Vanessa Kirby and Joaquin Phoenix are acting out on the set of “Napoleon.”
Ridley Scott’s epic biopic, set to be released this November, follows Phoenix because the infamous military general charting a swift and brutal rise to power.
The narrative focuses on Napoleon Bonaparte’s hot-and-cold relationship together with his first wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais (Kirby), and the fallout from the couple’s tortuous divorce.
In a single particularly heated scene, Phoenix even delivers Kirby an unscripted slap.
Chatting with Empire magazine, the celebrities claimed that the flexibility to shock each other was the key to their success.
“We were using the true words from their divorce within the church,” Kirby, who was nominated for an Oscar for her role in “Pieces of a Woman,” said. “When that happens, you possibly can faithfully undergo an archival re-enactment of it and browse out the lines after which go home. But we all the time desired to surprise one another.”
It isn’t hard to assume that a dense period drama like “Napoleon” might collapse under its own weight — or collapse under the burden of Bonaparte’s hat — so the actors sought ways to inject some life into their scenes. That meant trusting one another to make creative decisions which may verge on violent.
Kirby explained, “It’s the best thing when you may have a creative partner and also you say, ‘Right, every little thing’s protected. I’m with you. And we’re gonna go to the dark places together.”
4-time Oscar nominee and one-time winner Phoenix, meanwhile, gave props to his on-screen paramour for her gumption: “She said, ‘Look, whatever you are feeling, you possibly can do.’ I said, ‘Same with you.’”
Phoenix elaborated, “She said, ‘You’ll be able to slap me, you possibly can grab me, you possibly can pull me, you possibly can kiss me, whatever it’s.’ So we had this agreement that we were going to surprise one another.”
Director Scott has previously spoken of the unwieldiness of the work he’s attempting to drag together, telling Empire of Bonaparte, “I compare him with Alexander the Great, Adolf Hitler, [and] Stalin.”
“Listen, he’s got loads of s–t under his belt,” Scott said.
“At the identical time,” he continued,”he was remarkable together with his courage, and in his can-do and in his dominance. He was extraordinary.”
