Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon Bonaparte

Marie-Antoinette is shown with a haughty scowl on the way to the guillotine. In reality, she was serene, plus her hair had already been shorn and she wore a cap. Other than that, the trailer for the new Ridley Scott film looks great, with excellent casting. From Vulture: 

It’s Joaquin Phoenix’s turn to be a short king. The Beau Is Afraid actor stars in Ridley Scott’s upcoming historical war epic from a script written by David Scarpa, set in Napoleonic France during the emperor in question’s series of brutal, ego-driven wars. In the film’s first trailer, we see Phoenix use the instability of revolutionary France for his benefit, attacking rebels to gain a foothold in the country’s power vacuum after the beheading of Sofia Coppola muse Marie Antoinette. “We must make an example or France will fall,” a general says. What would he do if the assignment of defense was transferred to him? “I promise you brilliant successes,” Phoenix guarantees. Cue opening cannon fire on civilians protesting in the streets. Soon enough, he meets his lover and chief strategist Joséphine (Vanessa Kirby), and together they take the throne, plot to bulldoze Europe, blow up Egyptian antiquities, and invade Russia in the winter. “You think you’re great,” she tells her ambitiously deranged husband in between scenes of absolute carnage. “You’re just a tiny little brute.” Napoleon invades theaters November 22. (Read more.)

 

From The Spectator:

The trailer for Ridley Scott’s eagerly awaited magnum opus Napoleon has finally arrived — and it does not disappoint. Boasting what looks like another Oscar-worthy performance from Joaquin Phoenix, the trailer teases an intoxicating mixture of full-throttle battle scenes, executed and shot on a scale unparalleled in modern cinema, as well as insight into the complex psyche of the French emperor, to say nothing of his often-tortuous relationship with his wife Josephine (played here by Vanessa Kirby.)

Apple TV+ has invested a fortune into the film — which will receive a cinematic release first, before going onto the streaming service — and it isn’t hard to see where the money has gone. The recreations of the battles of Austerlitz and Waterloo, among others, look peerless, and the mass execution of aristocrats in 1793 Paris probably seemed on the small side in comparison. The only cause for concern is that Scott’s epics alternate between the magnificent (Gladiator, the director’s cut of Kingdom of Heaven) and the disappointing (Robin Hood, Exodus: Gods and Kings), but Phoenix, Kirby and a fine supporting cast (including Rupert Everett playing what looks like the Duke of Wellington) should make this one a winner. 

Yet what’s arguably even more interesting about Napoleon than explosions and portentous-yet-barbed dialogue is the fact that it represents a return to a genre that appeared to be dead and buried in Hollywood but has returned this year with a vengeance: the man’s movie. Such pictures as Oppenheimer, The Killer, Killers of the Flower Moon and even the recent Mission: Impossible and Indiana Jones films are all aimed squarely at a male audience that would once have been regularly entertained at cinemas, but now find themselves largely cast adrift. 

Not all that long ago, this was very different. Such battle-oriented epics as Master and Commander and Gladiator — to say nothing of films that didn’t star Russell Crowe — were rich in violent action and scenes of male camaraderie. If the female roles were either thin or non-existent, this did not prove too much of an issue when it came to box office receipts. Men have traditionally enjoyed films about fighting and honor and with painstaking recreations of historical scenes from ancient Rome to the Napoleonic wars. They were also critically acclaimed, often winning vast numbers of awards in the process. Then the commercial failures of the likes of Alexander and, recently, Scott’s The Last Duel seemed to suggest that audiences had tired of male-oriented pictures. Instead, in came four-quadrant superhero films, carefully aimed to appeal to wide audiences, and with their violence and essential manliness toned right down. (Read more.)

From Digital Spy:

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, Joséphine, showcasing his visionary military and political tactics against some of the most dynamic practical battle sequences ever filmed. (Read more.)

From Tatler:

In 2020, it was announced that Sir Ridley Scott's latest film project would see him working with Joaquin Phoenix once again (many will remember Phoenix’s turn as Commodus, for which he received a Best Supporting Actor nomination, in Scott’s Gladiator). This time he will be playing the Napoleon Bonaparte in a film entitled Kitbag. Now, the first images from the set have been released, showing the actor in full military regalia as the French Emperor, including his famous bicorne hat. Filming is currently taking place in Greenwich, south-east London. (Read more.)

Vanessa Kirby as Joséphine

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