Hollywood star Joaquin Phoenix, famous as the star of 2019’s Joker and 2000’s Gladiator will star as French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte in Apple’s
upcoming original film KitBag.
Phoenix is known as the Oscar-winning ”Best Actor” when he starred in Warner Bros’ Joker in 2019. He also played Roman emperor Commodus in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator in 2000, Apple is casting him to play French Emperor and Military Commander Napoleon Bonaparte in the upcoming Apple TV+ film: KitBag.
Apple is starting to produce and create KitBag with Ridley Scott as the director. Speaking to Deadline, Scott said:
“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. 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. 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.”Â
Apple is still investing in more original films and series to expand its library of content in the Apple TV+ service, with films like Emancipation starring Will Smith in early development and Palmer starring Justin Timberlake to debut on January 29. TV series like Servant renewed for a third season and season two of Dickinson already available to stream.
