How Vanessa Kirby Learned to Play the ‘Many Different Versions’ of Empress Josephine in ‘Napoleon’

TheWrap magazine: The Oscar nominee and “The Crown” star says the character was “one of the most deeply surprising and interesting people I’ve ever learned about”

Vanessa Kirby
Vanessa Kirby (Credit: John Phillips/Getty Images)

For Vanessa Kirby, the Christmas break in 2021 was a time to read. She’d just gotten a call from Ridley Scott, who offered her the role of Joséphine in his epic film “Napoleon,” and of course she said yes. But she only had vague impressions about the woman who became Empress of the French during her marriage to Napoleon Bonaparte (played by Joaquin Phoenix in the film), so her holiday suddenly became a time of intense study.

The problem was that Joséphine Bonaparte, a.k.a. Marie Josèphe Rose Tascher de La Pagerie, a.k.a. Joséphine de Beauharnais, a.k.a. Marie-Rose Tascher de la Pagerie, remained elusive no matter how much research Kirby did.

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