Ridley Scott will reunite with Joaquin Phoenix for Napoleon. However, the Blade Runner director recently reviewed Phoenix's Joker film.
“I was blown away by his [Phoenix's] outrageous film Joker,” Scott revealed to Deadline. “I didn't like the way it celebrated violence but Joaquin was remarkable. I thought he'd be an amazing asset to Napoleon, [not only creatively] also in a commercial sense. There were only two actors I had in mind for the role. I won't mention the other one.”
Earlier in his career, Phoenix starred in Scott's Gladiator film with Russell Crowe. He played the antagonist, Commodus, in the film.
In 2019, Joaquin Phoenix gave an Oscar-winning performance in Todd Phillips' Joker. While based on a DC comic, Joker was a Martin Scorsese-inspired comic book film that was grounded. Joker was a huge hit, grossing over $1 billion at the box office and was nominated for 11 Oscars. A sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux, is coming out in 2024.
Ridley Scott's next film, Napoleon, stars Phoenix as the titular character. The film will depict Napoleon's rise to power through the lens of Empress Joséphine (Vanessa Kirby). Apple TV+ has the film's distribution rights, but it's a co-production with Sony Pictures (under their Columbia Pictures banner). That means Napoleon will get a full theatrical run. However, Scott also has a four-hour director's cut coming once it hits Apple TV+.
Despite being 85-years-old, Scott is still directing heavyweight films. In 2021, Scott released two films, The Last Duel and House of Gucci. He will also direct Gladiator 2 with Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Cannie Nielsen, and Denzel Washington. The film is set to be released in 2024.
Napoleon will be released on November 22.
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