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This piece contains some spoilers for "Gladiator II."

In this month's "Gladiator II," Rome does not fall — but it comes damn close. It's also not for lack of trying, as both the manipulative ex-slave Macrinus (Denzel Washington) and our ostensible hero, Lucius (Paul Mescal), have no love for the Empire, with both men actively seeking to usurp, disrupt or combat its rule. Even though Lucius eventually changes his mind and finds himself believing in a "dream of Rome" begun by his grandfather Marcus Aurelius, and his father, Maximus (Russell Crowe in the first "Gladiator"), it may be too late, as the Empire has been nearly irrevocably tarnished by decades of decadence and misrule. The two men most responsible for this are the Emperors Geta (Joseph Quinn) and Caracalla (Fred Hechinger), a couple of Enfant Terribles who director Ridley Scott told Vanity Fair he saw as "almost a replay of Romulus and Remus,...

Where to begin on this infamous film? Shot in 1976 and released in 1980, Caligula was directed by arthouse provocateur Tinto Brass. Written by Gore Vidal and funded by Penthouse founder Bob Guccione, Caligula became one of those unfortunate films that was messed with by someone who should not have had editing or final cut privileges. But throughout film history, huge egos with money have done exactly that. In the case of Caligula, Guccione went beyond most interfering suits, if you could call him that, and secretly shot pornographic footage on the sets at night. He then had this footage cut into the film, resulting in a wild ride, to say the least. The film stars Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange) as the young man...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Chicago – One of the most notorious films in cinema history is undoubtably “Caligula” (1980). This very expensive independent film about a Roman emperor had a checkered history – from its principle photography beginning in 1976 to its release date – and featured big stars like Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren, Peter O’Toole and John Gielgud. When a “reconstruction” was in order, the writer, art historian and Chicago native Thomas Negovan was hired to create “The Ultimate Cut.” Negovan will appear at two screenings on September 29th and 30th at Chicago’s historic Music Box Theatre. For tickets and more information, click Caligula.

“Caligula” was one of those “utmost” 1970s-era film projects, financed by the infamous owner of the nudie publication Penthouse Magazine, Bob Guccione, and was directed by auteur Tinto Brass, written by prominent author Gore Vidal and starred Malcolm McDowell at his acting peak. When the cost overruns went out of control, Guccione seized...

Grand movies set in the time of the Roman Empire used to be incredibly prevalent. That probably has to do with the images that immediately come to mind when imagining the setting, including those of power-hungry emperors, battle-worn gladiators, and backstabbing aristocrats. Some of Hollywood's earliest films tapped into those themes to great success, becoming the industry's first blockbusters.

In the more modern era, however, the "sword and sandal" epics that comprised this genre of filmmaking have more or less subsided. As the budgets for these gigantic movies continued to increase, so did the risk involved for investors. Today, the genre is mainly dormant, but with the upcoming release of Gladiator 2, there's always a chance audiences might see a reinvigoration of the marketplace. If you're looking to reacquaint yourself with some ancient history, here are the ten best films set in the Roman Empire.

Caligula Took the Debauchery of...

In 2023, a newly-edited version of the 1980 erotic film, Caligula, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, seeking to revive the original vision of the film’s writer, Gore Vidal, as well as uncover the performances by acting legends Helen Mirren, Malcolm McDowell, Peter O’Toole, and more. Now, Caligula: The Ultimate Cut, is receiving a home release, and will be available on DVD and Blu-Ray on September 17th.

Starring McDowell as the titular Roman emperor and Mirren as his wife, Caesonia, the original Caligula has been a source of controversy since it first premiered, primarily due to its violence and the post-production inclusion of explicit sexual scenes. Director, Tinto Brass, and screenwriter, Vidal, both objected to Guccione’s changes, and many of the cast’s best performances were left on the cutting room floor in favor of the smuttier portions.

With Caligula: The Ultimate Cut, though, producer Thomas Negovan and editor Aaron Shaps...

The following article contains discussions of suicide and murder. Reader discretion is advised.

Anneka Di Lorenzo was a prominent model and exploitation film star whose tragic and mysterious death remains unsolved. Born on September 6, 1952, in St. Paul, Minnesota, Marjorie Lee Thoreson ran away to Los Angeles after her parents' divorce (via Yahoo). There she worked as a topless dancer, cocktail waitress, and receptionist, often under pseudonyms. In 1973, she appeared in Penthouse, under the name Anneka Di Lorenzo, thanks to the assistance of publisher Bob Guccione.

Guccione helped cast Di Lorenzo in the controversial Caligula, an erotic history film that Roger Ebert famously walked out of. Di Lorenzo continued acting in exploitation films like Mama's Dirty Girls, Act of Vengeance, and Messalina, Messalina!, all of which came out before Caligula due to the film's production problems. Her final role came in the Michael Caine psychological horror thriller, Dressed to Kill. Then tragically,...

