Twenty years ago, Daniel Brühl met Karl Lagerfeld on a photo shoot. With “Becoming Karl Lagerfeld,” a six-part TV series premiering on Hulu on June 7, Brühl hopes to dig a little deeper into the designer’s life. “We wanted to find out who was the person before he became the persona and before he became famous,” he explains.

The film takes place in the 1970s, at the height of Lagerfeld’s rivalry with Yves Saint Laurent. It portrays a very different picture of Lagerfeld, who intentionally muddled many details of his early life, including his birth date, in order to further his career.

Lagerfeld, who at the start of the decade was a designer for hire working with houses including Chloé, is portrayed as envious of Saint Laurent’s reputation as the king of haute couture; stifled by his domineering mother, and struggling to achieve emotional and physical intimacy with Jacques de Bascher, the love of his life.

Having the series shot in French in Paris was especially appealing to the multilingual actor.

A decadent dandy who was Lagerfeld’s partner for close to two decades is played by Canadian actor Théodore Pellerin.

Arnaud Valois plays Saint Laurent, and Alex Lutz plays Pierre Bergé, a French actor, comedian and director.