Overview
When Joaquin Phoenix and Ridley Scott joined forces in 2000, exploring a brutal (and fictionalised) slice of history in the process, it brought both the actor and the director Oscar nominations. Repeating the feat 23 years after Gladiator, they might be hoping for the same outcome — or better. The new teamup: Napoleon, with Phoenix (Beau Is Afraid) on a campaign to rule France as the movie's namesake, and Scott (House of Gucci) also returning to a period he dived into in his debut feature The Duellists back in 1977.
The focus this time is clearly all there in the title, charting Napoleon Bonaparte's rise to French Emperor, then fall from the post. No, ABBA's 'Waterloo' doesn't feature in the film's just-dropped first trailer. Present instead is a whole lot of wars being waged in a quest to first fight for and then to hold onto power, as well an examination of Napoleon's relationship with Joséphine de Beauharnais (Vanessa Kirby, Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One).
The hat, the determination, the military and political scheming, battle scene after battle scene: they all get a look the Napoleon sneak peek, too, in a movie that's being touted by distributor Sony as boasting "some of the most dynamic practical battle sequences ever filmed".
Also accounted for: lines of dialogue, as scripted by All the Money in the World's David Scarpa, establishing Napoleon's arrogance. "I'm the first to admit when I make a mistake. I simply never do," Phoenix notes.
When Napoleon hits cinemas Down Under in November, Phoenix and Kirby will be joined on-screen by everyone from Tahar Rahim (The Serpent) as Paul Barras and Ben Miles (Hijack) as Caulaincourt to Ludivine Sagnier (Lupin) as Theresa Cabarrus — plus Catherine Walker (House of Gucci) as Marie-Antoinette, whose fate opens the trailer.
After a silver-screen date, the movie is headed to Apple TV+, just like another big flick with a starry cast and an acclaimed octogenarian filmmaker that's on its way before 2023 is out: Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon.
Check out the first trailer for Napoleon below:
Napoleon releases in cinemas Down Under on November 23, 2023.