Summary

Dive into Karl Lagerfeld’s early rise in Parisian couture in this six-episode series starring Daniel Brühl.
Experience the captivating and dysfunctional love story between Lagerfeld and Jacques de Bascher.
Expect steamy love scenes, breathtaking scenery, and an in-depth exploration of Lagerfeld’s personal journey.

A tortuous gay love story vies for attention against a glossy backdrop of high fashion in 1972 Paris in Becoming Karl Lagerfeld. The hypnotic six-episode series stars multiple Golden Globe and BAFTA nominee Daniel Brühl (Inglourious Basterds, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) as Karl Lagerfeld — before that iconic catogan. The outing illuminates Lagerfeld’s rise from a simple ready-to-wear designer in 1970s Paris, but audiences will be drawn into how well the series chronicles the fashion icon’s dysfunctional relationship with the dashing Jacques de Bascher (Théodore Pellerin of Franklin). De Bascher was an ambitious hunk who had his eyes on Lagerfeld. Their unstable union drives this Emmy-worthy series.

Adapted from the bestselling biography Kaiser Karl, the series, which is in French and German with English subtitles, also takes viewers behind the scenes of Lagerfeld’s mission to take on friend and rival Yves Saint Laurent (Arnaud Valois), whose haute couture was the rage at the time — and backed by the steely businessman Pierre Bergé (Alex Lutz). You can expect scenic shots of Paris, Monaco, and Rome, and several steamy love scenes as the series runs on two unique parallel tracks — Lagerfeld’s rising impact on Parisian couture and his fascinating relationship with de Bascher.

In excerpts from an exclusive MovieWeb interview, Daniel Brühl and Théodore Pellerin candidly reveal their shared emotional journey playing two very different men in love. Brühl also updates us on HBO’s upcoming superhero satire series, The Franchise. Read on or watch the video interview.

Did Daniel Brühl Fall in Love with Théodore Pellerin on Set?
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Like Fellow Travelers and Mary & George, a gay love story is at the heart of a deeply layered tale. Karl Lagerfeld is repressed and shut down emotionally when it comes to intimacy. Jacques de Bascher is filled with joi de vivre. Ultimately, the two men reach some kind of “arrangement,” but their dysfunction only grows. It’s so very “come close, no, not that close.” Playing Lagerfeld was mindbending for Brühl, as he didn’t anticipate the depths he would have to go emotionally in Karl and Jacques’s relationship. He told us:

“I once had a glimpse at his [Theodore’s] script and then I could tell, ‘Oh, wow, he’s a real teacher’s pet, you know, with thousands of notes.’ Then he was so loose and accessible, and generous [in scenes], because we had to go on an emotional level. We had to go all in. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have worked. And you then reach that climax of being in love, reaching a point in which I once called my wife and said, ‘Honey, I’m sorry, but I’m in love with this man for a couple of months. You have to accept it.’ And she said, ‘Oh, this actor is wonderful. I love him, too. It’s fine.’”

On Becoming Karl Lagerfeld — Literally
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Brühl went on to tell us he was truly captivated by the premise and the script, which was written by creators Raphaëlle Bacqué, Jennifer HaveIsaure, and HaveIsaure Pisani-Ferry. “I was extremely pleased and something in me, even before reading the scripts actually, just the idea that to play Karl Lagerfeld triggered me and thrilled me. I got all excited.” After saying “yes” to the project, other thoughts arose.

“You hang up the phone, then you think like, ‘Sh*t, now I have to do it. And I don’t know how. But I love that. It’s like a gigantic jigsaw puzzle and at first you also see the alert signs: Don’t make it a copy, a caricature, he’s such an iconic guy. Everybody has such strong opinions. I mean, I’m German. Everybody in Germany has such strong opinions about Karl Lagerfeld so to put that all aside and… to find, step by step, the character and find the truth and make it yours… this is a wonderful gift when it comes. It was impossible for me to say no.”

The Central Love Story
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Théodore Pellerin went on to say that the series opens up a window to two characters who were incredibly inaccessible and very hard to reach. “Karl was such a monolith of rigor and strength, and such a control of his image that it’s great to open the doors to something much more vulnerable,” he said. “And yeah, this love story, I mean, it’s not an easy one. It’s toxic. It’s full of hurdles. But they hold on.”

The first season of this outing tracks more than 10 years, revealing Karl and Jacques’ push-pull relationship. Even though Jacques has his fair share of lovers, including Yves Saint Laurent at one point, the two remain eerily committed to each other.

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“I think that that’s hard to watch, but there is something beautiful there, even if it’s not always healthy — how they are to each other,” Pellerin added. “There is something in trying constantly because there is love.” He also praised the show’s writing, noting:

“It was such a relief and a joy for me to get on set. My first day was [the scene] when Jacques and Karl actually meet… and I was like, ‘Oh, OK, great,’ because I can fall in love with Daniel, and I can just look at him and believe everything and be present and be there. When there’s chemistry and when it works, it’s like and the writing is good. I mean, everything is there. You can just fly from there.”

Brühl’s Take on the Unconventional Love Story
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Daniel Brühl has been capturing our interest for some time. When asked how he adjusted coming off TV’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, The King’s Man, All Quiet on the Western Front, and leaping into Karl Lagerfeld, he said, “The more diversities [and] differences there are in genres, in projects, in worlds that you explore, the better.”

He went on to talk about what it was in Becoming Karl Lagerfeld that felt new to him:

“There are a couple of moments in the show that are among the best that I’ve ever done. It’s also thanks to this gentleman [co-star Théodore Pellerin], because I’d never told a story that is such an intense love story between two men. I was allowed to dance with this man and we found some beautiful moments of truth there. Reading about Karl, I did not know how much of a romantic man he was, you know. So, in this first installment, it was important for me to show a more transparent, insecure, vulnerable [man]. I’ve never done it that way before.”

Daniel Brühl Teases HBO’s The Franchise
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Brühl leaped off Becoming Karl Lagerfeld to another high-profile project that’s set to satirize the Marvel franchise. “I went from the Lagerfeld shoot in London… to do a satire, a comedy, with HBO called The Franchise,” he shared. Telling a funny anecdote that came from his back-to-back shooting, Brühl told us:

“And now that I’ve watched the pilot, I saw myself with the Lagerfeld hair because we couldn’t cut it. So now when we continue to shoot it, there’s a scene where they cut my hair, which feels a bit forced, but it was so fun because it was such a flashback. I was watching the comedy, thinking, ‘Why is my hair looking so funny?’ And I thought, of course, because we were shooting at Lagerfeld.”

When asked how he felt The Franchise will be received, he said, “It’s a very timely thing. I strongly believe in this show because it hasn’t been done that way before… I cracked up when I read these scripts because I’ve been in the [Marvel] universe and it’s a lot of fun. And even the people from that universe will find it very funny, I’m sure.”

He went on to praise his collaborators on the series, saying “And also, I mean, [creators] Sam Mendes, Armando Iannucci, and Jon Brown — these three together, to me, as a German, being invited to comedy on that level was a dream. But generally speaking, people know about superhero movies, and they love them, and so I guess they will also enjoy that kind of perspective on it and get the comedy.”

In the meantime, get all the depth and drama in Becoming Karl Lagerfeld, which hits Hulu Friday, June 7.