Caligula: The Ultimate Cut seems to be Negovan’s attempt at giving the controversial film another shot. First released in 1979, it was just so hot, so messy, and so full of stuff that it was hard to make sense of most of it. It did feel like they were just throwing everything on the wall with crazy ideas and just went with whatever stuck.

But Negovan saw something in there somewhere. Like I imagine a music teacher must feel when they get their hands on a really talented student’s composition but it’s all over the place. They can hear the good parts underneath all the noise.

So Negovan went through and cleaned it up, took some of the more “colorful” stuff out so the actual story could shine through. This “Ultimate Cut” gives more character focus among many and just what the film really says about power and humanity.

Without the extra sex that made writer Gore Vidal want his credit removed, Tinto Brass’s epic of imperial eroticism showcases a powerhouse Malcolm McDowell

Here it is, in all its seedy absurdity and shame-filled grandeur, the controversial 1979 Romesploitation shocker Caligula, originally released towards the end of the movies’ porn-chic period. It is about the rise and fall of obscene tyrant Caligula, the Roman emperor who married his sister and ennobled his horse. It is now rereleased in an extensively reconstructed and restored form, with a wittily designed new opening title sequence showing an animated Malcolm McDowell doing the “Caligula” dance.

This is the version originally envisaged before producer Bob Guccione took over at the editing stage and tried to raunch the whole thing up for commercial purposes by adding extraneous porn footage, which infuriated the director Giovanni “Tinto” Brass – hardly, as they say, a choirboy in these matters – and screenwriter Gore Vidal.

The Ultimate Cut, out this week, is the latest attempt to deliver the true version of the infamous 1979 sword and scandal epic, Caligula.

Does a great version of Caligula really exist? Ever since its star Malcolm McDowell went on television, imploring viewers not to go to the cinema and see it it in 1979, there have been those who’ve championed the period epic as a would-be masterpiece – a film with literary and artistic underpinnings that was brought low by a greedy pornographer and an editing room full of people who simply failed to understand what it was they were cutting together. McDowell himself has long said that there’s a brilliant film in Caligula, which was widely castigated by critics on its release, if only someone could go back and find it hidden among all the reels of footage.

Forty-five years later, that’s what filmmaker Thomas Negovan has done:...

Just like many of those involved in 1979's Caligula, the film's star, Malcolm McDowell, has a pretty dismal view of the controversial historical movie. Never one to hold back his candid views, the actor has a blunt and candid attitude about the film that doesn't stop short of straight-up disowning it: "I didn't do that pile of crap."

McDowell, the actor mostly famous for his role in Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange, starred in the divisive historical drama that blended a retelling of the rise and fall of the Roman emperor known as Caligula with a fair amount of very explicit sex and nudity that could have made a Targaryen blush. Although it is well documented that our ancestors were certainly not prudish, Caligula seemed more interested in bringing something as close to pornography to mainstream audiences than worrying about too much else.

Written by American writer Gore Vidal,...

Thomas Negovan's cut of Caligula offers a new coherent narrative while retaining the original explicit elements. Caligula: The Ultimate Cut operates at a much longer runtime, offering a more grounded portrayal of each actor's performance. Malcolm McDowell expresses relief that audiences can now view his intended version of Caligula, distinct from Guccione's changes.

1979's Caligula is generally considered a complete disaster of a movie, but Caligula: The Ultimate Cut could very well change its reputation. The first cut of the movie was originally directed by Tinto Brass, but he was removed before the editing stage could begin after producer and Penthouse founder Bob Guccione ordered it to be edited to change the movie's tone and style to better match pornography. The newly-edited The Ultimate Cut is Thomas Negovan's attempt to showcase the original intentions for the movie, removing many of Guccione's changes.

In an interview with The Guardian, original...

In the 1970s, Bob Guccione — publisher of the porn magazine Penthouse — commissioned a script for a sexually explicit Roman saga from novelist Gore Vidal. He hired Tinto Brass — who’d just made the Nazi chic sexploitation film Salon Kitty — to direct, and an enormously distinguished cast signed up for what seemed likely to become the most epic dirty movie ever made. In 1979, Caligula was released, without credits for its director or writer (who had both stormed off the production), and became a hot potato, especially in the version Guccione supervised, with extra hardcore smut shot without the involvement of most of the A-list actors.

Though billed as ‘The Ultimate Cut’, this three-hour version — which apparently shares no footage at all with any previous releases — seems likely to be the last word on the property. Restorer Thomas Negovan has tried to put together a film closer to Vidal’s script, with...

