Spanish-German actor Daniel Brühl (All Quiet on the Western Front, Captain America: Civil War) is set to star as the late fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld in Kaiser Karl, in a new Disney+ original series. The show is being produced in partnership with Gaumont Televison and has already begun filming in France, Monaco, and Italy, via Variety.
The series, which is said to have six episodes, will follow the rise to fame of world famous Karl Lagerfeld through the world of 1970s Parisian high fashion. In 1972, a 38-year-old Karl Lagerfeld set out to become the most famous French fashion designer, at a time when the brand Yves Saint Laurent was taking the world by storm. Lagerfeld went on to become the head designer and creative director of Chanel, Fendi and his own label.
The series will be representative of queer subculture as it explores the infamous rivalry between Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent’s partner Pierre Berge, as well as Lagerfeld’s intense love story with French socialite Jacques de Bascher. Kaiser Karl will also showcase the glamorous Parisian world of fashion, and this Disney+ series will mark the first scripted-drama series on the famed designer, whose story has almost only exclusively been seen through documentaries. Alongside depicting the complexities of love and the Parisian fashion scene of the time, the series will also portray the designer’s rivalries in his fashion career and the extravagant party scene he partook in.
Brühl will be a lead star of the show alongside Théodore Pellerin (It’s Only the End of the World) as his lover Jacques de Bascher. Arnaud Valois (BPM) is also set to star as designer Yves Saint Laurent with the rest of the supporting cast, featuring Alex Lutz (Guy) as French industrialist Pierre Bergé, and Agnès Jaoui (The Taste of Others) as Gaby Aghion, the founder of the Chloé brand who helped elevate Lagerfeld.