Director Ridley Scott knows how to craft a historical drama–even if those dramas are riddled with inaccuracies. While his Gladiator may have been ripe with pathos, brilliant acting, and edge-of-your-seat action, the trade-offs Scott made at the expense of authenticity were glaring. (We could spend paragraphs discussing Marcus Aurelius alone.) And don’t even get us started on Exodus: Gods and Kings. Still, if we want a documentary, we should go watch a documentary, right? I mean, sure, there’s a whole discussion to be made on the responsibility of the filmmaker versus the viewer in making and watching these historical biopics, but that’s a conversation for another day.
But that digression aside, we’re excited for Scott‘s new drama Napoleon, hitting theaters this Thanksgiving, with it later landing on Apple+ TV. Scott reunites with Joaquin Phoenix, who appeared in Gladiator as the nefarious Commodus. The first full-length trailer just dropped and, from the looks of the footage, our anticipation is well-warranted. Will this one be historically accurate? Again, nope. (For instance, Napoleon didn’t quite come from humble means, Marie Antoinette didn’t have flowing hair at her her guillotine execution–nor was Napoleon present–and so on.) But also again, we’re here for the set pieces, the acting, the drama–everything Scott excels at doing.
Watch the trailer below and get as jazzed as we are: