Napoleon director Ridley Scott compares making the film to building Lego

joaquin phoenix, napoleon trailer
Ridley Scott compares making Napoleon to LegoApple

Napoleon director Ridley Scott has compared the making of the film to building a "ridiculously challenging Lego kit".

The historical epic, which is set to star Joaquin Phoenix as the titular French military commander, will chart the Emperor's rise and fall, "through the lens of his addictive and volatile relationship with Empress Joséphine" (Vanessa Kirby), according to its official synopsis.

Scott, however, has likened directing the film to a surprising metaphor involving everyone's favourite plastic building blocks.

"These kinds of films are like climbing a mountain," Scott explained to Entertainment Weekly.

joaquin phoenix, napoleon trailer
Apple TV

Related: First trailer for Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby's new movie Napoleon

"At the ground level, the peak looks a long way off," he continued.

"But as you climb up the hill with your partners in this ridiculously challenging Lego kit of information you're trying to put together, sometimes pieces don't fit and you're already at 20,000 feet. It's a continual day-by-day process, but that's why I do it. I love it."

The first trailer for the film gave viewers a glimpse of dramatic action sequences set across sprawling battlefields and Bonaparte's equally tempestuous relationship with Joséphine.

sir ridley scott's napoleon
KEVIN BAKER - Apple

Related: Napoleon cut a scene of the emperor suffering from piles as it was "too distracting"

The role of Empress Joséphine was originally meant to be played by Killing Eve's Jodie Comer, who had to drop out of the project due to scheduling conflicts with her one-woman play Prima Facie.

She was later replaced by The Crown's Vanessa Kirby.

Napoleon is not the first historical epic to be helmed by Scott; his previous work includes Gladiator (2000) and Kingdom of Heaven (2005).

Napoleon will be released in theatres November 22, before releasing on Apple TV+ at a later date.

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