Tinto Brass, Italian director of Caligula and Salon Kitty, dies aged 93

Italian film director Tinto Brass has died aged 93, The Guardian and Euronews report. His films included Caligula and Salon Kitty.

His wife, Caterina Varzi, and his children, Bonifacio and Beatrice Brass, announced his death to the Italian press agency Ansa on Wednesday, according to The Guardian. Euronews reports that he died in Rome. The reports do not give a cause of death or describe the circumstances.

Brass was born in Milan. Euronews gives his birth date as 26 March 1933, and The Guardian says he was raised in Venice. He worked in editing at the Cinémathèque in Paris, then returned to Italy. There he worked with Roberto Rossellini as an editor and assistant director.

According to Euronews, his directing debut came in 1963 with In capo al mondo. The film ran into censorship, and he changed its title to Chi lavora è perduto.

Brass turned to erotic cinema in the 1970s. The Guardian reports that Penthouse founder Bob Guccione hired him in 1979 to direct Caligula, starring Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren, Peter O'Toole and John Gielgud. According to The Guardian, Brass rewrote a screenplay by Gore Vidal, who disavowed the film. The newspaper also says Guccione spliced in additional unsimulated hardcore scenes without Brass's permission.

The film was released in the UK and US in 1980, with Brass credited only for "principal photography", The Guardian reports. Euronews says it was at the centre of legal battles and was seized for obscenity. A recut version without Guccione's inserts was released in 2023. Brass was not involved and did not approve of it, according to The Guardian.

In recent years, Brass lived in Isola Farnese, on the outskirts of Rome. He married Varzi in 2017, and she curated his archive. For his 90th birthday, he expressed a wish about his remains. Euronews quotes him as saying: "When I die I want my ashes to be scattered in the Venice lagoon." The reports do not include funeral arrangements or say whether this wish will be carried out.

What is disputed

The reports differ on the date of Salon Kitty. The Guardian describes it as a 1976 film, while Euronews says Brass directed it in 1975.

What each side says

The Guardian quotes Brass as telling La Repubblica: "I made so many erotic films because I believed eroticism to be a fundamental key to human expression and, above all, the key to portraying women."

Brass disavowed Caligula after Guccione's additions, according to The Guardian. The reports do not include a response from Guccione or his representatives.

Varzi told Adnkronos, according to Euronews: "It is a difficult moment, of deep sadness and regret."

Analysis

The case of Caligula may illustrate a question about who controls a film's final form, the director or the producer. The reported history of inserted scenes, a reduced credit and a 2023 recut that Brass did not approve could shape how future audiences and critics judge his authorship. His broader legacy may also remain open to differing views, as supporters and critics weigh his erotic films in different ways. The archive curated by Varzi could become a resource for further study, though the reports do not say what will happen to it.

Produced by the Vocemundi newsroom with AI assistance.