A new ad for Apple Vision Pro, the company’s “mixed reality” headset, has revealed our first official look at Academy Award winner Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon Bonaparte in director Ridley Scott’s upcoming historical epic, Napoleon. The Apple ad reveals a few glimpses of footage from the highly-anticipated movie, and finds Phoenix doing his best egoistic face as he prepares to conquer the world. You can check out the new look at Napoleon below...
Further footage, which was released as part of the Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, teases the kinds of epic, brutal battles that will be on display when Napoleon hits theaters later this year, as Phoenix’s Napoleon Bonaparte wages war alongside all the brooding.
Directed and produced by Ridley Scott and written by David Scarpa, Napoleon will depict the French leader's rise to power through the lens of his addictive and volatile relationship with Empress Joséphine.
Scott has amassed a stellar cast to bring his long-gestating project to life. Joker star Joaquin Phoenix will lead the project as Napoleon Bonaparte, with the Oscar winner starring alongside the likes of Vanessa Kirby as Empress Joséphine, Tahar Rahim as Paul Barras, Ben Miles as Caulaincourt, Ludivine Sagnier as Theresa Cabarrus, Matthew Needham as Lucien Bonaparte, Youssef Kerkour as Marshal Davout, Phil Cornwell as Sanson 'The Bourreau', and Edouard Philipponnat as Tsar Alexander.
The rest of the cast includes Ian McNeice (The Sandman), Paul Rhys (A Discovery of Witches), John Hollingworth (The Queen's Gambit), Gavin Spokes (House of the Dragon), and Mark Bonnar (Operation Mincemeat).
Napoleon Has Been a Long Time Coming
Bringing a historical epic centered on the military exploits of Napoleon Bonaparte has been in the works for quite some time. Iconic filmmaker Stanley Kubrick began work on such a project way, way back in the late 1960s. A project which sadly fell apart due to financial reasons. Many other filmmakers have since attempted to bring the life of Napoleon to the screen, with Steven Spielberg hoping to transform Kubrick’s vision into a limited series for HBO.
But to the big screen comes Napoleon from Ridley Scott, with the Blade Runner and The Last Duel director having always been fascinated by the historical figure. "Napoleon is a man I've always been fascinated by", Scott said of the project. "He came out of nowhere to rule everything — but all the while he was waging a romantic war with his adulterous wife Joséphine. He conquered the world to try to win her love, and when he couldn't, he conquered it to destroy her, and destroyed himself in the process."
Napoleon sees Scott reunite with Gladiator star Joaquin Phoenix, with the director having stated that “No actor could ever embody Napoleon like Joaquin. He created one of movie history’s most complex Emperors in Gladiator, and we’ll create another with his Napoleon. It’s a brilliant script written by David Scarpa, and today there’s no better partner than Apple to bring a story like this to a global audience.”
Napoleon is scheduled to be released in theaters later this year on November 22, 2023, courtesy of Sony Pictures Releasing and Apple Studios. The biopic will then be available to stream on Apple TV+ at a later date.