Caligula is a 1979 film directed by Tinto Brass, with additional scenes filmed by Bob Guccione and Giancarlo Lui, about the Roman Emperor Gaius Caesar Germanicus also known as "Caligula". Caligula was written by Gore Vidal and co-financed by Penthouse magazine, though the script underwent several re-writes after Tinto Brass and Malcolm McDowell found Gore Vidal's interpretation of the infamous Emperor to be unsatisfactory. The producers were Bob Guccione and Franco Rossellini. The film was initially budgeted at $17.5-million, but by the end of the production the budget swelled up to about $22 million. The film ended up grossing $23.4 million in the United States alone and selling thousands of videos monthly. The production advertised itself as "the most controversial film in history. Only one movie dares to show the perversion behind Imperial Rome..."
It stars Malcolm McDowell as the Emperor and chronicles his rise and fall as the brief ruler of the Roman Empire. Oddly the film doesn't center on Caligula's infamously deviant sexual practices (bisexuality and having sex with his siblings); rather it focuses heavily, and gives plenty of room to the orgies on his court performed by anonymous characters. It drew heavy criticism because of its scenes of actual penetration in the "uncut" version.