Napoleon s Unscripted Slap

Napoleon’s Unscripted Slap Came From An Agreement To Go To Dark Places: ‘We Always Wanted To Surprise Each Other’, Says Vanessa Kirby – Exclusive Image
Napoleon
By Ben Travis | Posted On01 08 2023
People:
Ridley Scott
Joaquin Phoenix
Vanessa Kirby
Underneath all the battles, the blood, and that bicorne hat, Ridley Scott’s Napoleon is actually about a relationship – and a deeply unhealthy one at that. Right from its inception, his film was intended to hinge on the French Emperor’s tumultuous relationship with Jos;phine de Beauharnais – a push-pull of power, lust, and twisted personal dynamics, as the pair both clash with and complement each other through their years together. In those roles, Scott has put together a powerhouse on-screen couple – the ever-uncompromising Joaquin Phoenix more than meeting his match in the formidable Vanessa Kirby.

Together, Phoenix and Kirby allowed each other to go to dark and unexpected places, to find spontaneity and life in historic material. And it delivers shocking moments – including one unscripted interaction during their (historical spoiler alert!) divorce scene, where Phoenix’s Napoleon slaps Kirby’s Jos;phine. “We were using the real words from their divorce in the church,” explains Kirby. “When that happens, you can faithfully go through an archival re-enactment of it and read out the lines and then go home. But we always wanted to surprise each other.” To do just that, the pair decided to create a space where they could be free to go wherever felt right in the moment. “It’s the greatest thing when you have a creative partner and you say, ‘Right, everything’s safe. I’m with you. And we’re gonna go to the dark places together’,” Kirby explains.


For Phoenix, the boundaries were clear on what he and Kirby might expect from one another when those unplanned moments arose. “She said, ‘Look, whatever you feel, you can do.’ I said, ‘Same thing with you.’ She said, ‘You can slap me, you can grab me, you can pull me, you can kiss me, whatever it is’,” he recalls. “So we had this agreement that we were going to surprise each other and try and create moments that weren’t there, because both of us wanted to avoid the clich; of the period drama. And by that I mean moments that are well-orchestrated and designed.”

The results, they hope, create some kind of portrait of Napoleon and Jos;phine’s chaotic relationship, in all its volatility, pain, and passion. “We never really got to the bottom of it,” says Phoenix. “I don’t know if you can call it love. I don’t know what it was. But we encouraged each other, demanded of each other, to challenge ourselves to shock each other in moments. And that’s what came out of that, that moment.” That’s the approach when it comes to Napoleon all around: expect the unexpected.

Empire Sep23 Newsstand Cover
Read Empire's world-exclusive Napoleon feature in full – including brand new interviews with director Ridley Scott and stars Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby, plus tons of never-before-seen images – in the new issue, on sale Thursday 3 August. Pre-order a print copy here, or become an Empire member to access the digital edition on launch day. Napoleon is in UK cinemas from 22 November and will stream globally on Apple TV+ following its exclusive theatrical release.

All interviews with actors and writers in this issue took place prior to the union strikes.

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Ridley Scott’s Napoleon Delves Into The Psyche Of An Emperor: ‘He’s Got A Lot Of Bad Shit Under His Belt’ – Exclusive Image
Napoleon
By Ben Travis | Posted On01 08 2023
People:
Ridley Scott
Joaquin Phoenix
Vanessa Kirby
How do you solve a problem like Napoleon Bonaparte? That’s the quandary at the centre of Ridley Scott’s upcoming historical epic, simply titled Napoleon – a film that is, at once, the kind of battle-fuelled behemoth you want from the director of Gladiator, and the exact opposite of that too. Emperor, conqueror, monster – the French military leader was many things. And Scott’s film, above all else, is about trying to get into his head (perched somewhere under that gigantic bicorne hat) to find out exactly what made him tick.

The contradictions at play in Napoleon himself are channelled into Napoleon. While Scott is playing on a vast historical canvas, this isn’t a rousing story of triumph. Instead, we get a film that doesn’t shy away from the considerable amount of blood on Napoleon’s hands. “I compare him with Alexander The Great. Adolf Hitler. Stalin,” Scott tells Empire in our world-exclusive cover feature. “Listen, he’s got a lot of bad shit under his belt. At the same time, he was remarkable with his courage, and in his can-do and in his dominance. He was extraordinary.” Joaquin Phoenix, too, was intent on subverting the usual tropes of heroics, victories, and the story of a rebellious figure rising through the ranks. “That’s definitely something we wanted to avoid,” he says. “Certainly speaking for myself, I actively wanted to avoid the conventions of the biopic.”

Napoleon
Central to Scott’s take was to focus on the tumultuous relationship between Phoenix’s Napoleon – the star reuniting with his Gladiator director – and Jos;phine de Beauharnais (Vanessa Kirby). “It was very hard work, because it’s so easy to start talking about battles when I want to talk about Napoleon,” says Scott. “So I kept reining it in, I kept going back to Jos;phine.” For Kirby, it was a trip trying to discover the real Jos;phine – who she was herself, and who she was to Napoleon. “What was so challenging, and kind of elusive, about her, was that every single book, whether it was first-hand accounts, third-hand stories, documents, testimonies, and Napoleon’s letters… every single one was completely different,” she explains. “She was just this massive contradiction. Every time I thought I’d locked down, ‘Okay, this is who she is, and I think I can get hold of this’, something would completely counteract it.”

