Ridley Scott on Napoleon and bum ache: ‘The truth is the director’s cut is the two-and-a-half-hour version’
Director Ridley Scott says the real director’s cut of his new film Napoleon is not the three-and-a-half-hour version that comes to Apple TV+ later this year, but the shorter cinema cut, which has an hour shaved off.
Scott tells Sky News: “I think that’s what the director’s cut is – the two and a half hour – that’s the truth of it. Because I learned early on, basically from all the films I’ve done, but also from early days as a commercial maker. Am I communicating and how tight can I be to communicate and say everything I want?”
And it turns out he employs a special technique to ascertain when enough is enough.
Pic: Apple Original Films/Columbia Pictures/ Aidan Monaghan
“I have something that’s called the bum ache factor – you’re sitting there going, ‘Oh God, there’s another hour!’ You got to be really sure that you’re running a three-and-a-half-hour movie that’s actually worthwhile, people get weary.
“When I’m cutting… you’re constantly watching out for ‘Where are we bending and why is it bending?’ Is it because I’m tired or is it because this story’s just going on too long?”
Clocking in at two hours and 38 minutes, the shorter version is far from swift, but there are lots of battles to fit in, including Waterloo, Toulon and Napoleon’s greatest victory, at Austerlitz in 1805.
Scott admits, “longer can be a disaster,” calling it “a natural fault” most directors “wrestle with”.
Pic: Apple Original Films/Columbia Pictures/ Aidan Monaghan
Regardless of length, just making the movie is an achievement. Stanley Kubrick, Charlie Chaplin, Steven Spielberg and Baz Luhrmann all saw their dreams to portray Napoleon on the silver screen shot down.
But Scott, as his reputation suggests, is not a man to be defeated. A notoriously forthright filmmaker, he’s also not averse to quizzing his interviewers as they attempt to question him.
Luckily, this reporter appeared to pass the test, correctly answering the question, “Which historic figure can claim the most films made about them?” (Jesus, in case you’re wondering).
Pic: Apple Original Films/Columbia Pictures/ Aidan Monaghan
Napoleon clocks in at second place, with 10,400 books written about him, one for every week since he died, according to Scott.
On tweaking history: ‘I don’t think it matters’
Of course, there has been a minor fuss about the film’s trifling historical inaccuracies (Napoleon watches Marie Antoinette’s execution and his troops fire upon the Pyramids – neither of which happened in real life), and a few sniffs about lead actor Joaquin Phoenix‘s US accent throughout.
Scott cares not a jot: “If he talked in an Italian accent, people would have criticised me. And if he talked in a French accent, they would have criticised the French. So, it’s best to just go back to what [Joaquin] was.
“If you’re engaged by him, be engaged by him. And I think and I’m fully engaged by anything Joaquin does so I never even question it… I don’t think it matters.”
Speaking Italian when he arrived in France from Corsica, Scott says Napoleon learnt French in just two months.
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But aside from the debate over how much artistic licence is too much, most UK and US reviews have been positive. The French reaction, however, has been less warm.
‘They look for anything that can find fault’
Scott says he’s far from surprised.
“I had a major premiere in France with a big room of a lot of important people. Their reaction was very, very, very enthusiastic. So, they’re going to look for anything that can find fault, but they always do, I’m used to it.”
Luckily, he’s of the opinion that “there’s only one critic that is worth anything, that’s yourself”.
And whether it’s his inner critic that keeps him working or not, he’s certainly not showing any signs of slowing down.
A prolific worker, South Shield’s born Scott started out in advertising, where he says he made two adverts per week in his heyday.
The original 1982 Blade Runner poster
He was nearly 40 when he made his first feature film, and now at 85, has 28 under his belt, including Alien, Blade Runner and Thelma & Louise, all of which have made their mark on popular culture.
He’s also made numerous TV programmes, and now with his deal with Apple TV+ finished a pilot for them called Sinking Springs, about the drug problem in Philadelphia.
‘I feel alive when I’m directing’
Not to be held up by the US actor’s strike, he used the time away from shooting to edit the 90 minutes of Gladiator 2, starring Irish actor Paul Mescal, which was already in the can, and now the actors are back at work he’ll be wrapping it by Christmas.
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Gladiator 2 stars Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal and Denzel Washington
As for his next film, he’s already cast it, written it, and set it up ready to go, as he says, “I’m always in prep – slightly ahead”.
So, at 85, what’s the secret to his impressive productivity?
“I love the energy of it. I feel I’m alive when I’m a shooting director… I just love the stress. You’ve got to embrace stress – if you don’t, don’t do the job.”
As for what gets him up in the morning, he says: “Drive is… You’re born with it or not…I have no criticism for anybody who just wants to take a holiday, holiday is not in my jurisdiction. I mean, three days’ holiday is fine. Then what?”
With Ridley Scott, the “then what” is the question always on his lips, and like the flawed military genius at the heart of his film, action is the answer to conquering the world.
