Ridley Scott's Napoleon Director's Cut Is Four Hours Long, Will Release On Streaming So You Can Take Pee Breaks
Few directors are as legendary for making alternate cuts of their films as everyone's favorite cantankerous auteur, Sir Ridley Scott. Most notably, the "Alien" and "Gladiator" filmmaker has released several different versions of "Blade Runner" over the years, further fanning the flames of the never-ending debate over whether Harrison Ford's Rick Deckard is a human or replicant. Then there was his 1985 fantasy adventure "Legend," which went from being a critical and financial misfire to becoming something of a cult hit after Universal unveiled Scott's extended cut back in the 2000s (complete with Jerry Goldsmith's original score). The director's 2005 Crusades epic "Kingdom of Heaven" underwent a similar reappraisal when Scott's preferred cut of the film was made available on home media boasting a whopping 50 or so minutes of added material.
As a general rule, the longer editions of Scott's films also tend to be the superior ones — something that bodes well for his director's cut of "Napoleon." In an interview with Total Film Magazine, Scott confirmed he's working on two vastly different edits of his upcoming historical epic starring Joaquin Phoenix as the French military commander turned emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte. The first and shorter one will be shown in theaters, with Sony handling distribution. The second and much longer one will stream on Apple TV+, which is good since it runs over four hours long and will undoubtedly require a pee break or two to make it all the way through. In Scott's own words:
"I'm working on it. It was four [hours] 10 [minutes] this morning. And so what will happen is, we'll screen [the theatrical cut] first with Sony, and then it has its run, and then the perfect thing is that [the director's cut] goes to streaming, and we have four hours 10 minutes."
Napoleon, now with 100% less hemorrhoids
Written by David Scarpa ("All the Money in the World"), "Napoleon" will chronicle its namesake's rise and fall to power while also examining his tumultuous relationship with his wife, Empress Joséphine (Vanessa Kirby). This being a Ridley Scott epic, you can rest assured "Napoleon" won't be hurting for sequences of men charging into combat to beat the ever-lasting snot out of one another, in addition to the domestic drama involving Napoleon and Joséphine.
Speaking to Total Film, the famously economic filmmaker revealed he was able to stage six massive battles over the course of merely two months of shooting. "Every scene is geometry. By having 11 to 14 cameras, we shot 'Napoleon' in 62 days," he explained. Scott is now in the midst of shooting his long-awaited "Gladiator" sequel, which is currently on hold while the striking actors' guild works out a fair and equitable deal with the major studios. But if you're worried a little thing like an industry-changing strike is going to stop the man who swapped out Kevin Spacey for Christopher Plummer at the last minute in "All the Money in the World" from making the film's scheduled release, guess again. "I'm doing 'Gladiator 2' now in 54 days, because I'm not doing 50 takes with one camera, on one shot, and then turning around," Scott added.
Tragically, if there's one thing we can confidently say the four-hour cut of "Napoleon" won't include, it's Bonaparte's skirmish with hemorrhoids on the day the Battle of Waterloo took place. Scott previously confirmed that detail was exorcised from the film early on because "it became too distracting," which is a true loss for the medium.
"Napoleon" charges into theaters on November 22, 2023. The director's cut will stream on Apple TV+ at a later date.