The prolific German fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld — who helmed Chanel, Fendi and his own eponymous label, and who was considered one of the last great couturers prior to his death in 2019 – is having a big month. Not only has it just been announced that he will be the subject of the next Met Gala theme, but now it seems a movie about his life is in the works too, produced by and starring Jared Leto.
The chaotic method actor (who joked that he was “snorting lines of arrabbiata” between takes on House of Gucci) is set to don Karl’s iconic blackout sunglasses, white-haired ponytail and high, starched collars both on screen, and presumably behind-the-scenes, for the as yet unnamed movie. Will Jared be stitching tweed mini-skirts between takes? Amassing an iPod Nano collection as vast as Karl’s was? We’ll have to wait till the unhinged press tour to find out.
At this point, the movie plot remains a mystery though new posts on the designer’s Instagram suggest it will span his six-decade career and include the key people in Karl’s life – we assume including his 18-year relationship with French model and socialite Jacques de Bascher. Not just that but presumably also the love triangle that unfolded between the duo and fellow leading designer Yves Saint-Laurent, before Jacques died from AIDS-related illnesses in 1989 with Karl at his bedside. The movie, it has been reported, will tell Karl’s life story “through an unpredictable lens”.
“Karl has always been an inspiration to me,” Jared said in a statement. “He was a true polymath, an artist, an innovator, a leader and, most importantly, a kind man. When we came together with the Karl Lagerfeld team, we immediately shared a creative vision of doing a respectful ode to Karl while pushing the artistic boundaries of what a biopic can be. I’m so grateful to Karo, Pier and Seb for allowing us to go on this journey together.”
Jared and his partner Emma, under their production company Paradox, will be co-producing the movie in collaboration with the House of Karl Lagerfeld itself, and have enlisted some of the designer’s closest confidants in life to oversee the film in executive producer roles. They include Pier Paolo Righi, CEO of the brand Karl Lagerfeld; Caroline Lebar, an advisor to Karl himself; and Sébastien Jondeau, Karl’s personal assistant and bodyguard for 20 years, who now works as a style consultant for his eponymous label.
The producers are still looking for a filmmaker to lead the project and so filming, it seems, won’t kick off for a while yet. One thing’s for sure though, if the movie doesn’t include the poignant Karl quote, “Chic is a kind of mayonnaise — either it tastes, or it doesn’t”, then honestly, what’s the point?
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