Ridley Scott is returning to theaters this month with the release of the historical drama Napoleon, starring Joaquin Phoenix as the infamous French emperor and Vanessa Kirby as his wife, Josphine de Beauharnais. The film promises to bring numerous historical events to the big screen, from the beheading of Marie Antoinette to the Battle of Waterloo, but not all of them might be fully accurate.
As observed in Scotts new interview with The New Yorker, the official Napoleon trailer was met with criticism by TV historian Dan Snow, who called out some of the inaccuracies in a viral TikTok post. Snow argued that Napoleon didnt shoot at the pyramids (the films trailer depicted as much during a peek at Scotts interpretation of the Battle of Pyramids), and he said that Marie Antoinette famously had very cropped hair for the execution, and, hey, Napoleon wasnt there (the trailer shows Marie Antoinette with long, frizzy locks).
When asked to respond to such historical fact checkers, Scott was blunt in his response: Get a life.
Phoenix previously touched upon the films historical accuracy when he told Empire magazine: If you want to really understand Napoleon, then you should probably do your own studying and reading. Because if you see this film, its this experience told through Ridleys eyes.
To be fair, Scott and his team were thorough in their research to make Napoleon as historically accurate as possible. They spent five days shooting the Battle of Waterloo, for instance, which replicates how the British army created human squares with bayonets pointed outwards in order to scare off French soldiers on horseback. They also studied the differences between how French soldiers and British soldiers loaded their bayonets as to depict the battle properly.
Scotts Napoleon is not the first big-budget Hollywood attempt to bring the French emperor to the big screen. Stanley Kubrick famously tried and failed to get a Napoleon movie off the ground. Scott told The New Yorker that he was once sent Kubricks unused Napoleon screenplay, but he found it underwhelming as it covered Napoleons life from birth to death. Scotts film, penned by David Scarpa, narrows in on Napoleon and Josephines marriage.
Whether or not Napoleon launches Scott back into the Oscar race remains to be seen. The 85-year-old filmmaker has been nominated at the Oscars three times for best director (The Martian, Thelma Louise and Gladiator), plus once for best picture as a producer on The Martian. Hes never won the gold trophy. Even when Gladiator claimed the Oscar for best picture in 2000, it was Steven Soderbergh who won directing honors for Traffic.
You know, I havent gotten an Oscar yet, Scott told The New Yorker. And, if I ever get one, Ill say, About feckin time!
Scottpreviously toldEmpire magazinethat Phoenixfelt clueless two weeks before cameras were set to roll on Napoleon.
Hell come in, and youre fucking two weeks out, and hell say, I dont know what to do, Scott said about Phoenix. Ill say, What?! I dont know what to do. Oh God. I said, Come in, sit down. We sat for 10 days, all day, talking scene by scene. In a sense, we rehearsed. Absolutely detail by detail.
With Joaquin, we can rewrite the goddamn film because hes uncomfortable. And that kind of happened with Napoleon, the director also shared. 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.
Apple and Sony are releasing Napoleon in theaters on Nov. 22.