Yahoo Movies Vanessa Kirby explains why Joaquin Phoenix slapped her during Napoleon filming
The Crown's Vanessa Kirby has explained why Joaquin Phoenix slapped her during filming for Ridley Scott's Napoleon.
Documenting the rise and fall of the French emperor in 18th-century France, the historical epic will explore the volatile, tumultuous relationship between Napoleon (played by Phoenix) and Joséphine de Beauharnais (played by Kirby).
Opening up about the film's scene in which Napoleon slaps Joséphine during their divorce, Kirby told Empire that she and Phoenix made an agreement with each other on set.
"We were using the real words from their divorce in the church. When that happens, you can faithfully go through an archival re-enactment of it and read out the lines and then go home. But we always wanted to surprise each other," she said.
To do so, Kirby explained, she and Phoenix vowed to take the scene wherever they felt it needed to go in the moment, agreeing to create a space to do so ahead of filming.
"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 gonna go to the dark places together'," she said.
Echoing his co-star's sentiments, Phoenix said that he and Kirby spoke about what to expect from unplanned moments, saying that they both had an 'anything goes' attitude.
"She said, 'Look, whatever you feel, you can do.' I said, 'Same thing with you.' She said, 'You can slap me, you can grab me, you can pull me, you can kiss me, whatever it is'," the actor said.
"So we had this agreement that we were going to surprise each other and try and create moments that weren't there, because both of us wanted to avoid the cliché of the period drama. And by that I mean moments that are well-orchestrated and designed."
Napoleon is scheduled to hit cinemas on November 22. It will stream on Apple TV+ following its theatrical release.
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