Schneider walked out in rehearsals because McDowell was supposed to fondle her breast).
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