... and that's how you direct it!

There is a fine line between Pornography & Erotica. Tinto Brass is a master who balances on that line beautifully. His movies are playfully erotic, full of joy and extremely arousing. The women are always gorgeous, playful, willing and open to experimental suggestions.

Caligula was not exactly what Tinto had in mind. Some major movie starts signed up mostly because the screenplay was being written by Gore Vidal. I mean Malcolm McDowell, John Gielgud, Helen Mirren and Peter O'Toole, wow! Guccione originally wanted it to be called Gore Vidal's Caligula. However, he sabotaged the entire project by flying some of his models to the shooting site in Rome and filming his own pornographic idea. He did the final edits himself and Tinto Bras was not allowed in the cutting room. Gore Vidal sued Guccione and forbade his name to be in the movie title. Tinto Brass distanced himself from the final version and was heard to say numerous times that 'the fucking Americans' screwed it up.

Italians have always seemed to have a masterful grasp of erotic cinematography and have been the connoisseur's main choice for a long time now. If you are interested in more, check out the likes of Federico Fellini, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Michaelangelo Antonioni, Bernardo Bertolucci, Marco Ferrari and the list goes on - do some of your own research.