Vanessa Kirby opens up about nerves co-starring with Joaquin Phoenix in Napoleon

Kirby plays Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais in Ridley Scott’s ‘Napoleon’

Vanessa Kirby has spoken about how “scared” she was filming Ridley Scott’s Napoleon.

The 35-year-old English actor plays Joséphine de Beauharnais, the mistress-turned-empress of Napoleon Bonaparte (Joaquin Phoenix) in the film, which is out now in cinemas.

In a new interview with The Times, Kirby spoke about her history of nerves, which left her knees shaking every night for months as a young actor starring in Thomas Middleton’s Women Beware Women at the National Theatre.

“Of course I was scared, and my knees were still shaking, but I know now that I’ll learn something from it and move through it, rather than not,” she said of her experience on director Scott’s latest epic.

She added that the Gladiator filmmaker’s method added to her stress. “Because Ridley is famous for using eight to eleven cameras per scene, so he was able to shoot the movie in 61 days, which is mind-blowing for a film like that,” she said.

“You move really fast and Joaquin and I had all our intense stuff in the first few weeks, so you just have to absolutely jump in at the deep end.”

Reviews of the film have been divisive, with some hailing the historical epic a “masterpiece” and others criticising the film for its historical inaccuracies.

Vanessa Kirby, left, and Joaquin Phoenix in a scene from ‘Napoleon’ (AP)

Scott, who previously told those picking holes in Napoleon to “get a life”, recently admonished French critics who disliked the film.

“The French don’t even like themselves,” he told BBC News. He did, however, stipulate that “the audience [he] showed it to in Paris loved it”.

Kirby responded to the criticism more diplomatically in her interview with The Times, saying: “Everyone has their own perspective and I totally respect those opinions.

“But this was always going to be Ridley’s version. And I’ve read every book that I could possibly read on the subject, and watched so many documentaries, and tried to absorb as many facts as possible, but this is just one angle and one interpretation.”

Her co-star Phoenix told Empire that the film is an “experience told through Ridley’s eyes”, adding: “If you want to really understand Napoleon, then you should probably do your own studying and reading.”

In her four-star review for The Independent, Clarisse Loughrey called Kirby’s turn as de Beauharnais “haughty, clever, and ingeniously manipulative”.

Napoleon will be released on Apple TV+ after its theatrical run.