'Napoleon' Trailer

At an age (85) when other directors are considering hanging up the megaphone and folding chair (heck, Quentin Tarantino keeps saying his next film will be his last and he’s only 60), Ridley Scott is still cranking out the movies.

He has the ‘Gladiator’ sequel in production, and before he made that, he reunited with one of the stars of the original ‘Gladiator’ –– Joaquin Phoenix –– for another historical epic, ‘Napoleon’.

And, after the first footage debuted at Sony’s CinemaCon presentation back in April, we now have a full, official trailer for the film, which co-stars Vanessa Kirby (known for ‘The Crown’ and, more recently, the ‘Mission: Impossible’ movies) as his great love, Josephine.

Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon Bonaparte in director Ridley Scott's 'Napoleon.' Photo courtesy of Apple TV+ and Columbia Pictures.

What’s the story of ‘Napoleon’?

Written by David Scarpa (who also provided the ‘Gladiator 2’ script), ‘Napoleon’ details the checkered rise and fall of the iconic French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.

According to the official synopsis, the movie “captures Bonaparte’s relentless journey to power through the prism of his addictive, volatile relationship with his one true love, Josephine, and showcasing his visionary military and political tactics.”

Scott has pushed to include as much practical battle scenes as possible, and from the evidence of this he’s certainly pulled off something impressive, including clashes at sea and in foggy European forests.

Some of the final chunk of the trailer, for example, is given over to a blurry wintery epic clash with the Russian and Austrian forces. Napoleon knows it’s coming; he has invited the attack ––and has laid an icy trap. Lots of bayonets slicing and soldiers falling in the chilly water.

And as the tagline suggests, “He came from nothing. He conquered everything.” But as history tells us, it doesn’t exactly work out for him in the end.

(Center) Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon Bonaparte in director Ridley Scott's 'Napoleon.' Photo courtesy of Apple TV+ and Columbia Pictures.

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Scott outlined to Deadline back in 2021 why he chose to tackle this particular figure from history:

“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.”

And according to the director in the same interview, he knew he had to cast his old ‘Gladiator’ cast member as Bonaparte:

“No actor could ever embody Napoleon like Joaquin. He created one of movie history’s most complex Emperors in ‘Gladiator’ and we’ll create another with his Napoleon.”

Who else is in ‘Napoleon’?

The cast for Scott’s latest also includes Ludivine Sagnier as Theresa Cabarrus, Ben Miles as Coulancourt, Tahar Rahim as Paul Barras, Catherine Walker as Marie-Antoinette, Youssef Kerkour as General Davout, Paul Rhys as Talleyrand, Matthew Needham as Lucien Bonaparte, John Hollingworth as Marshal Ney and Scott Hand as Marshal Berthier.

‘Napoleon’ will be in theaters via Sony Pictures on November 22nd, ahead of a later release on Apple TV+.