A person achieves mastery in a given field when specific skills are perfected. It might be said that filmmaker Ridley Scott has perfected the art of producing carefully built epics that remain memorable years later in the current era of cinema. Given his experience with Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven, Scott is knowledgeable about the ideal format needed for the creation of lost historical epics. For instance, Napoleon, his most recent picture, has proven to be an enormous undertaking.
Joaquin Phoenix will play the French military officer and leader in the upcoming historical epic, which is based on Napoleon Bonaparte’s quick transition from general to emperor. Scott has described the kind of meticulous care his crew took to bring the biography to life. Scott mentioned in a statement to Entertainment Weekly, “I can read all the books in the world on him, but instead, because the film is such a large event, I rely on my very good team. My team does marvelous military costumes like I’ve never seen before. The costumes are mind-blowing, and then I have a military expert for cause-and-effect battle sequences. That’s all coordinated. I plan it, in a funny kind of way, a little bit like a battle.”
Given the size of the picture, Scott verified that precise coordination was needed between the many sections. Before an attack, Napoleon in real life would have had military strategy sessions. In Scott’s opinion success depends on regular communication about the best course of action. He said, “When you do a film like this, you have to have all your department heads edge around the table regularly. We have meetings once a week, and we go page by page. Page one, I have a problem. What’s the problem? And then on to page two. We fly through it like that because everybody’s in the picture, and the left hand always knows what the right hand is doing.”
Throughout his life, Napoleon Bonaparte would have attempted to strike a balance between building an empire and controlling his tumultuous relationship with his empress, Joséphine, who was represented by Vanessa Kirby. This is a section of the emperor’s life that will be featured in the movie, and director Scott says it was tough yet enjoyable.“These kinds of films are like climbing a mountain,” he remarked. “At the ground level, the peak looks a long way off. 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.”