It is not quite accurate to say that Penthouse chose the movie. Further, Vidal never wrote a novel about Caligula. Gore Vidal was already planning on a Caligula when director Paul Morrissey and producer Franco Rossellini approached him with their own Caligula project. They joined forces, but Italian law forbade a foreign screenwriter from being paid the $225,000 that Vidal demanded (his standard price). Rossellini then attempted to find US backing, which would allow Vidal to be paid by a US concern. His plan bore no fruit.
Then, just weeks later, out of the blue, Vidal’s phone rang. On the other end of the line was his tenant Jack Silverman. Yes, Vidal was a landlord, and Silverman rented an apartment in his brownstone at 416 East 58th Street. Silverman, an ad executive with Ogilvy & Mather, had previously attempted but failed to put together financing for Vidal’s script Jim Now with Rossellini as producer (an amazing script by the way, a million times better than Caligula). Silverman was now phoning to announce that he had just accepted a position as president of Penthouse’s new film-production wing, and that Penthouse founder Bob Guccione, whom Vidal already knew through Jim Goode, was searching about for a script that would be both serious and sexy. Vidal told about the scuttled Caligula venture, and after various battles of the egos, Guccione agreed to invest in Rossellini’s production, on condition that he could take presentation and coproducer credit, and on condition that Morrissey be removed from the project. Vidal and Morrissey had been eager to work together, and it seems that Guccione gave Morrissey the boot just to show who was boss.
Vidal’s script had a few sexual scenes, but as for all the other sexy stuff that Guccione was keen to add, Vidal saw no need for it. He initially went along because he was sure any such additions could and probably would all be cut out prior to shooting, surely prior to release.
Though various actors had been approached right from the first, nobody was cast prior to Guccione’s involvement. Guccione, again flexing his muscles, nixed Vidal’s preferred actors (Peter Firth as Caligula and Claire Bloom as Drusilla). McDowell was not the first choice for the part. He was the fifth.
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