Berenice Bejo to lead 'Josephine and Napoleon' series

"The Artist" actor Berenice Bejo is set to lead the "Josephine and Napolean" series.

The English-language period drama is created by British showrunner Tony Saint, reported Variety.

The eight-part series is based on Andrew Roberts' "Napoleon: A Life" and Kate Williams' "The Dangerous Life of Josephine Bonaparte".

The series will be directed by a French and English filmmaker duo who will be announced later, along with a French writer who will be working with Saint.

It is being produced by the British company Ecosse Films and Pascal Breton's Paris-based Federation Entertainment for the network France Televisions.

Bejo, who received an Oscar nomination for her performance in Michel Hazanavicius' "The Artist", will play Josephine, Napoleon Bonaparte's first wife, lover, and muse.

According to the makers, the series will explore how these "two colonial outsiders from the French islands achieved the most audacious and extraordinary ascent to power in human history."
They added that the series will showcase a "rich cast of Machiavellian fixers, declasse aristocrats, and scheming lovers thrown into the mix."