Yahoo News Joaquin Phoenix Conquers Europe and Falls in Love as Napoleon in First Trailer for Ridley Scott's Epic
'Napoleon,' Ridley Scott's first movie since 'House of Gucci,' releases in theaters on Nov. 22
Joaquin Phoenix takes on one of European history's most famous leaders in his next role.
On Monday, Sony Pictures Entertainment released the first trailer for director Ridley Scott's new movie Napoleon, which stars the Oscar winner, 48, as the famed French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.
The trailer meets Napoleon in the year 1973 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.
As Napoleon's wartime prowess raises his profile, he also meets his eventual wife Josephine (Vanessa Kirby), whom he falls in love with during military campaigns in Egypt and an eventual coup d'état that leads to his dictatorship, spawning wars against the United Kingdom and more European nations.
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.
Napoleon marks the first movie for director Scott, 85, since he released two films in 2021; The Last Duel and House 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.
"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," the synopsis reads.
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Sony Pictures
Poster for Ridley Scott's 'Napoleon'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.
Phoenix won an Oscar for Best Actor for his performance in 2019's Joker, and he was previously nominated for his turns in Walk the Line, The Master and Gladiator, which was also directed by Scott, 85. The director told Empire magazine in December that he re-wrote some of Napoleon around Phoenix's performance.
Related: Joaquin Phoenix Becomes French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte on Set of Upcoming Ridley Scott Movie
"Joaquin is about as far from conventional as you can get. Not deliberately, but out of intuition. That's what makes him tick. If something bothers him, he'll let you know. He made [Napoleon] special by constantly questioning," said Scott.
"With Joaquin, we can rewrite the goddamn film because he's uncomfortable. And that kind of happened with Napoleon," 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."
Napoleon is in theaters Nov. 22.
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