‘Napoleon’ Slap Scene Ignites Controversy

Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon” hasn’t even been released yet and, already, a scene in the upcoming epic has come under fire.

The film has drawn swift condemnation from a women's charity group, and social media hooligans, after Scott admitted in an interview that Joaquin Phoenix slapped his co-star, Vanessa Kirby, on-set, in an unscripted moment.  

Scott told Empire about Phoenix slapping Kirby, who plays his wife Empress Joséphine, in a spontaneous moment, and that it was total “magic”:

He just f***ing slapped her. She didn’t know it was coming either, the whole room went [sharp intake of breath]. What could have been a boring scene suddenly had magic.

A spokesperson for the Women's Aid group warned about the consequences such a slap could lead to:

While the portrayal of domestic abuse and violence in cinema and on TV can generate greater awareness and discussion of the topic, it is vital that this is handled responsibly, with great awareness of the experience of survivors and with the sole purpose of educating the viewer – not romanticising abuse. While this may have been a consensual part of the acting process in this case, descriptions like these could benefit from being more measured, and the fact that domestic abuse and violence are completely intolerable in our society made explicitly clear.

Women's Aid is warning that actors and filmmakers need to be careful about how they conduct themselves on set.

Phoenix told the magazine that he and Kirby agreed to surprise each other on the set, explaining: “She said, "You can slap me, you can grab me, you can pull me, you can kiss me, whatever it is". We encouraged each other, demanded of each other, to challenge ourselves to shock each other in moments.”

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 going to go to the dark places together".

So, it was consensual, but Women’s Aid doesn’t care — they spit on the art of moviemaking. There needs to be limits on the way you create art, is what they’re saying. Consented or not, it doesn’t matter.

Based on what’s been said by Scott/Kirby/Phoenix, they put everything they had into this film, to make it as realistic and entertaining as possible. Those living outside this artistic bubble want to prohibit such behavior.