Apple TV+ ‘Carême’ Turns World’s First Celebrity Chef into Sex-Oozing Rock Star: ‘We Spent Hours Looking at Lenny Kravitz and Mick Jagger’

variety.com:

Marta Balaga The world’s first celebrity chef, Marie-Antoine Carême, came to prominence in the Napoleonic era. But the makers of Apple TV+ series “Carême” turned to other great men for inspiration. “We spent hours looking at photos of Lenny Kravitz and Mick Jagger,” says star Benjamin Voisin. “With costume designer Pierre-Jean Larroque, we thought it would be great to bring that sexy, liberated feeling to his outfits, to bring rock’n’roll.

What could be more beautiful from making a period series yet talking about people who could live today?” Director Martin Bourboulon – previously behind “The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan” and “The Three Musketeers: Milady” – also looked for a modern twist to the story. “I wanted to avoid the usual ‘period drama style’ and give Carême this sexy, rock’n’roll attitude, which Benjamin also has in real life.

It doesn’t matter if the costumes aren’t always [historically] accurate – it was important to establish he’s a seductive man.

Period dramas can be so clean: I wanted things to be dirtier.” In the show, produced by Banijay Entertainment’s Shine Fiction in France and by VVZ Production (“Eiffel”) and inspired by “Cooking for Kings: The Life of Antonin Carême, The First Celebrity Chef” by Ian Kelly – and created by Kelly and Davide Serino – promising patissier Carême draws the attention of powerful men thanks to his elaborate creations – and after accidentally saving Napoleon’s life.