One of the most controversial productions in film history, Caligula was first proposed in the 1970s, went through what can only be described as a series of catastrophes, and, in 1980, emerged as a version which would be abruptly disavowed by its editor, its composer, and the most prominent members of its cast. Central to their unhappiness was the decision by producer Bob Guccione, of Penthouse, to splice in hardcore porn, which not only caused offence in itself but effectively misrepresented the actors, and destroyed the original flow of the story.

Despite all of that, there was a kernel of genius in the film that led many people to fall in love with it, and it has continued to loom large in the cinematic imaginary. For year upon year, dedicated fans sought out the original footage, but it was believed that everything not used in the release had been destroyed....

Plot: Tormented by the murder of his family, the young, wary Caligula eliminates his devious adoptive grandfather Tiberius and seizes control of the declining Roman Empire as it descends into a spiral of depravity, destruction and madness.

Review: One of the most infamous movies of all time, Caligula has long been one of the most intriguing projects in cinema history. Developed and produced by Penthouse founder Bob Guccione, Caligula was the most expensive independently produced film upon its release. From filming to release, Caligula took four years and included the departure of screenwriter Gore Vidal and director Tinto Brass and the addition of explicit pornographic material by Guccione, which resulted in a critical drubbing and countless legal proceedings taken against the film. While restorations have been attempted before, producer Thomas Negovan’s ultimate cut of the film pored over almost one hundred hours of footage to compile a vision of Caligula,...

Initially Released in 1980, Caligula was the most expensive independent film in cinema history but had a tumultuous journey to the screen. Written by the esteemed Gore Vidal and headed by the stellar cast of Malcolm McDowell, Dame Helen Mirren, Peter O’Toole and Sir John Gielgud, Caligula was meant to be an epic showcase of the generation’s finest talent, addressing the corrupting influence of power amid the rampant sexuality of the Roman court.

However, Penthouse founder (and the film’s financier) Bob Guccione seized control of the negative, randomly inserting graphic scenes of unsimulated sex and gratuitous violence. The cast and film team disavowed what had become a blatant desecration of Vidal’s themes, who sued to have his name removed from the project. The extensive coverage of behind-the-scenes notoriety also had an unexpected effect: the film was a box-office success.

Caligula: The Ultimate Cut is a Complete reconstruction of...

Update: A trailer for Caligula: The Ultimate Cut has been unveiled and can be seen at the top of this article. Graphic artist Bill Sienkiewicz has also created poster art that can be seen at the bottom of this article.

Directed by Tinto Brass from a screenplay by Gore Vidal (which many people tinkered with while bringing it to the screen), the 1979 film Caligula was the most expensive independent film in cinema history – but the story told in the film was overshadowed by the behind-the-scenes story. As a press release notes, “Penthouse founder (and the film’s financer) Bob Guccione seized control of the negative, randomly inserting graphic scenes of unsimulated sex and gratuitous violence. The cast and film team disavowed what had become a blatant desecration of Vidal’s themes, and Vidal sued to have his name removed from the project. The extensive coverage of behind-the-scenes notoriety also had...

Hollywood just can’t stop thinking about the Roman Empire. Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator 2” is in the works, and Francis Ford Coppola’s Roman epic-inspired “Megalopolis” premieres in theaters in September. Now, the infamously iconic “Caligula” is landing a recut and 4K restoration.

IndieWire exclusively unveils the official trailer and poster for “Caligula: The Ultimate Cut.” The all-new cut features never-before-seen footage, including alternate takes and camera angles, and with — for the first time ever — the complete film narrative. Drafthouse Films acquired “Caligula: The Ultimate Cut” after its 2024 Cannes Film Festival premiere and will take the movie back to theaters this summer.

Released in 1980 after director Tinto Brass disavowed his credit amid extensive changes, the controversial classic made history as the most expensive independent film of all time. Gore Vidal’s script centered on the corrupting influence of power and sexuality of the Roman court, with Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren,...

Exclusive: Drafthouse Films has acquired Caligula: The Ultimate Cut, the 4K Ultra HD reconstruction of the notorious Tinto Brass movie.

This latest presentation of the famous movie made its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in 2023 and includes never-before-seen footage and alternate takes and camera angles.

Drafthouse will release the film theatrically across North America in August 2024, followed by a streaming and 4K Uhd Blu-ray release. The Uhd Blu-ray will have new interviews with star Malcolm McDowell and the film’s reconstructionist, art historian Thomas Negovan.

Initially Released in 1980, Caligula was one of the most expensive independent films to date but had a tumultuous journey to screen. Written by Gore Vidal and starring Malcolm McDowell, Dame Helen Mirren, Peter O’Toole and Sir John Gielgud, Penthouse founder (and the film’s financer) Bob Guccione seized control of the negative and made significant changes to the movie, including the addition of...

