Ridley Scott confirms Napoleon director’s cut release

Last Updated on October 12, 2023

Ever since Ridley Scott announced he would be helming a film on the life of Napoleon, we all knew there would be a director’s cut. But unlike some of his other pictures, we’re getting the extended cut of Napoleon in a much smaller window.

In a new interview with Total Film – the issue of which hits stands this week – Ridley Scott said a director’s cut of Napoleon is guaranteed. “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.” While no specific release date has been set, considering Napoleon comes out on November 22nd, we could reasonably expect the director’s cut to hit streaming sometime next year based on his words.

Ridley Scott has a history of director’s cuts, but it’s nice to see that Napoleon will get its own likely within a year considering how they have traditionally been released. Look at the ranges from some of his most famous works: 1979’s Alien came in 2003, 1982’s Blade Runner arrived in 1992 and 1985’s Legend was released in 2002 – and those are just the films in his first decade of directing! Let’s just be glad there isn’t one for House of Gucci (yet?)…

Ridley Scott also shot a wealth of footage for Napoleon, so a director’s cut was almost inevitable anyway. According to the director, “Every scene is geometry…By having 11 to 14 cameras, we shot Napoleon in 62 days. 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.” For comparison, the first Gladiator was in principal photography from January to May of 1999. Despite a tight schedule, Scott compared making his latest epic to building one of the most challenging Lego sets imaginable.

Do you plan to check out the four hour version of Ridley Scott’s Napoleon? Will you skip the theatrical cut knowing the director’s cut is imminent? Let us know in the comments section below