The creator of Disney+‘s Becoming Karl Lagerfeld has explained the thinking behind the team’s decision to eschew a biopic when telling the story of a crucial stage in the fashion icon’s life.
Gaumont‘s Daniel Brühl-starring six-parter, which premiered out of competition at Canneseries last night, focuses on Lagerfeld’s entry into the fashion world in the early 1970s and his relationship with rivals like Yves Saint-Laurent.
“It was important to me not just to do this as a biopic,” creator Isaure Pisani-Ferry said this morning at MIPTV. “A biopic takes the fun facts of life and lays them out one after the other. It addresses the curiosity of the viewer. I didn’t want it to read like a Wikipedia page about this person.”
Pisani-Ferry added that Lagerfeld – who died five years ago – is “at a turning point” during the series, surrounded by characters full of “love, hate and ambition, which allows us to talk about the fear of vulnerability and need for recognition.”
To avoid biopic status, Pisani-Ferry said the team “read a lot, interviewed a lot of people who knew Karl back then and went back to the original source.” “We were thinking about a drama that is touching and talks to anyone, not just people interested in Karl Lagerfeld and fashion,” she added. “You sacrifice some of the things you know, put some to one side and come up with things that are pure inventions.”
Becoming Karl Lagerfeld is set in 1972, prior to Lagerfeld taking the fashion world by storm but when he was a ready-to-wear designer, unknown to the general public. Speaking to Deadline yesterday, Brühl said he is prepared for people to criticize his portrayal of one of the most well known fashion icons of all time.
Fatphobia accusations
Pisani-Ferry also addressed accusations of fatphobia that Lagerfeld faced during his career. He was quoted complaining about “fat mothers” and “curvy women” and once part-blamed society’s ills on “diseases caught by people who are too fat.”
“[Lagerfeld] is accused of fatphobia but this man struggled with his own weight and relationship to food his whole life,” said Pisani-Ferry. “This wasn’t about us saying, ‘Let’s pretend he didn’t have a dark side,’ but it was important for us to go deeper’.”
Becoming Karl Lagerfeld screened last night in Cannes and will launch on Disney+ on June 7. The series will be available in the U.S. on Hulu from that same date.
