Daniel Brühl’s turn as the eponymous character in the upcoming Disney+ series Becoming Karl Lagerfeld received a three-minute standing ovation on Sunday, April 7, Variety reported. The series was shown out of competition.
The story follows the late German designer before he became known the world over as a pop culture icon. It also chronicles his love story with the young Jacques de Bascher (Théodore Pellerin).
Cannes loves Karl Lagerfeld
Cannes locals watched the show, laughing at Lagerfeld’s early days when he was an awkward youth as well as Yves Saint Laurent (Arnaud Valois) inelegantly attempting to court de Bascher.
The locals deemed the series “fun” and “entertaining.” The Canneseries audience spoke with Variety, even through the language barrier, and declared the show as “C’est genial!” That’s “It’s great!” in French, in case you didn’t know.
The screening mimicked the designer’s Chloé show in the ’70s as it was shown in the first episode. Celebrities who were also in Cannes were in attendance such as Beverly Hills 90210’s Jason Priestly and Riverdale’s Vanessa Morgan who were in town to present Wild Cards.
Danish actress and juror, Sofie Gråbøl, attended in Lagerfeld’s favorite black-and-white color combination. The designer was often seen in these colors paired with his iconic sunglasses and fingerless gloves.
“I am looking forward to learning more about him. For an artist, any person can be interesting. And any story — as long as it’s well told,” she said.
The Zweiflers’ Daniel Hernandez was also in attendance and stated, “I started out as a model and I am still into fashion. I love it! But the thing about Lagerfeld was also that he was so unique, so creative and he always did what he wanted to. That’s very inspiring to me.”
And as for the actor portraying the iconic designer, Brühl, La Mesías’ Macarena García, also a juror, said, “I just love this actor.”
“When I watch a story based on actual people, I don’t expect the actors to mimic them. It’s more about capturing the energy and the charisma,” she said.
The cast spoke with the magazine about the difficulties of portraying the fashion legend. However, he wasn’t the only legend on screen. Sharing the designer’s spotlight was the iconic actress Marlene Dietrich played in the series by Triangle of Sadness’ Sunnyi Melles.
“Dietrich was 70 years old at the time [when she met Lagerfeld, in the second episode]. I was so touched to be able to be like her, to express the thoughts she had. It’s such a wonderful script. You always want to do your best as an actor and I wanted to do my best for Marlene,” she said.
Melles knew Lagerfeld personally. The designer used to live her mother-in-law’s house.
“He took a picture of me when I was pregnant with my daughter, who is with me tonight,” she added.
Jeanne Damas, who played Paloma Picasso (daughter of the artist Pablo and a fashion designer in her own right), said she was “afraid” approaching the role.
“Watching Daniel transform was… crazy. He speaks French with a German accent, but when he was Karl, it was even a different accent!” she praised her co-star.
According to Alex Lutz, who played Pierre Bergé who co-founded the brand Yves Saint Laurent and was also its designer’s one-time life partner as well as Lagerfeld’s enemy, said, “The biggest challenge was to forget about the legend. We had to leave it behind, instead of having it dangle in front of us all the time.”
Daniel Brühl’s rollercoaster ride as Lagerfeld
Brühl, who is both German and Spanish, said he drew from his lifelong experience as a foreigner to play the designer. He also perfected his French.
The actor described the process of playing Lagerfeld as a rollercoaster.
“I wanted to give this character as much complexity and truth and honesty and love and passion as I possibly could.” he said.
No date has been set for Becoming Karl Lagerfeld to premiere, but it will be available to stream on Disney+.
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