‘Madame!’: Andy Serkis to direct, produce series on Madame Tussaud

Actor-director Andy Serkis is all set to direct Madame!, a series based on Marie Tussaud, the French artist and entrepreneur who founded the world-famous wax museum Madame Tussauds.

According to the entertainment website The Hollywood Reporter, Madame! is pitched as an untold story of the French artist known for her wax sculptures who sharpened her skills during the age of enlightenment and the French Revolution and escaped to England during the French Reign of Terror, founding her now-legendary wax museum in London in 1835.

Serkis is credited as the creator and showrunner of the upcoming show. Imaginarium, the production banner Serkis runs with Jonathan Cavendish, will produce the series along with Felicita Films’ Marie Guillaumond.

Serkis said that Madame! was not a “straight-up period drama”.

“… it is a hilariously crazy, no holds barred, anarchic, punk caper conjured from the curiously twisted mind of a fabulously post-truth executioner’s daughter! Marie knows one thing very clearly – if you’re going to tell your own life story, make it entertaining, even if you have to make it up, and whatever happens, cut out the boring bits…” the director said.

The show will portray Tussaud as an “extraordinarily pioneering businesswoman who built her business from scratch” along the way sacrificing “relationships with nearly everyone close to her (including her own children), exchanging love for her legacy.”

Andy is known for playing Ulysses Klaue in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and is best known for his CGI-powered roles such as Gollum in the Lord of the Rings films and Caesar in the Planet of the Apes franchise. The actor was also seen recently as Alfred Pennyworth in Matt Reeves’ The Batman.