In “Caligula: The Ultimate Cut,” absolute power corrupts absolutely, but even using absolutely all of the footage shot for the notorious production back in 1976 does not necessarily result in a better film. The most expensive independent film ever produced until that time, “Caligula” was conceived by late Penthouse founder Bob Guccione as a sexually explicit film that also featured real actors and high production values; hiring bestselling author Gore Vidal to write a script for Italian avant-garde director Tinto Brass (“Salon Kitty”), Guccione subsequently attracted such respected thespians as Malcolm McDowell, Peter O’Toole, John Gielgud and Helen Mirren to star. But after disputes between Brass and Vidal prompted the author to sue to remove his name from the film, Guccione commandeered final cut and inserted shots of graphic sex and violence, prompting cast and crew alike to disavow the film.

Devoting a substantial portion of his adult life to “Caligula...

More than 40 years after his bitter battle with Bob Guccione over cult classic “Caligula,” Italian director Tinto Brass is still fighting.

Just as Penthouse Films International has unveiled a new cut of the raunchy 1980 epic about the fall of the Roman ruler titled “Caligula: The Ultimate Cut” – that screened on Wed. in the Cannes Classics section with Helen Mirren on hand – Brass has issued a statement distancing himself from this new version of the film and announced that he is taking unspecified legal action.

“After numerous and fruitless negotiations that have followed over the years, first with the Penthouse and then with other unclear individuals, to edit the material that I shot and which had been found in the Penthouse archives, a version has been created on which I did not take part and which I am convinced will not reflect my artistic vision,” Brass, who is 90, said in the statement.

Good news for families at Cannes who couldn’t score tickets to “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” or “Elemental”: Producer Thomas Negovan is bringing “Caligula” to Paris!

“Caligula: The Ultimate Cut” will make its debut at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The entirely new edit, created from scratch using over 90 hours of original camera negatives and audio recorded on-location, will feature copious never-before-seen footage featuring Helen Mirren, Malcolm McDowell and Peter O’Toole. This cut — running 157 minutes — will presumably hew closer to what the audience was supposed to see, and what the actors believed they were making, forty years ago.

Negovan will work in partnership with Kirkendoll Management, LLC and will offer this new cut of what was back in 1980 the most expensive independent film in history. The $17.5 million flick, self-financed by Penthouse founder Bob Guccione, was intended to be a “new kind of film,” according to Guccione,...

In recent years, the documentary realm has been the place for cultural reappraisals of famous women torn asunder by the invisible hands of misogyny. A series of documentaries and investigative pieces surrounding Britney Spears, coupled with the fan-initiated #FreeBritney movement, led to the end of the pop superstar’s cruel conservatorship. A doc on Janet Jackson reassessed her unconscionable castigation in the wake of that Super Bowl wardrobe mishap, while a two-part docuseries at this year’s Sundance examined the nauseating child sexualization and commodification of Brooke Shields.

Netflix is...

In HBO Max’s new comedy series Minx, Ophelia Lovibond plays Joyce, an idealistic young writer who has spent most of her life dreaming of launching a magazine dedicated to trumpeting her feminist ideals. She pitches this idea to members of the magazine publishing elite but her invitation for them to “be on the right side of history” — the show takes place in 1971 — is not well-received. One of them looks at the woman on Joyce’s mocked-up cover and asks, “Why is she so angry?”

Joyce does manage to find one potential backer,...

After last week's super-personal episode of "Pam & Tommy," this week's pulls back to take a more informational look at the sex tape scandal. Seth Rogen's Rand Gauthier is gone entirely for the time being, while new characters — including Penthouse head honcho Bob Guccione — are introduced. This episode reminds me less of "Pam & Tommy" as we've come to know it and more of a headline-hopping episode of "American Crime Story," so I wasn't surprised to learn that episode director Gwyneth Horder-Payton also helmed a few hours of that series, too.

At only 33 minutes long including credits, this is the...

The post Lawsuits and Late Night Take Over The Latest Pam & Tommy appeared first on /Film.

The always delightful Doctor Z hangs with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante while discussing a few of his favorite monkey movies.

Dr. Z – Tmtmm Pod Mentions

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Planet of the Apes (1968) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

Beneath The Planet of the Apes (1970) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

Escape From The Planet of the Apes (1971)

Battle For The Planet of the Apes (1973) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

Every Which Way But Loose (1978)

Any Which Way You Can (1980)

The Godfather Part II (1974) – Katt Shea’s trailer commentary

Schindler’s List (1993)

Godzilla Vs. Kong (2021)

King Kong Vs. Godzilla (1962) – John Landis’s trailer commentary

King Kong (1933)

Conan The Barbarian (1982)

Godzilla (1954) – Don Coscarelli’s trailer commentary

Godzilla Raids Again (1955)

Stalag 17 (1953)

In The Heat Of The Night (1967) – Michael Schlesinger’s trailer commentary

King Kong Escapes (1967)

Murders In The Rue Morgue (1932)

The Sorrow And The Pity (1972)

My Octopus Teacher (2020)

It Came From Beneath The Sea...

