Netflix is reportedly chasing after Gerard Depardieu for its first French-language series, which is set to be a political drama similar to House of Cards.
The series will be called Marsaille, according to Europe1 News, although Netflix has yet to comment. Depardieu would star as the mayor of Marseille, a city in the south of France. He will face off against a younger opponent and the campaign gets ugly.
Variety reports that Dan Franck, who wrote Olivier Assayas’ Carlos. Federation Entertainment is producing the eight-episode series.
Florent-Emilio Siri, who has directed Cesar-nominated features, will direct the first two episodes, while Samuel Benchetrit will direct others.
Depardieu was just seen at the Cannes Film Festival in Valley of Love, which was screened in competition. Last year, he starred in Abel Ferrara’s Welcome to New York, which was inspired by Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s infamous rape case. He was nominated for an Oscar back in 1991 for Cyrano De Bergerac.
Should this series actually happen, it would help Netflix make inroads in France and throughout Europe. While the streaming service is already available there, the company has yet to produce original content in the French language.
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