Ridley Scott’s Napoleon Behind-The-Scenes Trailer Released

Ridley Scott’s Napolean movie has a new behind-the-scenes trailer that you can watch below! 

The “NAPOLEON Vignette – Unique Genius” featurette features Napoleon director Ridley Scott and star Vanessa Kirby showering praise on Joaquin Phoenix, who plays the titular French Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte. 

“Joaquin was just so incredible,” Kirby says in the video. “Scenes with him just felt really authentic. He was unbelievable at capturing the idiosyncratic, psychological portrait of this unpredictable personality. It was really amazing to watch him touch the really dark places. I could really see him tapping into that kind of psyche.

Ridley Scott explains: “I cast Joaquin because of his passion. When you are doing a film with Joaquin, he comes alive; he’s evolving into Napoleon Bonaparte. He’s one of the best.”

“It’s an astonishing story,” Joaquin Phoenix previously teased (before the Actor’s Strike). “Hopefully we captured some of the most interesting moments.”

Ridley Scott’s Napoleon is already earning itself some mythic status – ever since early word leaked that the filmmaker has a “fantastic” director’s cut of Napoleon that’s nearly four-and-a-half hours long. That sounds more like Oliver Stone’s infamous Alexander biopic, which had its own director’s cut that ran 3 hours and 34 minutes. However, Alexander wasn’t a box office hit ($167.3 million on a budget of $155 million), so hopefully the theatrical cut of Napoleon fares better than the Ancient Greek ruler did. 

Napoleon is a spectacle-filled action epic that details the checkered rise and fall of the iconic French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, played by Oscar®-winner Joaquin Phoenix. 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. 

Vanessa Kirby stars opposite of Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon’s love and future empress, Joséphine. Napoleon also features Tahar Rahim as French revolutionary leader Paul Barras. Napoleon‘s cast also includes Ben Miles as Napoleon’s advisor Caulaincourt, Ludivine Sagnier as socialite Theresa Cabarrus, Madame Tallien, Matthew Needham as Napoleon’s brother Lucien, Youssef Kerkour as Marshal Davout, one of Napoleon’s commanders, Phil Cornwell as Sanson ‘The Bourreau’, king of France, Edouard Philipponnat as Tsar Alexander, Ian McNeice, Paul Rhys as the diplomat Talleyrand, John Hollingworth as celebrated soldier Marshal Ney, Gavin Spokes as Moulins, and Mark Bonnar as Jean-Andoche Junot. Scott helms the film from a script that was penned by David Scarpa.

Napoleon will be in theaters this Thanksgiving.