No./6
Napoleon vs Napoleon
Two A-list directors are marshalling projects about the French military commander. Who will emerge victorious?
RIDLEY SCOTT’S NAPOLEON
IN THE NEW Napoleonic Wars, Ridley Scott will fire the first shot. The 85-year-old director has already finished shooting his 28th film, which reunites him with his Gladiator star Joaquin Phoenix, donning the bicorne hat as the legendary French Emperor, alongside Vanessa Kirby as Empress Joséphine. It’s a period of history Scott has been fascinated with since his 1977 debut The Duellists, set in the same period — and with Apple’s impressive war chest behind it, Napoleon promises to be as massive in scale as Napoleon was supposedly diminutive in height. (Scott has promised six major battle sequences.) But it will also zero in on Napoleon the man, with a meticulously researched performance from Phoenix, who helped shape the script. “With Joaquin, we can rewrite the goddamn film because he’s uncomfortable,” Scott told Empire last year. “That kind of happened with Napoleon. We unpicked the film to help him focus on who Bonaparte was.” A release date is yet to be set, but expect Apple’s military strategists to aim for an awards-season deployment.