The Director's Cut is 9 minutes shorter than the 175-minute theatrical version. It is a reworked version although seamless to many. 18 minutes were cut and 9 added. Many of the added or extended sequences involve Val Kilmer and Angelina Jolie's characters. The battle of Gaugamela now starts earlier. Taking a cue from classic movie epics, the opening reel now set up the basic themes with greater economy: Alexander's Oedipal relationship with his parents, Olympias' ambitions for her son, the boy's need to surpass his father, and the entirely natural way in which myth/religion is shown as integral to the ancients' behavior. Oliver Stone reworked the third act, too, juxtaposing events in India and Greece. Jolie's Olympias emerges now more as a genuinely pathetic figure in the whole tragedy. Ptolemy's final scene was edited. Stone also slightly reworked Alexander's death scene because of audience feedback, adding 17 seconds to the scene.