Writer, producer, director Lee Daniels discusses some of his favorite films with Josh & Joe.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Infested (2002)

Shadowboxer (2005)

The United States Vs. Billie Holiday (2021)

A Star Is Born (1937)

Lee Daniels’ The Butler (2013)

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)

Lady Sings The Blues (1972)

Island In The Sun (1957)

Carmen Jones (1954)

Claudine (1974)

Mandingo (1975)

Drum (1976)

Caligula (1979)

Gloria (1980)

The Exorcist (1973)

Abby (1974)

Blacula (1972)

Scream Blacula Scream (1973)

Cabaret (1972)

Lenny (1974)

Sounder (1972)

All That Jazz (1979)

I Am A Camera (1955)

Travels With My Aunt (1972)

The Emigrants (1971)

Star 80 (1983)

Harold And Maude (1971)

The Godfather (1972)

The Godfather Part II (1974)

Pickup On South Street (1953)

In The Mood For Love (2000)

Leave Her To Heaven (1945)

Laura (1944)

Dragonwyck (1946)

The Baron of Arizona (1950)

His Kind of Woman (1951)

Explorers (1985)

Innerspace (1987)

Jack Reacher (2012)

Them (1954)

Revenge of the Creature (1955)

Tarantula! (1955)

Coogan’s Bluff (1968)

Going In Style (1979)

Going In Style (2017)

Judas And The Black Messiah (2021)

Stroszek (1977)

Fitzcarraldo (1982)

Land of Silence and Darkness (1971)

Cave Of Forgotten Dreams...

The great Larry Wilmore joins us to share some very personal double features.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

1917 (2019)

Animal Crackers (1930)

Duck Soup (1933)

My Little Chickadee (1940)

A Night At The Opera (1935)

A Hard Day’s Night (1964)

The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

The Manchurian Candidate (2004)

The Parallax View (1974)

Singin’ In The Rain (1952)

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Planet of the Apes (1968)

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972)

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

Jaws (1975)

The Stepford Wives (1975)

The Party (1968)

The Return of the Pink Panther (1975)

The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976)

Richard Pryor: Live In Concert (1979)

Richard Pryor: Live And Smokin’ (1971)

Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling (1986)

Dolemite Is My Name (2019)

Lenny (1974)

The Human Centipede (First Sequence) (2009)

Lolita (1962)

Caligula (1979)

The Night of the Iguana (1964)

The Elephant Man (1980)

What Would Jack Do? (2020)

Blue Velvet (1986)

The Apartment (1960)

Some Like It Hot (1959)

Double Indemnity (1944)

The Sting (1973)

Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid...

Is it possible Jeffrey Epstein's alleged crimes are so despicable, not even Hollywood will cash in on them? A long-in-the-works doc about the billionaire sex offender has been nixed because its filmmaker decided the material is just too gross.

“I began developing the story in 2017 and shopping it around to the various networks. There was very little interest in the subject matter given the fact that Jeffrey Epstein was at that time an unknown player with very little awareness," says Barry Avrich, 56, whose films include Unauthorized: The Harvey Weinstein Project and Filthy Gorgeous: The Bob Guccione ...

Is it possible Jeffrey Epstein's alleged crimes are so despicable, not even Hollywood will cash in on them? A long-in-the-works doc about the billionaire sex offender has been nixed because its filmmaker decided the material is just too gross.

“I began developing the story in 2017 and shopping it around to the various networks. There was very little interest in the subject matter given the fact that Jeffrey Epstein was at that time an unknown player with very little awareness," says Barry Avrich, 56, whose films include Unauthorized: The Harvey Weinstein Project and Filthy Gorgeous: The Bob Guccione ...

Review by Roger Carpenter

Originally entitled The Lady of the Lake—a much more accurate title then The Possessed—this is a unique genre film that is part noir, part art film, and is also considered a proto-giallo film.

Based on a hit book that was based itself on a notorious Italian murder, The Possessed tells the tale of Bernard, a lost and depressed author (played by Peter Baldwin) and a hotel maid, Tilde (Virna Lisi), whom Bernard has become obsessed with.

The film opens as Bernard makes his way to the isolated hotel where he first met Tilde, and where she still works. It is winter and the hotel is closed for the season. However, Bernard has had some success with his first novel so the proprietor welcomes him with open arms. Soon, though, Bernard discovers that Tilde has committed suicide since he was last at the hotel. Or perhaps it was murder.

