Ridley Scott did not spare details in Napoleon’s original director’s cut, which clocks in with 270 minutes of runtime.
Scott never shied away from developing drawn-out epics. The director is now 85 years old but in his most recent project Napoleon it appears he’s up for the challenge as ever, arguably making his most ambitious films to date. Speaking to Empire Magazine (via World of Reel), Scott teased Napoleon also has a “fantastic” director’s cut, a fully fleshed-out film with nearly 4.5 hours of runtime. The theatrical release of Napoleon is already confirmed with 157 minutes of runtime, so Scott is counting on Apple for a follow-up release of his original cut on its streaming service. His extra footage will heavily focus on Josephine’s life before she met Napoleon and became his wife.
Napoleon has been highly anticipated ever since the news broke and the trailer dropped. The film also has Scott reunited working with Joaquin Phoenix in the titular role, a character which fits the actor like a glove if his performance in 2000’s Gladiator is any indication. Phoenix said the French emperor’s life was an astonishing story, and he hoped they were able to capture its highlights. He also shared he looked forward to this opportunity to reunite with Scott. “The truth is, there was just a very nostalgic idea of working with Ridley again. I had such an incredible experience working with Ridley on Gladiator, and I was so young. It was my first big production. I really yearned for that experience again, or something similar,” he said.
Ridely Scott Is Seemingly Obsessed With Director’s Cuts
Scott’s drive for director’s cuts is evident in his most popular films, notable in his multiple, almost obsessive Blade Runner cuts. In 2005, the theatrical release of his Kingdom of Heaven was met with mixed reviews, also prompting the director to release one hour of deleted footage that rounded out characters and resolved conflicts in the plot. Aside from Napoleon, Scott is busy at work on Gladiator 2, and Gladiator actor Russell Crowe was quick to praise the director for his preferred use of practical sets in the sequel over CGI shots.
Crowe recounted, “On the last film we did together, we had a conversation. We were in a valley looking up at a castle that he’d had built, and we both knew that, with the advent of the comic-book tentpole movies, it was highly likely to be the last time that we were going to be on a set together with that level of physical production. And that’s the way it actually worked out. But given the look of the sets that they’ve built again in Malta, he’s now getting to go back into that same level of physical production one more time. So that’s fantastic.” Practical sets have become typical of Ridley Scott, who in Napoleon employed the same production beats.
Napoleon debuts in theatrical release on Nov. 22.
Source: Empire per World of Reel