Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon” is gunning for awards season. However, according to Screen Daily, Scott’s film is skipping the fall festivals.
At time of writing Screen understood the film will not receive a world premiere festival berth.
This would mean that Venice would miss out out on Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune 2,” Hayao Miyazaki’s “How Do You Live” and “Napoleon.” There’s also no guarantee that David Fincher’s “The Killer” will go the Venice route either.
This comes as Sony just screened first footage from “Napoleon” at CinemaCon last night.
Produced and financed by Apple, Scott’s epic reunites the filmmaker with Joaquin Phoenix as the European conquering emperor. Scott is 85-years-old, but this is said to be one of the most ambitious films of his career.
The exclusive footage shown last night at CC was said to be a winter battle scene where Russian and Austrian forces team-up against a French advance only to fall victim to a battlefield trap concocted by Napoleon.
Here’s The Playlist’s Gregory Ellwood:
The scenes featured hundreds (a thousand?) extras on horseback (“Kingdom of Heaven” vibes) and almost entirely in-camera visual effects (lots of on-the-ground explosions). There were at least three or four individual shots that anyone in the room will still remember weeks from now, which obviously a very good thing. The only concern is Scott has allowed all the actors to speak in their native accents which in this case means Napoleon sounds American. Scott got away with it on his last film, “The Last Duel,” but we’re a bit concerned it won’t work in this particular historical context.
The film has already been test-screened twice — I posted three reactions so far, masterpiece, masterpiece and mixed.
The film stars Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby. It is said to be around 150 minutes in length and tackles Napoleon’s world-conquering theatrics, not to mention his frosty relationship with wife Joséphine (Kirby).
“Napoleon” has also been “Rated R” for strong violence, some grisly images, sexual content and brief language. Based on what I’ve heard, it’s a bloody and gruelling epic that has an incredible performance from Phoenix.
In February, an Empire interview with Scott had the filmmaker looking back on the filming of “Napoleon” and his time with star Phoenix. Scott admitted to changing some of the script during filming because of Phoenix’s unconventional approach to acting.
Born in August 1769, Napoleon’s career peaked between the early 1790s and 1810, give or take. His rise-to-power happened in his mid 20s — he was crowned Emperor of France in 1804, at age 35. Napoleon died in exile on the island of Saint Helena in May 1821 at the age of 51.
Scott’s historical epic will open exclusively in theaters on November 22, before streaming globally, maybe in early 2024, on Apple TV.
