- Pope criticises Argentina's crackdown on protesters
- Court limits screenings of videos in France mass rape case
- Gurbaz century takes Afghanistan to 311-4 in 2nd ODI
- Central banks face 'difficult balancing act': IMF chief
- Guardiola tells players to lead change over workload fears
- Paris Olympics sports equipment moves to new homes
- 'Happy' Kinghorn relishing life at Toulouse
- Norris sets Singapore pace as Verstappen only 15th
- Germany to bid to host women's Euro 2029
- Portugal brings deadly forest fires under control
- Postecoglou defends Solanke after slow start to Spurs career
- US nuclear plant Three Mile Island to reopen to power Microsoft
- Arteta urges Arsenal to take next step in Man City showdown
- Stock markets fall after Fed-fuelled rally
- Poland charges Russian over attack on Navalny ally: prosecutors
- Man City have rest 'advantage' in Arsenal showdown: Guardiola
- Maresca has 'no doubt' in Jackson as Chelsea's number nine
- EU chief announces 35 bn euro loan plan for Ukraine before winter
- From TikTok to Hollywood, the irresistible rise of Italy's Khaby Lame
- Verstappen punished for swearing in Singapore press conference
- Sri Lanka lead by 202 in first New Zealand Test
- Brook 'not too fussed' by England's batting in heavy Australia loss
- India's Ashwin 'happy' to embrace pressure
- A modern 'Trojan Horse': two days of mayhem in Lebanon
- Third of Burundi mpox cases in children under five: UN
- Man Utd appoint Foster + Partners to develop Old Trafford 'masterplan'
- French mayor sorry for 'no one died' remark over mass rape trial
- Mohamed Al-Fayed, outsider shunned by British high society
- Lawyers say 'monster' late Harrods owner abused dozens of women
- India in box seat after Bumrah takes four against Bangladesh
- Taiwan retains death penalty but limits use to 'exceptional' cases
- Ferrari's Leclerc sets early pace in Singapore ahead of Norris
- 10 years into Huthi rule, some Yemenis count the cost
- France poised to finally get new govt
- Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson doubtful for Bournemouth clash
- Bayern's Kompany calls for game cap for players amid strike talks
- Christie's expands Hong Kong footprint in hope of art market 'pickup'
- Sultry screen legend Sophia Loren turns 90
- Cambodian opposition figure in court on incitement charge
- Kimchi threat as heatwave drives up South Korea cabbage prices
- UK economic data delivers fresh blow to new govt
- China to 'gradually resume' seafood imports from Japan after Fukushima ban
- India minister blames dam release for flooding
- O'Rourke strikes early for Kiwis as Sri Lanka trail by three
- Israel pounds Lebanon's Hezbollah after device blasts
- Revolution or mirage? Controversy surrounds new Alzheimer's drugs
- Ashwin's 113 powers India to 376 in Bangladesh Test
- Biden opens home to 'Quad' leaders for farewell summit
- Sally Rooney returns with 30-something questions
- Wallabies sense 'massive' chance to upset All Blacks
CMSC | -0.04% | 25.11 | $ | |
RIO | -2.07% | 63.86 | $ | |
SCS | -2.35% | 13.005 | $ | |
RBGPF | 5.79% | 60.5 | $ | |
NGG | 1% | 69.525 | $ | |
GSK | -1.51% | 41 | $ | |
RYCEF | 0.14% | 6.96 | $ | |
CMSD | 0.03% | 25.018 | $ | |
RELX | 0.01% | 48.135 | $ | |
BCE | -0.67% | 34.955 | $ | |
BP | -0.34% | 32.65 | $ | |
JRI | -0.6% | 13.32 | $ | |
VOD | -0.35% | 10.025 | $ | |
BTI | -0.45% | 37.401 | $ | |
AZN | -0.68% | 78.367 | $ | |
BCC | -0.96% | 143.31 | $ |
Apple's Napoleonic $200 million gamble
Apple has coughed up another huge pile of cash to make "Napoleon", the latest epic from director Ridley Scott that hits cinemas around the world next week, with Joaquin Phoenix donning the tricorn hat of the French emperor.
The budget -- said to be close to $200 million -- has paid for some gargantuan battle scenes from Austerlitz to Waterloo, though the British director also focuses on the intimate side of Bonaparte's life, particularly his fraught love affair with his wife, Josephine.
It is the tech company's latest attempt to earn some Hollywood prestige, following hot on the heels of Martin Scorsese's equally pricey "Killers of the Flower Moon".
Both films may struggle to recoup the investment at the box office, but it is affordable PR for a company that generates revenues of nearly $1 billion a day.
"My hat always goes off to Apple -- it's not inexpensive and they took the risk," said Scott in an interview with AFP and a small group of reporters in Paris.
The 85-year-old mastermind behind classics like "Alien", "Gladiator" and "Thelma and Louise" took the opportunity to have a swipe at the glut of superhero movies coming out of Hollywood, which he described as "really silly".
"To do a historical epic like this today with all these superhero movies going around... it's a big challenge," Scott said.
The 2-hour-39-minute "Napoleon" traces the fortunes of France's most famous historical figure from his rise among the ashes of the French Revolution through his incredible military victories to his eventual defeat and exile.
Scott denied rumours that a four-hour cut was already being prepared for Apple's streaming platform, saying that was just a possibility "later, in two years' time, maybe..."
A history buff, he said Bonaparte was an obvious choice of subject.
"There are 10,400 books on the man -- that's one for every week since he died. Why would you not be interested in this man?" Scott said.
"He clearly fascinated the world in every shape and form as leader, diplomat, warrior, politician, bureaucrat, and of course inevitable dictator."
Napoleon remains a divisive figure in France -- lauded for modernising the state and his strategic genius, vilified for re-establishing slavery, codifying sexism and leaving millions dead through his war-mongering ambition.
Some early audiences in France have taken issue with Scott's account, with historian Patrice Gueniffey calling it a "caricature of an ambitious Corsican ogre" and "very anti-French".
Scott is not the first director to take on the subject.
Abel Gance's 1927 silent classic, "Napoleon", runs to seven hours -- which a team of obsessives has recently spent more than a decade restoring.
The subject also obsessed and ultimately defeated another famed British director, Stanley Kubrick ("2001: A Space Odyssey", "The Shining"), prior to his death in 1999.
"I knew Stanley a little," said Scott. "He phoned me after 'Alien' came out and the first thing he said was: 'How did you get that thing to come out of his chest?'"
B.Godinho--PC