If Russell Crowe ends up having a cameo I may scream…

Joaquin Phoenix, one of the world’s most underrated actors who’s given us classics like 2005’s Walk The Line, 2013’s Her and of course, 2019’s Joker (which won him the Oscar for ‘Best Actor’), has finally reunited with his Gladiator director, Ridley Scott, in the trailer for the upcoming historical epic, Napoleon.

Named after infamous emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, who was a key figure in the French Revolution, the film explores the Corsica native’s rise to power along with the lengths he went to to keep it. Along with some steamy scenes between Phoenix and his love interest Josephine (played by Vanessa Kirby), the film promises some of the “most dynamic practical battle sequences ever filmed”, and just going off the trailer, we don’t at all doubt it, with numerous sequences showing seas of horses and soldiers fighting in open fields in what’s a Chris Nolan-level of practicality. There’s even a shot of him shooting some cannons at one of the Egyptian pyramids, however we’re somehow doubting they got permission to deface one of the biggest wonders known to man.

Along with his many wins on the battle field, the trailer also hints at Bonaparte’s personal life, showing his various political exploits along with his struggles to balance love and duty. As mentioned above, him and Kirby get wildly steamy in the trailer as well (I guess all is fair in love and war).

Although we never got a sequel to Gladiator (I refuse to acknowledge that the fan fiction they’re working on now is in the same universe), Napoleon feels like its spiritual successor in a sense. Needless to say, Ridley Scott and Joaquin Phoenix together are just *chefs kiss*. Check out the full trailer for Napoleon below.