Ridley Scott has mammoth four-and-a-half-hour cut of Napoleon he wants to release

Director Ridley Scott has said he wants to release a whopping four-and-a-half hour cut of his upcoming Napoleon biopic.

Hopefully that will include an intermission because no-one's bladder has that level endurance, especially after slurping down a large coke.

Even fans of The Lord of the Rings would have to admit that four and a half hours is a lot of film.

Fear not, because the theatrical release of Napoleon, starring Joaquin Phoenix in the title role, is set to be 157 minutes long. That's still pretty hefty but not quite in the ludicrous levels of four and a half hours.

The extended cut will reportedly focus more on Josephine's character, fleshing out the relationship far more.

It wouldn't be the first time that Scott has released a separate cut of one of his movies.

Sci-fi noir thriller Blade Runner has become notorious for the number of different cuts that have been released, with fans debating over which one is the definitive film.

Scott is also no stranger to movies with very long run times. Gladiator clocked in at an impressive 155 minutes for the theatrical release, while American Gangster was 157 minutes.

Sony Pictures Entertainment

In terms of runtime, even the theatrical release of Napoleon will be among the longer of Scott's films.

Maybe don't drink anything during the movie, and cross your legs.

At times, Scott's director's cuts have produced a genuinely better finished film than the theatrical release, for example in his 2005 crusading epic Kingdom of Heaven starring Orlando Bloom.

While the theatrical release had a lukewarm reception, after an extra 45 minutes of footage was added it resulted in plot holes being filled in and far more fleshed out characters.

This director's cut ended up with a hefty run time of 194 minutes.

To be fair, tackling a subject as well-documented as the life of Napoleon Bonaparte is no easy task. It's not so much that there's a shortage of material as far too much.

Sony Pictures Entertainment

You could focus on Napoleon as a young officer, or on his last 100 days culminating in his final defeat by the British and Prussians at Waterloo in 1815.

There's also his Russian campaign and humiliating retreat from Moscow, and Egyptian campaign which sparked the European fascination with ancient Egypt, and a whole lot of stolen Egyptian heritage being shipped off to France.

Any one of these by itself could easily be enough to make a film about, so one covering his whole life will have a lot to draw on.

With all that in mind, its not like there's not enough material to fill four and a half hours. Just please, please give us an intermission.

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