Joaquin Phoenix is built different in new Napoleon trailer

Ridley Scott's Napoleon, starring Joaquin Phoenix, premieres in theaters November 20

Joaquin Phoenix is built different in new Napoleon trailer
Napoleon Photo: Apple TV+

Napoleon is not like other guys—or, as he would put it, “I am not built like other men.” As the new trailer points out, he’s a genius warrior emperor general rebel tyrant, the spiritual descendant of Alexander the Great and Caesar, and an arrogant son of a bitch to boot. Joaquin Phoenix plays the legendary leader in Ridley Scott’s latest epic, which premieres in theaters November 22, and the latest trailer shows the scope of his reign.

Napoleon is a “spectacle-filled action epic that details the checkered rise and fall of the iconic French emperor,” reads a synopsis from Sony Pictures Entertainment. “Against a stunning backdrop of large-scale filmmaking orchestrated by legendary director Ridley Scott, the film captures Bonaparte’s relentless journey to power through the prism of his addictive, volatile relationship with his one true love, Josephine, showcasing his visionary military and political tactics against some of the most dynamic practical battle sequences ever filmed.”

In the spirit of Long Film Fall, Napoleon is a healthy two hours and 38 minutes, complimenting its Apple TV+ neighbor Killers Of The Flower Moon (which clocks in at three-and-a-half hours). According to Empire, Scott is hoping Apple will eventually screen his director’s cut, which is a whopping four hours long. That cut apparently features even more of Josephine’s (Vanessa Kirby) life before she became entangled with Napoleon.

In the trailer, Kirby is an alluring seductress and a major power player. “You want to be great, but you are nothing without me. Say it,” she commands her husband. However influential she is, however, Napoleon is the captain of his own fate. “I found the crown of France in the gutter, and place it atop my own head,” he announces imperiously at his coronation. “Whose country are we in?” he snarks elsewhere. “Mine.”

 
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