If there’s one filmmaker above all else that’s become synonymous with the Director’s Cut, it has to be Ridley Scott. The filmmaking legend has become famed for revisiting his filmography to deliver extended versions, which for the most part tend to offer improvements that range from the minor to substantial.
Scott has altered Alien by restoring four minutes of deleted footage, while fans continue to debate to this day whether the Director’s Cut of The Final Cut of Blade Runner is the superior edit. Kingdom of Heaven was a much better movie in its 194-minute form, and even 1985’s forgotten Tom Cruise fantasy Legend got an unrated Scott-approved home video release,.
The 83 year-old may have called the theatrical cut of Gladiator his intended vision, but we still got an Extended Edition, and the same can also be said for Black Hawk Down, American Gangster, and Robin Hood. So it’s no surprise whatsoever to discover that Scott is already teasing plans for House of Gucci and The Last Duel to get the same treatment, as he revealed to the ReelBlend podcast.
“What goes out tends to be the film and I’m pretty responsible I know I’m not going to say it’s going to be four hours like there’s already two and a half plus which is long but I think I’m very aware of the bombing factor, you’ve got to watch that audiences aren’t getting out, ‘Jesus, this is too long’. So I’m aware of that as well. But I think things do play better at home because you will pause it, get a beer, and come back. So I will probably do a director’s cut, yeah. A long cut. But it won’t be a director’s cut. It’d be a long cut.”
The Last Duel scored solid reviews but flopped at the box office, while House of Gucci is proving polarizing among critics but looks set to perform well enough commercially. Either way, we were virtually guaranteed Director’s Cuts anyway, given Scott’s involvement and history.