Sony Pictures Releasing has today debuted the first official trailer for legendary director Ridley Scott‘s (Gladiator, The Last Duel) spectacle-filled action epic, Napoleon that chronicles the checkered rise and fall of the iconic French Emperor, played by Oscar®-winner Joaquin Phoenix.
Directed by Scott, from a script penned by David Scarpa, the film captures Bonaparte’s relentless journey to power through the prism of his addictive, volatile relationship with his one true love, Josephine, showcasing his visionary military and political tactics against some of the most dynamic practical battle sequences ever filmed.
The film will also feature Vanessa Kirby as Empress Joséphine, Youssef Kerkour as General Davout, Tahar Rahim as Paul Barras, Ben Miles as Coulancourt, and Catherine Walker as Marie-Antoinette,
Stanley Kubrick originally began developing a Napoleon biopic as early as 1969, but lost financial backing after the failure of another Napoleon-themed film (Waterloo) and instead went on to direct A Clockwork Orange. In the decades since, there have been numerous attempts by other filmmakers to bring Kubrick’s concept to fruition. Most recently, Steven Spielberg differentiated the 2023 Ridley Scott production from an announced HBO limited series based on Kubrick’s concept.
Napoleon will release exclusively in cinemas on November 22, 2023.
