Marvel star Daniel Brühl on why playing Karl Lagerfeld felt ‘dangerous’
From the superhero world to high fashion.
Daniel Brühl, best known for playing Marvel villain Helmut Zemo, stars as the titular figure in Hulu’s “Becoming Karl Lagerfeld,” now streaming.
“It was an opportunity to play one of the most iconic, fascinating, mysterious characters in recent times,” Brühl, 46, told The Post.
“I’m German, so Karl Lagerfeld has always been around when I grew up. So, to be given the chance to portray one of these famous figures from my country was very enriching. I knew about the dangers involved, but it was part of the fun.”
“Becoming Karl Lagerfeld” is a six-episode series following the iconic designer in 1970s Paris as he rises from being a simple ready-to-wear designer. It also follows his relationship with his friend and rival, Yves Saint Laurent (Arnaud Valois).
Brühl, who is also known for “Inglourious Basterds” and “The Bourne Ultimatum,” said that by “dangerous” he meant that Lagerfeld “was such a famous man, and created this eccentric persona. I knew that many people — especially in my home country — would judge me, and I would be under a lot of criticism potentially. The danger always is that you turn the whole thing into a caricature, or a mere copy.”
He said the challenge was “to find the right tone and the right balance, especially dealing with someone who did not like to talk about his private life … It meant a lot of responsibility from my side, to treat it very carefully.”
Brühl, who appeared in “Captain America: Civil War” and the MCU series “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” played coy about whether he might be in more Marvel movies or series in the future.
“Well, I’m not dead! Even if I would know something, which I don’t, I wouldn’t be allowed to share it,” he said.
“It’s been an absolute pleasure, the two times that I’ve been involved. Now, funnily, I did [an upcoming show] called ‘The Franchise,’ which is a satire of the superhero world, which I also highly enjoyed. Getting older, whenever I’m invited to a new part — to something that I haven’t done before — it’s a privilege.”
Up next, Brühl will co-star in the Ron Howard movie “Eden,” along with Sydney Sweeney, Jude Law and Ana de Armas.
“It’s an incredible cast and an interesting story about Germans who left Europe in the ’30s and tried to create a new Eden, trying to start a new way of life far away from civilization, but then it becomes a very thrilling survival drama,” he said.
His career on the international stage has been a marked change.
“I deeply appreciate the fact that — especially in America and England — people see something else in me than my own people,” he said.
“The fact that I started to be offered villains was something that was impossible in Germany, because they saw me as ‘the nice guy,’ so I was put in that box. I was very happy when [Marvel Studios president] Kevin Feige or even before that [Quentin] Tarantino or Ron Howard … would give me these gifts as an actor. I always told them, in Germany they would never have given me that part.”
