Karl Lagerfeld and Jared Leto team up for film about the designer

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Oct 6, 2022

The house of Karl Lagerfeld and Jared Leto have announced plans for a film about the designer with Leto to star in and produce it, alongside his partner Emma Ludbrook, through their production company Paradox.

The storyline is confidential, although the company said the film “will cover the key relationships in Karl Lagerfeld’s life, told through an unpredictable lens, much like the man himself. Producers are currently in conversation with filmmakers”.

In a release, the parties said “the late fashion icon’s trusted confidants, Pier Paolo Righi, Caroline Lebar, and Sebastien Jondeau, will partner as Executive Producers of the film”. 

Lebar worked closely with Lagerfeld for over 35 years as an advisor for both his brand and personal communications, while Righi has been CEO for Maison Karl Lagerfeld for over 10 years. And Jondeau spent 20 years as his personal assistant and bodyguard. Today, he works with the brand as a Style Consultant.

Leto said Lagerfeld “has always been an inspiration to me. He was a true polymath, an artist, an innovator, a leader and, most importantly, a kind man”. He added that the film will be “a respectful ode to Karl while pushing the artistic boundaries of what a biopic can be.”

Righi said that the firm has been “approached by several Hollywood producers who suggested to partner on a movie about Karl’s iconic life” in recent years. “It has been only since we met Jared and Emma that we felt truly confident about the story being told in the artistic way Karl would have loved to see. Throughout our conversations, we have created an equally trustful and inspiring creative relationship that will allow us to work together very fluidly on this beautiful project.”

Lagerfeld died in 2019 after a career that saw him reinventing Chanel, creating his own label, and designing for Fendi and Chloé, among other activities. 

His reputation is such that last week, Vogue’s Anna Wintour and The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced the theme of the 2023 Costume Institute Exhibition and Met Gala will be Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty. It will be dedicated to his work and six-decade career, exploring his creative process, the evolution of his designs, and his impact on fashion.