Joaquin Phoenix threatened to quit ‘Napoleon’ until Paul Thomas Anderson came on board to rewrite the script

nme.com:

Joaquin Phoenix reportedly threatened to drop out of Napoleon until Paul Thomas Anderson was drafted in to rewrite the script.The news had first been reported by The Hollywood Reporter in August, and now the film’s director Ridley Scott has appeared to confirm it in an interview with the New York Times.“Tommy was doing Licorice Pizza, advising me how to do Napoleon,” Scott said, referring to Anderson, who had directed Phoenix in 2012’s The Master. “It turned into a lot of fun, actually.

Three of us in this room screaming with laughter.”It is not the first time that Phoenix has caused controversy by threatening to abandon major film projects, in August he dropped out entirely of Todd Haynes’ new gay romance film just days before they were due to start filming.

That project now appears to be dead, and a producer has described it as a “tragedy”.James McAvoy recently revealed that Phoenix also dropped out of M.

Night Shyamalan’s Split “two weeks before they started shooting”, with McAvoy only being drafted in at the last minute.Phoenix has even threatened to abandon a Scott film in the past in the form of the original Gladiator in 2000, which caused Russell Crowe to label him as “unprofessional”.