Napoleon is described as capturing “Napoleon Bonaparte’s relentless journey to power through the prism of his addictive, volatile relationship with his one true love, Josephine (Vanessa Kirby), showcasing his visionary military and political tactics against some of the most dynamic practical battle sequences ever filmed.”

“I’m the first to admit when I make a mistake,” intones Bonaparte (Phoenix) at one point in the trailer, “I simply never do.”

The trailer shows multiple sweeping battlefield scenes chronicling the French military commander and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the Revolutionary Wars, eventually becoming the Emperor of the French in 1804.

The project also released a poster with the marketing tagline: “He came from nothing. He conquered everything.”

Hollywood has been eyeing a definitive Napoleon biopic for decades. Stanley Kubrick famously developed a project in 1969, but financial backers pulled out after another project titled Waterloo flopped. In 2021, Scott told Deadline, “Napoleon is a man I’ve always been fascinated by. 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.” He added, “No actor could ever embody Napoleon like Joaquin. He created one of movie history’s most complex Emperors in Gladiator, and we’ll create another with his Napoleon.”

Kitbag

The film’s original title was, Kitbag, which was based on the obscure expression, “There is a general’s staff hidden in every soldier’s kitbag” — a reference to how there’s the potential for greatness in every fighting man.