As for embodying Napoleon himself, Scott knew Phoenix was the man for the job when he caught up with Joker. (“I’m staring at Joaquin and saying, ‘This little demon is Napoleon Bonaparte.’ He looks like him.”) Together they’ve created something that’s a Ridley Scott movie through and through. “If you want to really understand Napoleon, then you should probably do your own studying and reading,” Phoenix tells Empire. “Because if you see this film, it’s this experience told through Ridley’s eyes. It’s just such a complex world. I mean, it’s so fucking complex. What we were after was something that would capture the feeling of this man.” Bring on the psychological warfare.

Empire Sep23 Newsstand Cover
Read Empire's world-exclusive Napoleon feature in full – including brand new interviews with director Ridley Scott and stars Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby, plus tons of never-before-seen images – in the new issue, on sale Thursday 3 August. Pre-order a print copy here, or become an Empire member to access the digital edition on launch day. Napoleon is in UK cinemas from 22 November and will stream globally on Apple TV+ following its exclusive theatrical release.

All interviews with actors and writers in this issue took place prior to the union strikes.

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Loose Cannon: Ridley Scott & Joaquin Phoenix On Napoleon – World-Exclusive
Napoleon
By Alex Godfrey | Posted On14 08 2023
People:
Ridley Scott
Joaquin Phoenix
Ridley Scott’s Napoleon takes on history’s infamous invader. Prepare for psychological warfare.

Napoleon
Read an extract of our world-exclusive Napoleon cover feature from our September 2023 issue below, or see the full piece here.

Shall we start with the piles? It might make sense to start with the piles. A good a window as any into how Ridley Scott has approached his latest, possibly oddest and definitely most idiosyncratic historical epic.

“Napoleon was a horseman, he suffered from piles,” he tells us, throwing quite the curveball when we ask about the film’s battle sequences. “That’s varicose veins up your butt, right? I don’t have them, but they’re very, very painful, it ain’t funny. It’s like having a toothache up your butt. There’s nothing you can do.”

So there’s a quick primer on haemorrhoids from Ridley Scott, in case you didn’t know, and in case you wondered whether he has them or not. But back to Napoleon.

“We sense history might have been different had Napoleon not had a very bad attack of piles on the day of Waterloo. You heard this one?” We had not. “Okay. So I had him at Waterloo,” he says of one of history’s most famous battles, “sitting on the loo, and it’s pouring with rain outside, and he does his business. He gets up, looks in the loo, there is blood. Then he does the day in battle, sweating and in agony with the piles. David [Scarpa, the screenwriter] said, ‘Isn’t this rather undignified?’ I said, ‘Maybe, but it’s accurate.’ But we took it out of the movie because it became too distracting.”

So, the piles didn’t make it. But this should give you an indication of what Scott is going for here. Napoleon covers a substantial sweep, taking in the Corsican-born French military commander’s ascension from officer to King and Emperor, his conquering of nations, the rise, the fall, and the bogglingly erratic relationship with Jos;phine de Beauharnais, who would obsess him from the moment they met until the moment he died, and yes, there are considerably huge battle sequences. But above all, it’s a really rather eccentric character study.

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Napoleon Trailer Sends Joaquin Phoenix To War In Ridley Scott’s Historical Epic
Napoleon
By Ben Travis | Posted On10 07 2023
People:
Ridley Scott
Joaquin Phoenix
Vanessa Kirby
Saddle up, people – Ridley Scott is back in historical epic mode! And we mean, real, proper historical epic. The (perhaps already underrated) The Last Duel might have taken the legendary director of Gladiator and Kingdom Of Heaven (Director’s Cut, obviously) back into the annals of history, but it was in many ways an intimate and multifaceted portrait of a personal story. And while there looks to be a major character study element to Scott’s new Napoleon, make no mistake – this looks to be an all-out war movie, with blood and battalions and ballistics flying through the air. At the centre of it all is Joaquin Phoenix as the man in the hat, reuniting with his Gladiator director once more. Check it out here:


The massive battle shots! The naval warfare! The pyramids! The weird version of Radiohead’s ‘The National Anthem’! This one really does look mega-massive, even by Sir Ridley’s standards – a story on a huge scale, with huge action to match. And opposite Phoenix is the ever-excellent Vanessa Kirby as Josephine, Napoleon’s other half – with their relationship expected to be a major facet of the story here. The film is penned by writer David Scarpa, who also scripted All The Money In The World for Scott – and is behind the screenplay for Ridley’s next little indie movie, by the (current) title of Gladiator 2. Even at the age of 85, the man behind Alien, Blade Runner, Black Hawk Down and more shows absolutely no sign of slowing down.

Here’s the official synopsis: “Napoleon is a spectacle-filled action epic that details the checkered rise and fall of the iconic French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte,” it reads. “Against a stunning backdrop of large-scale filmmaking orchestrated by legendary director Ridley Scott, the film captures Bonaparte's relentless journey to power through the prism of his addictive, volatile relationship with his one true love, Josephine, showcasing his visionary military and political tactics against some of the most dynamic practical battle sequences ever filmed.” Big talk, with a big trailer to back it up.

Napoleon is coming our way before the end of the year – heading to UK cinemas on 22 November, before it makes its way to Apple TV+ at a later date. That’s a particularly Oscar-friendly release window. Will it be a race between Scorsese and Scott for the little gold statues? It’s certainly looking that way…

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