Ridley Scott is 85 years old and still working at a frenetic pace. Martin Scorsese has talked about this too – when you’re one of the greatest directors of all time and you get to a certain age, all you can think about is how many projects you won’t ever get to. In Ridley’s case, he might get to them, considering how quickly he works. Ridley is currently promoting Napoleon, where he cast Joaquin Phoenix in the lead role. It’s a reunion for the two men – Ridley fought the studio to cast Joaquin in Gladiator, which is still a brilliant piece of casting (and Joaquin was Oscar-nominated too). Joaquin and Ridley adore each other, and I think most actors enjoy Ridley’s whole vibe of “get the shot, get one good take and move on.” Well, Ridley recently chatted with the BBC and some of his IDGAF quotes had me chuckling to myself.
Does he seek out advice? Asking someone what they think is a “disaster.”
His lack of a best director Oscar: “I don’t really care.”
On critics who say Napoleon is historically inaccurate: “You really want me to answer that?… it will have a bleep in it.”
The length of the movie: The film is two hours and 38 minutes long. Scott says if a movie is longer than three hours, you get the “bum ache factor” around two hours in, which is something he constantly watches for when he’s editing. “When you start to go ‘oh my God’ and then you say ‘Christ, we can’t eat for another hour’, it’s too long.” In spite of the “bum ache” issue, it’s been reported that he plans a longer, final director’s cut for Apple TV+ when the movie hits the streamer, but “we’re not allowed to talk about that”.
On the French critics savaging the movie: Le Figaro said the film could be renamed “Barbie and Ken under the Empire”. French GQ said there was something “deeply clumsy, unnatural and unintentionally funny” in seeing French soldiers in 1793 shouting “Vive La France” with American accents. And a biographer of Napoleon, Patrice Gueniffey in Le Point magazine, attacked the film as a “very anti-French and very pro-British” rewrite of history. “The French don’t even like themselves” Scott retorts. “The audience that I showed it to in Paris, they loved it.”
More on the historical inaccuracies: Scott says 10,400 books have been written about Napoleon, “that’s one every week since he died”. His question, he tells me, to the critics who say the film isn’t historically accurate is: “Were you there? Oh you weren’t there. Then how do you know?”
Please, Ridley does not give a f–k. He never said he was making the most historically accurate Napoleon movie but this one will probably be the prettiest or the most cinematic. He wanted to do the (historically inaccurate) battle scenes more than anything else, at least that’s what I believe. As for the French critics… “The French don’t even like themselves” LMAO.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
Giannina Facio and Ridley Scott at the Napoleon UK Premiere at Odeon Luxe in Leicester Square, London, United Kingdom on 16 November 2023.,Image: 822494681, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Cat Morley / Avalon 
Director Ridley Scott, Giannina Facio attends the UK Premiere of ‘Napoleon’ at Odeon Luxe, Leicester Square, London, England, UK on Thursday 16 November, 2023.,Image: 822633699, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/Retna/Avalon., Model Release: no, Credit line: Justin Ng / Avalon 
(L-R) – Joaquin Phoenix, Vanessa Kirby, Ridley Scott attends the UK Premiere of ‘Napoleon’ at Odeon Luxe, Leicester Square, London, England, UK on Thursday 16 November, 2023.,Image: 822633773, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/Retna/Avalon., Model Release: no, Credit line: Justin Ng / Avalon
Joaquin Phoenix, Vanessa Kirby, Ridley Scott attening the UK Premiere of ‘Napoleon’ at Odeon Luxe, Leicester Square, London, Englandthe on 16 November, 2023.,Image: 822888492, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: celebrityphotos uk / Avalon 
Joaquin Phoenix, Vanessa Kirby, Ridley Scott attening the UK Premiere of ‘Napoleon’ at Odeon Luxe, Leicester Square, London, Englandthe on 16 November, 2023.,Image: 822888599, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: celebrityphotos uk / AvalonncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pLHLnpmirJOdxm%2BvzqZmcWxmZn51e9Gim6WdqZTApLvTrZaopo%2Bbv6a6wqGWnKqZqbakv76hmK2hnpysr63PqKOep56Uwamxvp%2BpnqaTnaylu82tlp6ulaOsrbXKnpatoJWiwKa41Z6qaA%3D%3D