In late 1975, or early 1976, Malcolm McDowell received a call from Gore Vidal. Vidal, who was, as ever, witty, wildly entertaining, slightly dangerous, and very persuasive, wanted to know if McDowell would be interested in playing Caligula, the young Roman emperor who declared himself a god, named his horse imperial consul, and was known to execute advisers that forgot his birthday.
“He wanted something from me, so he was extremely nice,” McDowell recalls. “Especially at the start of the whole thing.”