Penthouse debuted its new website Thursday by publishing a 15-minute video that attempts to show that director-comedian Judd Apatow’s past jokes, remarks and statements are at odds with his current, progressive persona.

The video suggests that Apatow is hypocritical to call out sexism, jokes about Lgbtq people and other social ills because he has made similar jokes in the past in standup routines, talk show appearances and in storylines in his hit comedies.

Reps for Apatow did not respond to requests for comment.

The video cites Apatow’s recent criticism of comics’ “punching down” to vulnerable targets in society. “I feel like it’s more important to say to kids, and to trans people, ‘Hey, I care more about you than this,'” he said in a recent interview, with the video jumping to clips from Apatow movies like “The 40 Year-Old Virgin” that include scenes that play on Lgbt...

Exclusive: Barry Avrich, the filmmaker behind over 35 documentaries including The Last Mogul, Filthy Gorgeous: Bob Guccione and Unauthorized: The Harvey Weinstein Project (2011), has pulled his latest doc from TWC and said he’s planning to re-edit and re-release the Unauthorized doc in light of the current scandal. Following allegations of rape and sexual assault from scores of women against Weinstein, Avrich said, “When I announced that I was making a high profile film…...

Penthouse's notorious film, "Caligula," got into the wrong hands and is now being illegally hawked online ... according to a new suit. Penthouse claims a New Jersey man, Jeremy Frommer, bought the contents of a storage locker at auction back in 2012 that contained the works of magazine founder Bob Guccione ... including items "Caligula" related. According to docs ... Frommer formed a company called Guccione Collection with the intent of selling Bob's stuff -- including digital copies of the flick.

Jared Leto's reported sci-fi anthology project with Jerrick Media has roped him into a lawsuit Penthouse is filing to protect the intellectual property of its late founder, Bob Guccione.

The adult magazine says Leto and his reported business partners are knowingly using trademarks without permission. Penthouse Global Media is suing Jerrick Media; its principals, Jeremy Frommer and Rick Schwartz; and Leto for copyright infringement, trademark infringement, unfair competition and false advertising, among other claims. (The complaint is posted in full below.)

In the late 1970s, Guccione produced Caligula, which the suit calls "a cult classic that blends ancient Roman history with erotica...

Playfully divided into “Lots,” Barry Avrich’s sweeping and enlightening Blurred Lines: Inside the Art World investigates the entire ecosystem that comprises the art market: the auction house, the brokers, the secondary and primary markets, mega art fairs, and multiple institutions, from the Bfa and Mfa granting institutions that matter (hint: they’re mostly in New York) to great museums and collections of the world. Blurred Lines condenses a semester’s long seminar into a lively documentary with too many talking heads to name, representing established and emerging artists, buyers, tastemakers, curators, dealers, gallerists, journalists and critics. They all attempt to connect the dots as a work of art becomes a commodity worth protecting while lesser works by an artist are bid-up at auctions to preserve the value of an existing collection.

At times Blurred Lines may seem like an oversimplification of a broader, more interesting story; it does what...

Bob Guccione, who rose to fame when he founded Penthouse in 1965 and later declared bankruptcy in 2003, will be the focus of a new television series, Variety reports. 

The program will attempt to push past Guccione's surface-level reputation as an extravagant-mansion-owner in charge of an erotic magazine. "Bob Guccione was more of an intellectual," maintains Rick Schwartz, co-founder of Jerrick Media, which will executive produce the series in partnership with Maven Pictures. "He was a complicated guy."

The story will pick up with Guccione in the years before he founded Penthouse,...

Michael Nouri is turning the page in his career.

The Damages alum is set to play Penthouse founder Bob Guccione Sr. in Discovery Channel’s forthcoming ‘Unabomber’ series Manifesto, TVLine has learned exclusively. Guccione famously offered to publish the manifesto written by Ted “Unabomber” Kaczynski (played by Paul Bettany).

Additionally, Ben Weber (Secret Life of the American Teenager) has joined the cast of the Greg Yaitanes-helmed project as Andy Genelli, the former head of the Unabomomber Task Force.

Ready for more of today’s newsy nuggets? Well…

* Former CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric is returning to the network...

So… we’ve seen what our playthings do while we’re away in the Toy Story trilogy. And just a few weeks ago we saw what our animal companions do when we’re off to work and school in The Secret Life Of Pets. Well, what’s left? Ya’ ever wonder what happens at the grocery store once the lights are out and the doors are locked? No, seems that Seth Rogen and his pals have been curious about everything on the shelves and in the bins. And, no big surprise, their imaginations have come up with something more than a touch adult. With their help, animation will burst through the confines of “all ages” entertainment, which has happened several times in the last five decades. Feature adult animation’s first big hit was the 1972 Ralph Bakshi adaptation of R Crumb’s underground comic Fritz The Cat. A sequel quickly...

