All hail Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon Bonaparte.
Phoenix leads Ridley Scott‘s “Napoleon” as the famed French ruler. The R-rated film marks a reunion between director/producer Scott and “All the Money in the World” scribe David Scarpa, who both co-wrote the script.
The official synopsis reads: “Napoleon” is an original 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. The intention of the film is to capture Napoleon’s famous battles, relentless ambition, and astounding strategic mind as an extraordinary military leader and war visionary.
Scott previously revealed that he ended up rewriting the whole “goddamn film” to instead more fully focus on Phoenix as Napoleon. Originally titled “Kitbag,” the film was centered around the romantic relationship between Josephine (Vanessa Kirby) and Napoleon, instead.
“With ‘Napoleon, I think we dug in and found the character, or as close to what he may have been,” Scott said. “With Joaquin, we can rewrite the goddamn film because he’s uncomfortable. And that kind of happened with ‘Napoleon.’ We unpicked the film to help him focus on who Bonaparte was. I had to respect that, because what was being said was incredibly constructive. It made it all grow bigger and better.”
Scott added of his “Gladiator” actor, “Joaquin is probably the most special, thoughtful actor I’ve ever worked with.”
Phoenix’s co-star Kirby told The Playlist that she sought to bring “forensic research” to the role of Josephine. “It’s been really amazing to absorb,” Kirby said. “For something like a film about Josephine, it’s reminding me of my process for ‘The Crown,’ where you have to play someone real and there’s this amount of forensic research you have to do, to collate all these different impressions that have been recorded of them, the real person, and bring it into one being for this version of this person onscreen.”
“Napoleon” is produced by writer/director Scott and Kevin Walsh for Scott Free Productions. Apple Studios is behind the project after first being announced in 2020 with 20th Century. Scott recently confirmed that a four-hour cut of “Napoleon” will be available to stream on Apple TV+.
“What will happen is, we’ll screen [the theatrical cut] first with Sony, and then it has its run, and then the perfect thing is that [the director’s cut] goes to streaming, and we have four hours 10 minutes,” Scott told Total Film.
“Napoleon” premieres in theaters November 22 and will stream later on Apple TV+. For all the details on “Napoleon,” click here. Check out the trailer below.
