Napoleon: The Director’s Cut invades Apple TV+ with 48 minutes of never-before-seen footage

Ridley Scott’s Napoleon: The Director’s Cut gets an epic trailer as the film, with 48 additional minutes, marches onto Apple TV+.

Apple Original Films wants audiences to experience Ridley Scott’s Napoleon like never before with Napoleon: The Director’s Cut, now streaming on Apple TV+. The Director’s Cut includes 48 minutes of new, never-before-seen footage from Scott’s historical epic, which stars Joaquin Phoenix as the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.

In addition to marching on $221M+ at the worldwide box office, Ridley Scott’s Napoleon received three Academy Award nominations for Best Achievement in Visual Effects, Best Achievement in Production Design, and Best Achievement in Costume Design. In addition to a stand-out performance by Vanessa Kirby (Fantastic Four: First Steps, The Crown) as Josephine Bonaparte, Napoleon features visual spectacles when recreating some of the French military strategist’s most devious attacks. The Battle of Austerlitz is particularly brutal, with Napoleon baiting his enemies onto a partially frozen body of water and then destroying the surface with heavy artillery.

Napoleon: The Director’s Cut stars Joaquin Phoenix as the French emperor and military leader. The film is a fresh and personal look at Napoleon’s origins and his swift, ruthless climb to emperor, viewed through the prism of his addictive and often volatile relationship with his wife and one true love, Josephine, played by Vanessa Kirby. The director’s cut delves deeper into Josephine’s origin story and features more extravagant costumes, new larger-than-life sets, and the previously unreleased Battle of Marengo scene. The audience is also given more details about Napoleon’s demise, from his attempted assassination to his failed invasion of Russia.

Napoleon stars Joaquin Phoenix in the titular role of the French emperor. Vanessa Kirby joins Phoenix as Empress Josephine, Tahar Rahim, Mark Bonnar, Rupert Everett, and Youssef Kerkour. Ridley Scott directs Napoleon from a script by David Scarpa. The producers on board include Kevin J. Walsh, Mark Huffman, Joaquin Phoenix, and Ridley Scott. The film’s executive producers are Raymond Kirk, Aidan Elliott, and Michael Pruss.

It’s wild that, rather than make people wait, you can watch Napoleon: The Director’s Cut on Apple TV+ now. An additional 48 minutes is a significant chunk of new footage, too. What do you think about the trailer? Does it make you want to watch the film again or experience it for the first time? Let us know in the comments section below.

About the Author

Born and raised in New York, then immigrated to Canada, Steve Seigh has been a JoBlo.com editor, columnist, and critic since 2012. He started with Ink & Pixel, a column celebrating the magic and evolution of animation, before launching the companion YouTube series Animation Movies Revisited. He’s also the host of the Talking Comics Podcast, a personality-driven audio show focusing on comic books, film, music, and more. You’ll rarely catch him without headphones on his head and pancakes on his breath.