“You better watch my movie again!” Ridley Scott Thinks We Got It All Wrong About Joaquin Phoenix In Gladiator

23 years after he was entrusted with the role of the tyrant and Emperor Commodus in his Gladiator, Ridley Scott has once again asked Joaquin Phoenix to play another emperor; In this case, Napoleon, whose film will be released next week.

In the middle of the advertising marathon, the filmmaker gave a (long) interview to the site Deadline in Hollywood. The journalist takes the opportunity to take an extensive look at Scott’s filmography, which never goes beyond looking in the rearview mirror and talking about his old movies.

“Joaquin played your villain in Gladiator, then he won an Oscar as the Joker. What makes you think of him as your Napoleon?” she asks him.

Scott lets the growth in the answer, explaining that we obviously did not understand anything about the character played by the actor. Gladiator. “I’ll correct you. I actually saw him as the most likable character. He was the product of neglect, total neglect, by a father he adored. At the end of the movie, his father told him he was going to. Ignore him even more, not to entrust him with the keys to Rome.

Then he realizes that in his old age he needs a form of release. He kneels before the boy to ask for forgiveness. This was fatal for him, as the boy had never seen his father demand such an in-depth discussion. So he strangles her. So from that moment on, I thought Joaquin was the most lovable person in the movie. What he did and what followed, what followed this, his nature was created by his father”.

“I’ll have to watch the movie again…” Answers a thoughtful journalist. “I’d better see you again!” says Scott, who goes on to talk about Marcus Aurelius, the emperor played by the late Richard Harris. Marcus Aurelius could not conquer Europe through goodwill, it was the result of war and steel, much death and destruction.

You can’t defeat the commanders on the other side of the empire and tell them not to kill these women and children. Nothing that happened was done kindly, was it?

But I think Marcus Aurelius felt his own weakness as he got older. Commodus was a neglected son, the product of total neglect. And then to say, “You can’t be lucky, here’s who’s going to take my place,” is more than a pat on the head. It’s scary. Especially at the time when they were waiting for the inheritance…”

Along with the director, it is true that the history of Rome includes many paricides, matricides and other family executions in order to seize power (Nero’s mother Agrippina was killed; Caracalla was executed by his ruling brother Geta…). But from there, to finding Commode as the most sympathetic of his films, we’re not entirely committed to subscribing to this analysis.