‘Napoleon’ is an upcoming epic historical drama, based on the original and personal life of French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, which will depict his rise to power. The story will portray his swift, ruthless climb, viewed through the prism of his addictive and often volatile relationship with his wife Josephine.
Joaquin Phoenix plays the titular role of Napoleon and Vanessa Kirby plays the love of Napolen’s life, Empress Josephine. The film has been directed and produced by Ridley Scott and written by David Scarpa.
Ridley Scott and Joaquin Phoenix had last worked together in ‘Gladiator’ (2000) and now after two long decades, the duo has joined hands for this historical drama again. As it’s known to all that making such a huge film is always a huge undertaking, hence Scott revealed in an interview to Empire magazine that ‘Napolean’ was one of the most challenging works also the best experience for him.
While talking on the topic of 50 Greatest Actors, Scott paid a tribute to Joaquin and shared that how he influenced Scott about the story of ‘Napolean’ with his series of questions. Scott shared, “Joaquin is about as far from conventional as you can get. Not deliberately, but out of intuition. That is what makes him tick. If something bothers him, he will let you know.”
“He made ‘Napolean’ special by constantly questioning. That inquisitive nature led to significant changes on the movie. With Joaquin, we can rewrite the goddamn film because he is 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 further shared.
Napoleon Bonaparte has always fascinated Scott and hence he was quite excited for the film. Scott also shared, “Napolean came out of nowhere to rule everything, but all the while he was waging a romantic war with his adulterous wife Josephine. He conquered the world to try to win her love, and when he couldn’t, he conquered it to destroy her and destroyed himself in the process.”
Directed and produced by Ridley Scott, written by David Scarpa, starring Joaquin Phoenix, Vanessa Kirby, Jodie Comer, Ben Miles, Matthew Needham and Ludivine Sagnier, ‘Napolean’ is all set to release in 2023.
