Ridley Scott is no stranger to historical epics, having directed the likes of “Gladiator,” “Kingdom Of Heaven,” and “The Last Duel” over the course of his near-fifty years career. But he’s also known to tinker with his films after their theatrical debuts, releasing director’s cuts of his films like “Blade Runner” and “Kingdom Of Heaven” afterward.” Would “Blade Runner” have the same cultural cache it does now without Scott’s incessant tinkering with it? Likely not.
READ MORE: ‘Napoleon’ Trailer: Joaquin Phoenix Stars In Ridley Scott’s Upcoming Historical Epic
So will the same thing happen to Scott’s latest historical epic, “Napoleon“? IndieWire reports (via Empire) that Scott boasted to the magazine that he already has a “fantastic” director’s cut of his latest film ready to go, and it runs a gargantuan 270 minutes long. Bear in mind “Napoleon” reportedly has a runtime of two hours and thirty-eight minutes. So that’s an additional 112 minutes of scenes in the director’s cut: nearly four-and-a-half hours of Joqauin Phoenix‘s Napoleon and Vanessa Kirby‘s Josephine.
Scott hopes Apple Original Films releases his director’s cut someday, but its massive length begs the question: what’s the focus in that nearly two hours of additional footage? Well, the director’s cut features much more of Kirby’s Josephine, charting her life before her path crossed with Napoleon. In that sense, Scott’s director’s cut pits the psyches of two French monarchs against each other, while the theatrical cut features Napoleon’s more prominently.
Kirby opened up to Empire about how the psychologies of Josephine and Napoleon take center stage in Scott’s epic. “Joaquin studies the psyche, and the psyche of Napoleon is so strange,” said the actress. “The film feels like that. It’s kind of peculiar, and there’s an intensity in that. Napoleon wasn’t stoic and wonderful like Russell Crowe was in “Gladiator.” He was a dictator, a war criminal, really. It couldn’t be rousing, because that man killed hundreds and hundreds of thousands of men, in my opinion needlessly. And for what? To get an empire, for what? In the end, it all disintegrated anyway. That psyche run wild is dangerous as hell, and very strange. And this is a portrait of that.”
Alongside Phoenix and Kirby, “Napoleon” also stars Tahar Rahim, Paul Rhys, Ben Miles, Ludivine Sagnier, Matthew Needham, and Youseff Kerkour. Phil Cornwell, Rupert Everett, Catherine Walker, and Édouard Philipponnat also have supporting roles.
“Napoleon” gets a premier Thanksgiving theatrical release this Fall on November 22, with Apple expecting it to be a frontrunner this awards season. After the film hits theaters, “Napoleon” will stream exclusively on Apple TV+, its premiere date on the streamer yet to be determined. Check out a trailer for Scott’s latest below.
