Apple TV+ recently released the director’s cut of Ridley Scott’s Napoleon, which adds 48 minutes to the historical epic’s runtime, bringing it to 205 minutes. Going to need a bathroom break for that one. However, Scott told Total Film he easily could have gone longer as the story of Napoleon is so complex and expansive.
“Well, you could do a film that ran a week about Napoleon Bonaparte,” Scott said. “Really, the biggest challenge is: how the hell do I narrow this down? The story of Napoleon is so complex, and I only wanted to look at the man. Not so much the battles, but more the man, and what makes him tick, and his obsession with somebody called Josephine.“
Vanessa Kirby’s Josephine gets more attention in the director’s cut, with her relationship with Napoleon fleshed out further. “She was not at all attracted to him at all, but she engineered to pretend that she did. And from that, she had nowhere else to go,” Scott said. “Where is she going to go? The street? The extra [48 minutes] is not entirely devoted to Josephine, but it’s devoted to them, together. You start to get who, what, where, and why. Some may prefer it as a cut. And, that said, I think I do.“
Scott also commented on how his attitude towards the editing of his movies has changed over the years. “When I began doing commercials, I’d sit there, literally in the edit, and do every frame with the editor,” Scott said. “Then the films, it was the same thing. It was quite a long time in the editing room.” By the time of Black Rain in 1989, Scott had learned how to step back and not get buried in the film. “I had a great editor called Tom Rolf, and I left him to it, maybe because he was so grumpy,” Scott said. “I gave him some fantastic footage. And he was always smoking in his room. So was I. So I would give him space. And then he cut the movie, and I went, ‘Christ, that’s great. I didn’t realise the film was going to be so good.’“
“What I’m saying is: you need a great editor, and not to go into the editing room until the editor says, ‘OK, I’ve got a scene. I’ve got a reel. Do you want to see it?’” Scott continued. “Because once I’ve prepared casting, recce’d it, and shot it, I’m so buried in it. I’m numb to what I’ve just done. It’s best to hand it over to a fresh mind, and let them get to it. And then I’m fresh to see what they’ve done with it. So it’s like handing over a piece of a jigsaw puzzle, and saying, ‘Tell me when you’ve done the left-hand corner.’“
Scott added that he considers Kingdom of Heaven to be his most successful director’s cut, and I would agree. The film is pretty much the gold standard for how much a director’s cut can transform a mediocre movie into a great one.
Napoleon: The Director’s Cut is now streaming on Apple TV+, so be sure to check out the review from our own Alex Maidy.
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