Napoleon is in cinemas now, before streaming on Apple TV+
Angelina Jolie says although she appreciates being an artist, she would prefer for her legacy to be “a good mother” and to be known for her “belief in equality and human rights”.
The Oscar-winning actress stars as Maria Callas in the new Pablo Larrain film about the opera singer’s life.
Pic: StudioCanal
She has called Maria “the hardest” and “most challenging” role she has had in her career and put months of preparation into immersing herself into the world of opera.
Jolie, who recently reached a divorce settlement with actor Brad Pitt, told Sky News: “To be very candid, it was the therapy I didn’t realise I needed. I had no idea how much I was holding in and not letting out.
“So, the challenge wasn’t the technical [side of opera], it was an emotional experience to find my voice, to be in my body, to express. You have to give every single part of yourself.”
The biopic combines the voice of the Maleficent actress with recordings of Maria Callas.
Jolie believes it “would be a crime to not have [Callas’] voice through this because, in many ways, she is very present in this film”.
Who was Maria Callas?
Born in New York in 1923, Maria Callas was the daughter of Greek immigrants who moved back to Athens at the age of 13 with her mother and sister.
After enrolling at the Athens Conservatory, she made her professional debut at 17 and went on to become one of the most famous faces of opera, travelling around the world and performing at Covent Garden in London, The Met in New York and La Scala in Milan.
Callas’s final operatic performance took place at Covent Garden in 1965 when she was 41 but she continued to work conducting master classes at Juilliard School, doing concert tours and starring in the 1969 film Medea.
Written by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, Maria focuses on the artist’s final years in the 1970s when she moved to Paris and disappeared from public view.
She died on 16 September 1977 at the age of 53.
Pic: StudioCanal
Jolie on changing motivations as an actor
Maria follows the life of an artist fully consumed by the art she creates and even remarks that “happiness never developed a beautiful melody”.
Reflecting on her own life in the spotlight, Jolie said she noticed her own career motivations change over the years.
“There’s this kind of study of being human that we do when we create, and we communicate with an audience because our work is not in isolation – it’s a connection.
“I think when I was younger, I had different questions about being human and different feelings and now as I’ve gotten older, I understand some things and now I have different questions.
“It’s a matter of life, right? And so maybe that’s interesting that this now is a character really contemplating death and really contemplating the toll of certain things in life that I, of course, couldn’t have understood in my 20s”.
Jolie at the New York Film Festival in September with three of her children (L-R) Pax, Zahara and Maddox. Pic: AP
A family affair
Two of Jolie’s children, Maddox and Pax, took on production assistant roles during the filming of Maria and witnessed their mother perform opera for the first time in public.
She says the film allowed them to create new experiences together and for her children to see her approach to playing a difficult role.
“Everyone in my home, we all give each other space to be who we are and we’re all different.
“I’m the mom, but I’m also an artist and a person and so my family has been very kind and gives me their understanding. They make fun of me, and they support me and just as you’d hope it would be.”
She adds: “When you play somebody who is dealing with so much pain, it’s very important to come home to some kindness.”
Maria is in cinemas now.
Tom Holland’s dad has confirmed his son’s engagement to Zendaya – revealing how the 28-year-old meticulously planned the proposal.
Zendaya, also 28, sparked engagement rumours when she attended last Sunday’s Golden Globes wearing a sparkling diamond on her ring finger.
Neither star has publicly addressed the rumours but Tom’s comedian father, Dominic Holland, has now confirmed the pair are set to wed.
He wrote in a post on his Patreon account: “Tom, as you know by now was very incredibly well prepared. He had purchased a ring.
“He had spoken with her father and gained permission to propose to his daughter.”
“Tom had everything planned out… When, where, how, what to say, what to wear,” he added.
Zendaya arrived at the Golden Globes with a noticeable piece of new jewellery. Pic: Invision/AP
Dominic also noted that while most men worry about being able to afford an engagement ring, he suspects his actor son was “more concerned with the stone, its size and clarity, its housing, which jeweller”.
Tom and Zendaya met on the set of Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2016, when they played the titular hero and his love interest MJ, respectively. Their romance was confirmed in 2021.
In his post, Tom’s father admitted fears over whether being in the spotlight could put a strain on the couple’s relationship.
He wrote: “I do fret that their combined stardom will amplify their spotlight and the commensurate demands on them and yet they continually confound me by handling everything with aplomb.”
“And even though show business is a messy place for relationships and particularly so for famous couples as they crash and burn in public and are too numerous to mention […] yet somehow right at the same time, I am completely confident they will make a successful union.”
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Zendaya rose to fame after landing a role in Disney sitcom Shake It Up, and became a household name after starring in Euphoria.
Holland – who has starred in three Spider-Man films opposite his now-fiancée – made his stage debut in Billy Elliot the Musical in 2008.
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