Disney+ 'Becoming Karl Lagerfeld': Quebec actor Théodore Pellerin felt 'grief' that the series would come to an end
"I fell in love with the writing," Pellerin said
The late Karl Lagerfeld, the infamous and highly controversial fashion designer who notably worked with Chloé and Chanel, is the centre of a new series on Disney+ in Canada, Becoming Karl Lagerfeld, starring Daniel Brühl. Beginning in the early 1970s in France, the series chronicles Lagerfeld's beginning as a ready-to-wear designer, his rivalry with Yves Saint Laurent (Arnaud Valois), and the evolving relationship with Jacques de Bascher, played by Quebec actor Théodore Pellerin.
"Jacques was such a fascinating character," Pellerin told Yahoo Canada. "There was so much at hand that was available to read to get into understanding the world and the era, all the biographies talking about Karl and talking about Jacques, and then having access to what he actually read, what he actually listened to, letters that he wrote, and having conversations also with people that he spent some time with, and friends of his."
Watch Becoming Karl Lagerfeld on Disney+ with plans starting at $7.99/month
"When I auditioned the first time I only had like two scenes and immediately I was like, I'm loving it. I don't know how the rest is going to be, but I love these two scenes. And then when I read the scripts ... I fell in love with the writing. ... It was one of the first times that, before I started shooting, I already felt a certain grief at the idea of ending the show, because I was like, I won't have these scenes to do anymore, but I'm so excited to do them."
Karl Lagerfeld, Jacques de Bascher's relationship
In the French series, we see Lagerfeld meet the young dandy, de Bascher, who became a lover to Lagerfeld, as well as Saint Laurent, creating a love triangle filled with jealousy.
Lagerfeld historically said that he loved de Bascher, but it was an emotional connection rather than a relationship that was physically intimate.
"I think there were a lot of debates because Karl was saying certain things about his relationship with Jacques, other people were saying different things," Pellerin said.
"I talked to someone who knew them that said, no they didn't have intercourse, and I talked to someone else who said, yes they did have intercourse and he was even recording them sometimes, Jacques at the beginning, and having his friends listen to them and being like, 'It's real, right? You recognize that it's real. I matter.' And also recording some of the phone calls that they had. ... He was very insecure, at the beginning, about the place that Karl gave to him."
Watch Becoming Karl Lagerfeld on Disney+ with plans starting at $7.99/month
Portraying the evolution of this relationship in Becoming Karl Lagerfeld, Pellerin highlighted that working with Brühl made it "easy to fall in love" with the characters.
"He is the most generous, present, loving and funny," Pellerin said. "As soon as we did the first scene, I was like, 'I'm safe.'"
"It was so easy to look in Daniel's eyes and believe everything. So that was the centre of my experience shooting it, it was just looking at Daniel and trusting him, and following him."
'An artist who was just unable to create'
While, as the title suggests, the story is centred around Lagerfeld, there are some particularly interesting moments when we get to see who de Bascher was outside of his relationship with the fashion designer. That includes moments when he's with his family, primarily his older sister.
"Jacques was kind of a dominating force, he really was at the centre of most of his interactions, but there were two people who really were scary to him, ... were kind of above him in his head, and it was Anne, his big sister, and it was Karl," Pellerin said. "It gives so much depth to then understanding a little bit more who Jacques is and why he is how he is with Karl."
"We're kind of giving the place that Jacques always wanted, to really actually be seen and be told, and be seen also as the artist that he was trying to be. And that's so important. He wasn't just a dandy and a sex freak, all of these things were philosophies, that's how he approached life. It was very knowingly that he did all of this. It was a way to approach the existence that he led. And so to see him as an artist who was just unable to create, and then makes a character out of himself and a fiction out of his life, I think it felt right."
