Mainstream Spotlight: Caligula

February 22, 2019
TUCKER-BANKSHOT

Welcome back to Mainstream Spotlight where we take a look at theatrically released films that feature real, unsimulated sex scenes. 1979's Caligula, directed by Tinto Brass, is one of the most controversial films ever made, thanks in no small part to it starring several acting luminaries—Peter O'Toole, John Gielgud, Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren—as well as featuring real, hardcore sex. None of the big names participate in those scenes, but they are most assuredly happening on and around the set while the big names are present.

The film opens with McDowell's Caligula and his childhood sweetheart (Teresa Ann Savoy) getting down to fucking in a pasture, with Savoy showing some major league backburger thanks to her toga's revealing lack of fabric...

Caligula's second wife is played by Helen Mirren, who shows off her incredible body in one of her most legendary nude scenes...

On the occasion of their wedding, Mirella D'Angelo and Donato Placido get a visit from the benevolent Caligula. Being the horniest of all the emperors, he naturally wants to sample the delicacies from Mirella while Donato watches on helplessly...

It isn't long before the equal opportunity emperor invites Donato up on to the table and fills his ass crack with some grease that just happened to be on hand in a large tub. Thankfully our friends over at Mr. Man keep the scene going as poor Donato Placido gets himself a fistful of McDowell...

But wait, you say, those aren't hardcore scenes. No, they're not. None of the big names are involved in the real sex on display, as these scenes were shot later by the film's producer, Penthouse founder Bob Guccione, with adult stars. 1975 Penthouse Pet of the Year Marjorie Lee Thoresen, a.k.a. Annika Di Lorenzo, shot a hardcore lesbian scene with Lori Wagner, which was inserted into the film's centerpiece orgy scene an hour and twenty minutes in. The two ladies engage in some cunnilingus...

As well as some 69-ing...

And even a good ass-licking...

For her part, Di Lorenzo sued Guccione, saying that his handling of the movie, mainly his adding of the hardcore sex inserts, had damaged her acting career by associating her with a hardcore porno movie. She won her case, but was awarded only four dollars and six cents in damages.

Although the big name actors claimed that they were unaware of the addition of unsimulated sex scenes into the finished product, two anecdotes involving John Gielgud call this into question. According to Malcolm McDowell, Peter O'Toole asked John Gielgud when he first saw him on set, "Hello, Johnny! What is a Knight of the realm doing in a porno movie!?" The other anecdote involves McDowell's first chat with Gielgud, who asked McDowell if he'd been to the set yet. McDowell said he was on his way there when Gielgud chimed in, "Oh, it's wonderful. I've never seen so much cock in my life."

They knew. They may not have known that there would be hardcore insert shots, but they knew full well they were working on a movie where that sort of thing could break out at any moment.

All images and GIFs courtesy of MrSkin.com