Jared Leto to play fashion icon Karl Lagerfeld in biopic
Jared Leto, who knows how to make a splash on the red carpet and onstage, is no stranger to fashion. Now, the Oscar-winning actor and "30 Seconds to Mars" frontman will be playing one of fashion's biggest names.
Leto will be playing the late designer Karl Lagerfeld in a biopic the actor is producing in collaboration with the fashion house that still bears Lagerfeld's name, according to WWD.
"I feel like this is a full-circle moment and Karl would be proud of what we are doing," Leto told the publication, adding, "Karl was an artist. Period. He was a fashion designer, he was a photographer, he was an artist. There was no defining him. He was a creative powerhouse."
Lagerfeld died in 2019, but before his death, according to WWD, Leto told him he wanted to portray him, and the designer reportedly answered, "Only you, darling, only you."
Leto retweeted the WWD article on the forthcoming movie from his personal account on Thursday.
"Karl has always been an inspiration to me," he wrote above a photo of himself with the late designer. "He was a true polymath, an artist, an innovator, a leader and, most importantly, a kind man."
"When we came together with the Karl Lagerfeld team, we immediately shared a creative vision of doing a respectful ode to Karl while pushing the artistic boundaries of what a biopic can be," he wrote in a follow-up tweet.
According to the Karl Lagerfeld fashion house, the biopic will center on "key relationships in Karl Lagerfeld’s life, told through an unpredictable lens, much like the man himself."
This news comes shortly after it was revealed that the famed designer was named the inspiration behind the 2023 Met Gala theme.
Late last month, the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced that The Costume Institute's spring 2023 exhibition, "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty," will examine the work of the late fashion icon's 65-year career, specifically his stylistic language and timeless aesthetic themes.
"Karl Lagerfeld was one of the most captivating, prolific, and recognizable forces in fashion and culture, known as much for his extraordinary designs and tireless creative output as for his legendary persona," Max Hollein, Marina Kellen French Director of The Met, said in a statement at the time. "This immersive exhibition will unpack his singular artistic practice, inviting the public to experience an essential part of Lagerfeld’s boundless imagination and passion for innovation."
