Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby fully committed themselves in their new film to push their characters to the limit.
Joaquin Phoenix opened up about his relationship with Vanessa Kirby on the set of his new movie. The actors, who star in the new adaptation of the Napoleon story, took their relationship very seriously and even played with the limits.
Apparently, the actors agreed to "impact" each other to keep their characters' relationship in constant tension. This included Phoenix going off script and slapping the actress during one of the scenes.
What happened to Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby?
In conversation with Empire Magazine, Joaquin Phoenix spoke about his intense relationship with Vanessa Kirby while they were filming Napoleon. In Ridley Scott's new film, the Oscar winner plays the French Emperor, while she plays his wife Josephine.
According to the actor, both agreed to "impact" each other during recording, with the aim of portraying the sometimes explosive relationship between the two as best as possible. One of the ways in which Phoenix surprised the actress was with a slap, although she gave him her consent.
"She told me, 'Look, whatever you feel, you can do it,'" Joaquin Phoenix explained, noting that he said the same thing to Vanessa Kirby. "You can hit me, grab me, throw me, kiss me, whatever," the actor continued, noting that they had a mutual agreement that included scenes like this.
The reason? The actors wanted to avoid the clichés typical of biographical dramas and keep Napoleon unpredictable, so they sometimes ignored the script. "It's the best thing when you have a creative partner and you say, 'You're safe. I'm with you. And we'll go to dark places together,'" the Oscar-nominated actress celebrated.
Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby's relationship has caused some controversy on social media. And some question the choice of the actress, because she is 13 years younger than him, when the truth is that her character was older than Phoenix in real life.
