Joaquin Phoenix Slapped Vanessa Kirby in ‘Napoleon’ After They Agreed to ‘Shock Each Other’; She Told Him: ‘You Can Slap Me, Grab Me, Pull Me, Kiss Me’

variety.com:

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby told Empire magazine they made a pact to shock each other while filming Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon” in order to ensure the film did not feel like a boring, overly-planned biopic.

This agreement led Phoenix to slap Kirby during the filming of a heated divorce scene between their characters, Napoleon Bonaparte and Joséphine de Beauharnais, Empire reports. “We were using the real words from their divorce in the church,” Kirby said. “When that happens, you can faithfully go through an archival re-enactment of it and read out the lines and then go home.

But we always wanted to surprise each other.” “She said, ‘Look, whatever you feel, you can do.’ I said, ‘Same thing with you.’ She said, ‘You can slap me, you can grab me, you can pull me, you can kiss me, whatever it is’,” Phoenix recalled about his talks with Kirby before filming kicked off. “So we had this agreement that we were going to surprise each other and try and create moments that weren’t there, because both of us wanted to avoid the cliché of the period drama.

And by that I mean moments that are well-orchestrated and designed.” Kirby added, “It’s the greatest thing when you have a creative partner and you say, ‘Right, everything’s safe.