Vanessa Kirby Told Joaquin Phoenix "You Can Slap Me, Grab Me, Pull Me, Kiss Me" While Shooting NAPOLEON
While shooting Ridley Scott’s upcoming historical epic Napolean, Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby ended up getting very physical with each other, and Phoenix actually slapped her for real during a heated scene between their characters, Napoleon Bonaparte and Joséphine de Beauharnais. But, she gave Phoenix permission to do that along with a few other things.
During an interview with Empire, Kirby explained that the two actors wanted to surprise each other while shooting the movie. She said:
“We were using the real words from their divorce in the church. When that happens, you can faithfully go through an archival re-enactment of it and read out the lines and then go home. But we always wanted to surprise each other.”
She went on to tell Phoenix, “‘Look, whatever you feel, you can do.’ I said, ‘Same thing with you.’” She went on to tell Phoenix: “‘You can slap me, you can grab me, you can pull me, you can kiss me, whatever it is.’”
Phoenix recalled: “So we had this agreement that we were going to surprise each other and try and create moments that weren’t there, because both of us wanted to avoid the cliché of the period drama. And by that I mean moments that are well-orchestrated and designed.”
Kirby added, “It’s the greatest thing when you have a creative partner and you say, ‘Right, everything’s safe. I’m with you. And we’re gonna go to the dark places together.'”
Phoenix went on to say: “We encouraged each other, demanded of each other, to challenge ourselves to shock each other in moments, and that’s what came out of that, that moment.”
So, it looks like we are going to get to see Phoenix and Kirby go to some dark and physical places together when we watch the movie. Things are going to get intense!
Napoleon is described as “a spectacle-filled action epic that details the checkered rise and fall of the iconic French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte” The film “captures Bonaparte's relentless journey to power through the prism of his addictive, volatile relationship with his one true love, Josephine (Vanessa Kirby), showcasing his visionary military and political tactics against some of the most dynamic practical battle sequences ever filmed.”
The movie “captures Napoleon’s famous battles, relentless ambition and astounding strategic mind as an extraordinary military leader and war visionary.”
When talking about the film, Scott said, "Napoleon is a man I've always been fascinated by. He came out of nowhere to rule everything — but all the while he was waging a romantic war with his adulterous wife Josephine. 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.”
The film was written by David Scarpa, and Apple Original Films and Sony Pictures Entertainment will release Napoleon on Wednesday, November 22, 2023.