Gladiator alumni Ridley Scott and Joaquin Phoenix will reunite to portray another one of history’s greatest military geniuses: Napoleon. And, like its titular character in the trailer says, he and the movie promise to be “brilliant successes.”
Apple TV dropped its first trailer for the movie Napoleon on July 10, 2023. Scott, who most recently directed The House of Gucci, told Deadline back in 2021 that he was always interested in Napoleon. (READ MORE: The World’s Best Movie Critic?)
“Napoleon is a man I’ve always been fascinated by,” Scott said. “He came out of nowhere to rule everything — but all the while, he was waging a romantic war with his adulterous wife Josephine. He conquered the world to try to win her love, and when he couldn’t, he conquered it to destroy her, and destroyed himself in the process.”
Phoenix also once again graces movie screens across the world, playing another conflicted and empirical — yet noble and history-altering — figure.
“No actor could ever embody Napoleon like Joaquin,” Scott said. “He created one of movie history’s most complex Emperors in Gladiator, and we’ll create another with his Napoleon. It’s a brilliant script written by David Scarpa, and today there’s no better partner than Apple to bring a story like this to a global audience.”
Actress Vanessa Kirby, known for playing Princess Margaret in the first few seasons of The Crown, stars in the movie as Napoleon’s wife, Josephine.
Trying to encapsulate the victories of Napoleon in a few hours — much less his motivations — is no easy feat, and it’s ambitious in its own right. The stakes are high — if the movie succeeds, it could be the crowning glory of 2023. If, however, it fails to win the day, it will meet its own Waterloo.
Elizabeth Crawford is a rising senior at Hillsdale College studying politics. A member of The American Spectator’s 2023 intern class, Elizabeth enjoys drinking good tea and plans to pursue a career in journalism.
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