Napoleon Bonaparte Origin Story Series In Works From Tod Williams & Timberman-Beverly Productions

Nellie Andreeva
·2 min read
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EXCLUSIVE: Timberman-Beverly Productions has partnered with filmmaker Tod Williams (The Door In the Floor) on a drama series focused on the rarely explored origin story of one of history’s most iconic figures, Napoleon Bonaparte. The project, which is being taken out to the streaming marketplace, hails from ABC Signature where Timberman-Beverly is under a deal.

Bonaparte’s rise to become the emperor of France is possibly the grandest epic driven by a single individual in all of human history, except it isn’t the story of an individual at all. It’s the story of a family, more specifically, a mother and her eight children, rising up from obscurity to become the most powerful dynasty in the world. Beautiful, unruly, intelligent, and competitive, but united as a pack of wolves when threatened. In this family, blood is thicker than everything.

The series will explore Napoleon the son, brother, and husband; member of a turbulent clan made up of equally fascinating individuals, emotionally ruled by a powerful matriarch, who achieved her ultimate exhaustive ambition to rule without limitation through her children.

Bonaparte, a descendant from minor Tuscan and Genoese noble families, rapidly rose through the military ranks to become a general at age 24 and one of history’s greatest military leaders. He went on to build a large empire that ruled over much of continental Europe before its final collapse in 1815.

This is Williams and Timberman-Beverly’s second collaboration. Currently, Williams is writing a an horlong drama with Tom Pabst set in Las Vegas as part of a blind script deal with Timberman-Beverly. Williams wrote and directed the adaptation of the John Irving novel The Door In the Floor, starring Jeff Bridges, Kim Basinger, and Elle Fanning. He also directed Paranormal Activity 2 and has written multiple television pilot scripts.

Beverly and Timberman’s series credits include: Justified, Unbelievable, Elementary, Masters of Sex, SEAL Team, and Unforgettable. Under the ABC Signature overall deal, Timberman-Beverly has multiple projects set up at Hulu, FX, ABC, and Starz, along with the upcoming The Man Who Fell to Earth for CBS All-Access, developed under their prior deal with CBS Studios.

Napoleon’s life has been the subject of multiple movies/miniseries, including the 2002 mini Napoléon, in which Christian Clavier played the title character and Anouk Aimee played his mother.

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