On this day in history as it relates to the movies...

323 BC Alexander the Great dies of an unknown illness. Colin Farrell plays him in a movie centuries and centuries later and it's suggested that it's a combo of Typhus, Bad Wigs, and Loving Jared Leto that does him in. Who could survive that combo? (Remember when Baz Luhrmann was going to make an Alexander movie, too, but Oliver Stone beat him to it? We wish it had been the other way around.)

38 Ad Julia Drusilla dies in Rome. In the infamous Bob Guccione movie Caligula (1979) her brother Caligula (Malcom McDowell) is shown licking her corpse. Somehow that's not remotely the most perverted thing in the movie!

1692 Bridget Bishop is executed for "Detestable Arts called Witchcraft & Sorceries." She's the first victim of the notorious Salem Witch Trials that will claim many lives and inspire many works of art including The...

Purveyors of Eurotrash should delight in the resuscitation of the obscure 1979 eroto-giallo Play Motel, directed by Mario Gariazzo under the pseudonym Roy Garrett (a director of twenty or so features best remembered for casting into a sea of Friedkin capitalizations with 1974’s The Sexorcist, aka L’Ossessa aka Enter the Devil). By this period, the provocative Italian subgenre was already well into its dog days, with imitators churning out murder mysteries imbibed with a healthy dose of pornographic soft-core elements. It would be unfair to rightly classify Gariazzo’s film as classic giallo, a muddled narrative cramped significantly by enough naked women to rival Jesus Franco.

The sleazy Play Motel is a den of infamous iniquity, and wealthy businessman Rinaldo Cortesi (Enzio Fisichella) hires the voluptuous Loredana (Marina Frajese) for a kinky round of S&M. The next day, explicit pictures are sent to his office via registered mail in...

The doe-eyed , baby-faced Swedish actress Christina Lindberg is best known for starring as Frigga in the 1974 rape and revenge classic Thriller, A Cruel Picture, which was released in the U.S. under the title They Call Her One Eye. Born in 1950, the voluptuous Ms Lindberg was an incredibly popular nude model in men’s magazines before beginning her movie career, which lasted from about 1970 to 1975. Her debut was the 1971 hit Maid In Sweden followed by more successful “soft-core” sex dramas such as Anita The Swedish Nymph, Exposed, Campus Swingers, Swedish Wildcats, Young Playthings and a dozen or so more. She went to Japan in 1973 and co-starred in Sex And Fury and Sex In Japan. Otherwise all of her movies were made in Sweden where she has lived her entire life. Christina refused to act in the hardcore sex films that began to dominate the industry by the mid-1970’s and...

Peter O’Toole, arguably the most strikingly charismatic, most eerily handsome, most preternaturally gifted actor of his acting generation, died Saturday at a London hospital at age 81.

O’Toole was part of the 1954 graduating class of London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art along with Richard Burton, Albert Finney, and Alan Bates. After a supernova first decade — a 10-year run from 1958 to 1968 that included two stage Hamlets, two filmed Henry IIs, and an incandescent, career-defining title role in David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia — O’Toole let the momentum slip. The 1970s were a blur of bombs and bad health...

Madonna wasn't always a Material Girl. In fact, sometimes she skipped the material altogether. Nude photos of the pop icon, taken in 1977 when she was an 18-year-old college student, have hit the auction block after surfacing among the possessions of Penthouse founder Bob Guccione, who died in 2010. According to information provided by the Guccione Collection, Madonna Louise Ciccone was a dance student at the University of Michigan when she agreed to pose for $10 an hour for photographer Herman Kulkens. The brunette future superstar is featured in various states of undress, ranging from merely topless to flashing full-frontal nudity. After the young model became a big star following the...

London, Oct 8: Madonna's naked photographs from a 1977 photoshoot are set to be auctioned online on November 9.

The photographs feature the then very young Madonna completely naked, with just a few sheets covering her, the Daily Star reported.

The photographs were stowed away by the founder of Penthouse magazine, Bob Guccione, until Madonna achieved fame. He published them in his magazine in 1987.

Madonna was reportedly paid 10 dollars per hour for modeling for the shoot, but it's believed that each image would now be sold for several hundreds dollars.

The rare pictures were bought by Jeremy Frommer following.

The Film Sales Company has picked up worldwide sales rights to Filthy Gorgeous: The Bob Guccione Story, Barry Avrich’s documentary that premiered on Monday night (September 9).

The documentary explores the life and legacy of Bob Guccione, the founder of Penthouse.

Avrich uses previously unseen archival footage, artifacts, drawings, photographs, sketches and interviews as well as contemporary commentary by those who knew Guccione best.

The film will get its television premiere on Epix in the Us with all other rights available.

