Ridley Scott’s Napoleon movie with Joaquin Phoenix galloping to Apple

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Apple Studios is getting ready to open its wallet nice and wide after agreeing to finance and produce Kitbag, an upcoming Napoleon Bonaparte biopic starring Joaquin Phoenix from filmmaker Ridley Scott. Phoenix will star as the French emperor and military leader with Scott set up to direct. Production is scheduled to begin in 2022 in the UK, with Scott and Kevin Walsh producing through the director's Scott Free studio.

Alongside the news that Apple Studios is dropping loot on Scott's upcoming film, it's been announced that David Scarpa, who wrote the Scott-directed John Paul Getty III kidnap drama All The Money in the World, will pen the screenplay for Kitbag.

“Napoleon is a man I’ve always been fascinated by,” Scott told Deadline. “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.”

Evidently, Scott has been hoping to bring his idea for a Napoleon biopic to screen for quite some time. Now that he's found the right actor to play the short-statured military figure, work can finally begin.

“No actor could ever embody Napoleon like Joaquin,” Scott said. “He created one of movie history’s most complex Emperors in Gladiator, and we’ll create another with his Napoleon. It’s a brilliant script written by David Scarpa, and today there’s no better partner than Apple to bring a story like this to a global audience.”

If you're like me in that you're wondering why they're choosing to call the film Kitbag, the term actually hails from the saying “There is a general’s staff hidden in every soldier’s kitbag.” Does that clear anything up for you? No? Me neither. Perhaps all will be explained in the film. Or not. We'll have to wait and see, I suppose. 

According to Deadline, the film is an original and personal look at Napoleon’s origins and his swift, ruthless climb to the status of emperor, viewed through the prism of his addictive and often volatile relationship with his wife and one true love, Josephine. The intention of the film is to capture Napoleon’s famous battles, relentless ambition, and astounding strategic mind as an extraordinary military leader and war visionary.

One thing's for sure, this ain't your Napoleon from Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. In other words, don't expect to see Phoenix's conquering any local shopping malls or winning any prizes at Ziggy Piggy. No, this will be an all-out epic of love and war. Let's ride!