What To Do With an X-Rated Camp Classic? Film Historian Thomas Negovan Says Reconstruct It

EDGE: None of what was seen in 1980 is in this new version. Everything that we see on the screen now is alternate takes and deleted scenes. Was that because what was in the original cut you just felt wasn't going to work and there was nothing you could bring into this version? Or were you thinking you wanted a fresh start?

Thomas Negovan: Well, the way that we entered it was that we pretended that the 1980 cut never happened. As we were working, we noticed that the decisions that had been made back in the '70s were completely arbitrary. There's a very similar shot that we found that's actually in better focus [than an almost identical shot used in the 1980 cut]. There are other shots where Malcolm is performing very histrionically, and then you find a performance that's far more subdued and more dramatic. And the third point is that we used a lot of closeups and a lot of wide shots. One of Bob's complaints was that he didn't feel that the movie showed off the sets. Well, part of is because there were these reels that had glorious shots of the sets that had never been cut into. So, we used a lot of beautiful wide shots.

Most of all, the 1980 release did not follow the shooting script. There are so many shots where, in the original version, maybe it runs for two minutes, and ours runs for five because, like a Quentin Tarantino movie, the characters kept talking, and what they were saying was relevant and important to the plot. By the end of those things converging, there just was never a shot that was in the original version that was the best option. So, it wasn't on purpose, but it did happen through the process.

EDGE: You really have created a whole new vision of the film.

Thomas Negovan: We're calling it a reconstruction, because it's a wholly different movie. If you're watching Helen Mirren act, I'm not anxious to cut away from that. What happened in [the] 1980 [cut] is you're watching Malcolm give this beautiful performance, [and then] cut away to a blow job. That was so crazy to me. We weren't trying for shock value; we just focused on the storyline and putting the actors front and center. There's still extraordinary amounts of sex and violence, and all kinds of eroticism, like when Tiberius asks Caligula, "Do you prefer nymphs or satyrs?" and he says, "Well, one must have both!"

EDGE: Are there other old films that you feel got a bad shake that you would like to restore, recut, and, in a way, resurrect?

Thomas Negovan: Under no circumstances will I ever do this again.

[Laughter]

There was three years of grueling, grueling work. My own skill set coming from a background with art makes this movie, to me, like a symbolist film, so the idea that there's a mythology of Caligula transforming into legend, mixed with all of this really bold sexuality... my experience with art nestles so perfectly in between those two masters that I can't imagine another old film that would have that, so my intention moving forward is to focus on making new films that have those elements.

"Caligula: The Ultimate Cut" will be available September 17 in a number of different DVD formats: A numbered UHD boxed set; a Two-Disc Blue-ray set; and a DVD set. On October 18, the film will be available on VOD. On October 22, it will be available in a 4K Ultra-High Definition version.