Gollum in “The Lord of the Rings”, Caesar in “Planet of the Apes” or “King Kong”: Andy Serkis (58) has used motion capturing to help many fictional characters come to life on screen. Now the actor and director is shooting a biopic series about the woman who created deceptively real wax figures. “Madam!” tells the story of Marie Tussaud (1761-1850), the founder of the wax museum Madame Tussauds.
“Madam!” According to Andy Serkis, it should be “no ordinary historical drama”. Instead, he promises a “hilarious, crazy punk number”. An autobiography born from the mind of a “fabulous post-truth hangman’s daughter”.
“Marie knows one thing very well: if you tell your own life story, then make it entertaining,” says Serkis via “Variety”. “Even if you have to invent something. And whatever happens, leave out the boring bits.” A start date for the series is not yet known.
The real Marie Tussaud was born Marie Großholtz in Strasbourg in 1761, the daughter of an executioner. Her stepfather Philip Wilhelm Mathias Curtius built a wax museum in Paris. Marie learned the trade from him. During the French Revolution, she is said to have made wax casts from the severed heads of executed people.
She later moved to London and opened her famous museum there. When she died in 1850, she left an autobiography that is said to be very loose with the facts. A through ball for Andy Serkis.
