Joaquin Phoenixtakes on one of European history’s most famous leaders in his next role.
On Monday, Apple Original Films and Sony Pictures Entertainment released the first trailer for directorRidley Scott’s newmovieNapoleon, which stars the Oscar winner, 48, as the famed French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.
The trailer meets Napoleon in the year 1793 with the French Revolution in full swing, sparking chaos in the streets and an opening for the then-army officer to begin seizing power within the leaderless country.
The trailer ends with the emperor and his armies catching an opposing force in a trap, raining cannon fire onto a field of ice as Phoenix’s voiceover proclaims that the historic world leader never made tactical mistakes.
Joaquin Phoenix in Napoleon.
Napoleonmarks the first movie for director Scott, 85, since he released two films in 2021;The Last DuelandHouse of Gucci. An official synopsis for the new film describes it as a “spectacle-filled action epic” that follows the real life Bonaparte’s rise to power and fall before his eventual death in 1821 at age 51.
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Poster for Ridley Scott’s ‘Napoleon’.Sony Pictures
Sony Pictures
Bonaparte rose to power during France’s revolutionary wars and became emperor in 1804. He was exiled to Elba in 1814, escaped and reigned as emperor again until his defeat at Waterloo in 1815. He was then re-exiled to St. Helena, where he died in 1821 at the age of 51.
Joaquin Phoenix in ‘Napoleon’.
“With Joaquin, we can rewrite the goddamn film because he’s uncomfortable. And that kind of happened withNapoleon,” he continued. “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.”
source: people.com
