Caligula Races to Become First 3D Porn Flick: Odds Favor This

One of the hottest stories this week is the porn industry’s hasty effort to jump into the 3D film craze.  There are currently three films being produced worldwide though Italy’s Tinto Brass’ Caligula appears to be the frontrunner.  It is a story of the young Roman emperor from 37 to 41 AD, known mostly for his cruelty, extravagance, and sexual perversity, though he had also been credited for bringing about public and political reform.

Ireland’s Paddy Power released odds on Monday, which has Hong Kong director Christopher Sun’s Sex and Zen as the favorite.  The problem:  many believe Sex and Zen will not end up as a 3D porn film in the traditional sense.

When Brass’ original Caligula came out, there was no mistaking its “pornographic” elements, most of those said elements, however, were brought into play by Penthouse founder Bob Guccione.  Nonetheless, Brass is noted especially for his work in the erotic genre so his film adaptation should be released as 3D porn (though we at Gambling911.com suspect an uncut version will be released in the U.S. and elsewhere).

The 1979 original, Caligula, was the first major motion picture to feature eminent film actors (John Gielgud, Peter O'Toole, Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren) in a film with explicit sex scenes.  Yes, Dame Helen Mirren starred in this film that was widely panned.  Brass, however, was not involved in the post-production and most of the credit for the film went to Guccione, a well known figure in the adult industry at the time.

With the original, there was more infighting on the set then there was killing by the emperor Caligula and his cronies in real life Rome. Guccione fired Brass for running up huge costs (Guccione claims Brass shot enough film to "make the original version of Ben-Hur about 50 times over").

That said, “racing to make the first 3D porn film” and “Tinto Brass” used in the same sentence doesn’t, on the surface, seem logical.

But what are we left with?

The other 3D porn film in production is an Avatar spoof, backed by Hustler.  We know with 100 percent certainty this will be a porn flick.  That film, however, does not have a title just yet and something tells us Avatar filmmaker James Cameron will be monitoring every aspect of this 3D porn closely for copyright infringement, etc…, thus delaying release. 

Jordan Bach, Gambling911.com