Back in 2023, Ridley Scott let Total Film in on a little secret. Alongside the 157-minute theatrical cut of Napoleon, he was working on a director’s cut of the film that would release on Apple TV+ following its cinematic run. After a longer road to release than anticipated (Scott did have a certain swords-and-sandals sequel to keep him busy: see p12), Napoleon: The Director’s Cut has dropped online like the oblique blade of a guillotine across a deposed queen’s neck.
Adding 48 minutes of new footage, Napoleon’s new cut significantly expands the presence of Vanessa Kirby’s Josephine, and adds the brief but beautiful Battle of Marengo, a thrilling assassination attempt and a harrowing new sequence during the invasion of Russia, enriching an already terrific picture. A film we called ‘one of Ridley Scott’s best films in almost two decades’ in our review is now unquestionably his best since, well, the director’s cut of Kingdom of Heaven.
Speaking from the HQ of his production company Scott Free in early August, shortly after screening the new cut of Napoleon for TF, Scott was on typically entertaining form, fully aware that at 86 years old he is a living legend; one who knows what makes a great movie, even if scissor-happy studios don’t always agree.
Why did you feel that Napoleon warranted the director’s-cut treatment?
Well, you could do a film that ran a week about Napoleon Bonaparte. 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 a lot of extra screen time in the Director’s Cut…
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