| Malcolm McDowell |
| Malcolm was born as Malcolm Taylor on June 13th 1943 in Leeds, Yorkshire, England. Malcolm's name is very well known, and he has starred in over 100 movies since his first in 1968. As well, he co-starred in the TV Sitcom, "Pearl", which debuted in 1996. When he was cast for the film Caligula in 1975, it was his 7th film project, but he was best known for his role of Alex in Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange". When Caligula was released in Febraury 1980, it definately renewed interest in his sagging career. |
| Malcolm McDowell's 1977 Interview in Photoplay Photoplay-March 1977-Page 24-THE RUMOURS THAT MAKE ME CHUCKLE-Malcom McDowell talks to Sylveno Fox about the filming of Gore Vidal's CALIGULA. Malcolm McDowell says all the rumours of perverted sex and bestiality in the big-budgeted production of GORE VIDALS CALIGULA are worthy only of a good chuckle. "Someone reads me the gossip every morning while they're putting on my make-up." said the 33 year old actor. "The rumours really give me a good laugh-especially the stuff about animals", he says. But McDowell admits the film, which highlights the debauchery of the four year (AD 37-41) reign of the sometimes sadistic and often immoral Caligula, will not be a children's classic. "We're not making "The Robe" or "Quo Vadis" he shrugged. "This isn't a blue movie, but it is sexually orientated". Walter Alford, public relations man for Penthouse Films, popped into McDowell's pale blue dressing room at Rome's Cinestudi Dear with a bottle of wine. "Those stories above love scenes with horses and dogs are just ludicrous," Alford assured. "we do have one scene with an actress and a donkey, but it is shot through a translucent curtain and the donkey is just a wooden prop manipulated with levers." The story about dogs got started because there are two mastiff's in the film (the scene where Proculus gets his penis cut off) and one of them bit a female member of the cast and she was sent to the hospital for shots," Alford said. "The only horse in bed is a scene where Caligula is sleeping and reaches over to caress what he thinks is his sister Drusilla. It turns out to be his favorite horse, (Incitatus) the one he named a Senator." "Of course, we had to keep the horse heavily sedated or it might have kicked Malcolm," Alford added with a grin. "We have to remember that Caligula was a pagan who lived before the Christians came along to block people enjoying themselves," said McDowell as he sprawled on the couch to sip his wine. "The things Caligula did and the way he lived wern't concidered particulary immoral at the time," said the actor, "so we shouldn't try to judge him according to our moral standards." The censors of the world, Italian ones included, may have other ideas. One can't begrudge McDowell his moments of relaxation. He's been a busy fellow co-starring with Simon Ward and Peter Firth in "Aces High", about airmen in World War I (Released on November 19th 1976), and then "Voyage of the Damned" as a doomed German steward on a ship carrying Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany. (Released on July 1st 1977). He also did a television version of Harold Pinters "The Collection". (Shown in England on January 1 1976) He says he was chosen for the role of Caligula by the movies American author-scriptwriter, Gore Vidal. "Gore wanted me", McDowell explained. "If a major studio had done the film they probably would have asked for Robert Redford, but Redford wouldn't have accepted because this is a very risque part". But McDowell defended Italian director Tinto Brass against Vidal's charges that the film would be a "turkey" filled with "basement pornography". McDowell said he first realised that there could never be peace between writers and directors during the filming of "A Clockwork Orange" (released on December 1st 1971) in which he acted his way to fame as a frightening hoodlum fond of violence, rape, and Beethoven. "There are no great film scripts, there are just great films,' McDowell reflected. "There is always this dilemma. A Clockwork Orange will always be thought of as Stanley Kubrick's, not as Anthony Burgess's." McDowell said that when he first read Vidal's script he was "A bit disappointed. It was beautifully written, but more like a novelette than a script. So I waited to see who would be the director before I made any firm commitments." "Tinto and I had to give the script a point of view before filming could start," McDowell complained. "Gore had made the theme of 'the boredom of power,' which didn't come over very well." "I can admire writers who don't want thier work messed up. But then they shouldn't try to peddle film scripts. If Gore felt that strongly about the script then he should have directed the film himself". McDowell said he had become so immersed in his role as a depraved Roman Emperor that he had a hard time going home at night. "When you make a film it's like being in a cocoon for six months to a year. It's difficult to drop the role entirely when you go home. But if I tried to treat my wife Margot the way Caligula treated his she's give me a thick ear quick." Laughing through his startingly blue eyes, the actor said he had become rather fond of the wilful, autocratic Caligula since filming began last August. (1976) "Right now Caligula is my best friend." he said. "If he wasn't I couldn't do the part. One always tries to look for the good side of a character, even one who is supposed to be mad and a despot." "Caligula really was a facinating character and it is too bad so little is known about him. Our only source of reference is Suetonius (Roman biographer Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, AD 70-140) who only wrote his history about 50 years after Caligula was killed." "Suetonius probably distorted most of what he said about Caligula because he was being paid to write the history by the other side of the family," said McDowell, proving he had done his homework on the character. On the Rome set, producer Silverman has said the love scenes in Caligula will be quite "varied". "First Caligula makes love to his sister Drusilla," he said, "Then, of course, he makes love to his wife Caesonia. And later there is something between Drusilla and Caesonia. There are of course, ways of making love and there are ways of making love," he added with a suppressed smile. The costumes and sets for the film, which ends when Caligula is murdered at the age of 29 by his own soldiers, have been carefully researched to correspond to the era. Dozens of seamstresses and craftsmen laboured beneath the sets making replicas of Roman buckles, belts, shields, and togas. According to Silverman the costumes match in exact detail those worn in ancient Rome. But one wonders if the Romans really did make so much use of the transparent cloth being used in the movie. The sets, designed by Danilo Donati, are mind-boggling masterpieces of styrofoam. Graceful statues, "marble" palaces, detailed reliefs and enormous "rock" grottoes all have been fashioned of styrofoam and then painted to look weather-stained. Also, in the cast is Sir John Gielgud who plays the suicidal Roman Senator Nerva. Peter O'Toole plays the 77 year old, much depised Tiberius who is trying to choose a successor from the safety of his palace on the island of Capri. Eventually Tiberius chooes his adopted grandson Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus, nicknamed Caligula (Little Boots) by the soldiers. Caligula is protrayed as an Emperor who began his reign benignly but soon was corrupted by absolute power and earned the hatred of Romans (The Senate, NOT the General Public, who loved him right up to his Assasination) for his autocratic ways, despite the vast sums of money he squandered for thier public entertainment. The film, includes many of the popular scandals concerning the young Emperor, his incestuous relationships with his sisters (We only see him having sex with one in the movie, which is Drusilla, although his sister Messalina is in the story, protrayed by Anneka Di Lorenzo. His third sister, Livia, is not shown in the film) and the myth that he appointed his favorite horse a consul. Helen Mirren who previously co-starred with Malcolm in Lindsay Anderson's "O Lucky Man" (Released on June 20th 1973), has one of the female leads as Caligula's wife, Caesonia. Maria Schneider, whose "Last Tango in Paris" with Marlon Brando still is banned in Italy, had the major role as Caligula's beloved sister Drusilla until the day she walked off the set in a dispute over her costumes, or lack thereof. She was replaced by Teresa Ann Savoy. END |
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