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It’s no secret that Jared Leto is a character chameleon. He was haunting as the DC Universe Joker and completely unrecognisable as Adam Neumann in the Apple TV+ series WeCrashed. His next transformation will take place for a new film on the legacy and life of Karl Lagerfeld, with Leto taking on the prestigious role of the late designer.
The news was announced on Instagram overnight with the House of Karl Lagerfeld co-creating the film. “Leto will star in the film and produce alongside his partner, Emma Ludbrook, through their production company Paradox,” the caption read.
According to the namesake fashion house, the forthcoming film “will cover the key relationships in Karl Lagerfeld’s life, told through an unpredictable, much like the man himself.” Filmmakers will work with Pier Paolo Righi, the CEO of Maison Karl, advisor Caroline Lebar and personal assistant and bodyguard, Sebastien Jondeau, as executive producers.
Leto and Lagerfeld were close collaborators before the designer’s death in 2019. In fact, in an interview with WWD Leto revealed that he told the designer, “You know, one day I have to play you in a movie,” to which Lagerfeld apparently replied, “Only you darling, only you.”
“My role is to portray him on screen as honestly as possible,” he told the publication. “With celebrity, most people don’t get to see under the surface. They see one or two facets of a person as presented through a public lens. Karl was a human being. We all have beauty within us and we all have faults. We have masks and then we have moments when we reveal the mask. I’m always interested in seeing what’s behind the mask.”
Lagerfeld and his influence in the fashion industry will also form the theme for next year’s Met Gala. The Metropolitan Museum of Art is set to host an exhibit called Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty. It will reportedly “explore the artistic methodology and stylistic vocabulary of Karl Lagerfeld’s designs through recurring themes across more than 65 years, from the 1950s to his final collection in 2019.”
The new role arrives after Leto also played designer Paolo Gucci in the House of Gucci. We just hope this next film is better received.
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