Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby recounted, while filming the movie "Napoleon" where they played significant roles together, the two actors added a slapping scene that wasn't in the script by "making their own decision" and agreeing on it beforehand.
In an interview they gave to Empire, 48-year-old Oscar-winning Phoenix and his 35-year-old co-star Kirby discussed this matter.
Let's remind that in the movie, Phoenix plays Napoleon Bonaparte, and Kirby portrays his wife Josephine de Beauharnais. Before we move on, let's take a look at what kind of scene the two famous actors added to the script.
According to what Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby shared, the two actors reached an agreement regarding physical interactions in certain scenes. Both of them would let each other freely express themselves in those types of scenes. According to Phoenix, Kirby told him, "Look, you can do whatever you feel like." In response, Joaquin Phoenix replied, "Alright, the same goes for you."
According to Phoenix, his co-star Kirby continued her words like this: "You can slap me, hit me, push me. You can even kiss me."
Then Joaquin Phoenix said the following: "We agreed to do some creative things to surprise each other in order to break the clichés in period dramas."
The scene in question depicted Napoleon and Josephine's divorce. Let's hear what Joaquin Phoenix had to say about it: "We were using the words they used during their divorce in the church. When this happened, you can faithfully review an archive reenactment, read the lines, and then you can go home. But we always wanted to surprise each other." After agreeing to "surprise each other," the two actors added certain movements to specific areas that weren't in the script. One of these was the slap. Phoenix's slap on Kirby's face!
Phoenix said in his interview with Empire: "We encouraged challenging each other to shock. We demanded that from each other." And as a result of that agreement, Phoenix's slap landed on Kirby's face.
However, Vanessa Kirby has no complaints about it. She says working with such a creative partner makes her feel safe.