The Film Sales Company president Andrew Herwitz negotiated the deal with producers and Jerrick Ventures co-owners Rick Schwartz and Jeremy Frommer.

“We’re thrilled to have the Film Sales Company as our partner as we restore the legacy around the world of this amazing and misunderstood man,” said Schwartz and Frommer.

When it comes to men's magazines (the kind with nude girls in them and not the ones, say, stuffed with muscle cars or expensive suits), Playboy is always portrayed as the classier affair, one modeled on sleek modernity, while Penthouse is seen as an altogether more vulgar enterprise. This was summed up by the publishing titans behind the magazine: Playboy's Hugh Hefner had a trademark pipe and smoking jacket, while Bob Guccione of Penthouse had an open shirt overflowing with chest hair, a jangling wreath of gold chains around his neck and a cigarette, always dangling from his fingers or mouth. What the new Epix documentary "Filthy Gorgeous: The Story of Bob Guccione" exposes, is that for all the smutty excesses, Guccione was a tenacious fighter for free speech, one who broke more taboos than the bunny ever did. As far as the format goes, 'Filthy Gorgeous' is pretty traditional...

Epix has given a November 8th, 11pm premiere date for "Filthy Gorgeous: The Bob Guccione Story," its doc about the late Penthouse magazine founder and "Caligula" funder. Directed by Barry Avrich ("Unauthorized: The Harvey Weinstein Project"), the film's television debut will come not long after its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival this month. The film will trace Guccione's life as an unlikely catalyst for '60s counter culture and his eventual downfall and loss of his fortune. "Bob Guccione was a complex man whose publications impacted the lives of many, both in positive and negative ways. The film is incredibly intriguing and one our viewers will not want to miss," said Epix president Mark Greenberg in the announcement. The network premiere of "Filthy Gorgeous" will be followed by an airing of "Caligula," the notorious 1979 film directed by Tinto Brass.

What a life Bob Guccione had. The man who built an empire from scratch, photographing the models himsef in the early days and who even hired Anna Wintour as his fashion editor, died in 2010 from lung cancer. He had a world class fine art collection and was a talented painter himself. Nw Epix brings "Filthy Gorgeous, The Captivating Story of Penthouse Founder Bob Guccione," November 8 at 11Pm Et "Filthy Gorgeous" will air, followed by Guccione’s controversial film "Caligula" From Epix Epix is pleased to announce the world premiere of the Epix Original Documentary Filthy Gorgeous on November 8 at 11Pm Et – the little known and fascinating story of Bob Guccione’s life, a businessman whose...

The 38th Toronto International Film Festival has released an incredible guest list of celebrated talent from around the globe. Filmmakers expected to present their world premieres in Toronto include: Catherine Breillat, Nicole Garcia, Pawel Pawlikowski, Bertrand Tavernier, Steve McQueen, Godfrey Reggio, Denis Villeneuve, Bill Condon, Jean-Marc Vallée, John Wells, Ralph Fiennes, Richard Ayoade, Atom Egoyan, Matthew Weiner, John Carney, Jason Reitman, Jason Bateman, Yorgos Servetas, Liza Johnson, Megan Griffiths, Fernando Eimbcke, Alexey Uchitel, Johnny Ma, Biyi Bandele, Rashid Masharawi, Paul Haggis, Ron Howard, Eli Roth, Álex de la Iglesia, Bruce McDonald, Jennifer Baichwal, John Ridley, and Justin Chadwick.

The Festival also welcomes thousands of producers and other industry professionals bringing films to us.

The following filmmakers and artists are expected to attend the Toronto International Film Festival:

Ahmad Abdalla, Hany Abu-Assad, Yuval Adler, Akosua Adoma Owusu, Alexandre Aja, Bruce Alcock, Gianni Amelio, Thanos Anastopoulos, Madeline Anderson, Nimród Antal, Louise Archambault,...

Canadian festival reveals details of new premieres – including Daniel Radcliffe in Horns – and announces spotlight on the cinema of Athens

Daniel Radcliffe began the year shedding his wizardy image at a film festival, when he played Allen Ginsberg in Sundance hit Kill Your Darlings. And he'll further bury the spectre of Potter at another festival in the autumn, with the world premiere of Alexandre Aja's Horns at Toronto.

A fantasy horror featuring Radcliffe as a man accused of the rape and murder of his girlfriend, who then finds some devilish evidence sprouting from his forehead, Horns is one of 13 titles in the Vanguard selection of the festival. Others include Cannes-graduates Blue Ruin and Borgman, and world premieres from Brillante Mendoza and Yeon Sang-ho.

The Toronto film festival runs from 5 - 15 September and today also saw the announcement of four other sidebars. Key premieres in the documentary selection include studies...