“Napoleon” Director Ridley Scott Divulges Details, Says Script Rewritten For Joaquin Phoenix

Oscar-winning actor Joaquin Phoenix was in a fix for two weeks before shooting for their historical epic “Napoleon” started, director Ridley Scott told Empire magazine. The director and the actor reunited for the movie 20 years after they worked together in “Gladiator”. Pheonix will lead the film as the French emperor, with Venessa Kirby playing the role of his wife Josephine de Beauharnais.

Scott said about Phoenix, “He’ll come in, and you’re fucking two weeks out, and he’ll say, ‘I don’t know what to do.’I’ll say, ‘What?!’ ‘I don’t 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.”

The reason why Scott cast Phoenix as Napoleon is because he described Phoenix as “the best player of damaged goods”. The actor said it was not a difficult decision to sign another film directed by Scott. 

The actor said, “The truth is, there was just a very nostalgic idea of working with Ridley again.” He said, “I had such an incredible experience working with Ridley on ‘Gladiator,’ and I was so young. It was my first big production. I really yearned for that experience again, or something similar. He’s approached me about other things in the past, but nothing that felt like it would be as demanding for both of us. And so I really liked the idea of jumping into something with Ridley that was going to be that.”

Earlier Scott informed Empire magazine that the entire “Napoleon” script had to be re-written so that Pheonix would feel more comfortable. The script was written by David Scarpa, who also was the screenplay writer for Scott’s “All the Money in the World.”

The filmmaker said, “Joaquin is about as far from conventional as you 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.”

Scott further said, “With Joaquin, we can rewrite the goddamn film because he’s uncomfortable. And that kind of happened with ‘Napoleon.’” He further said, “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 set to be released in theaters on November 22, by Apple and Sony.