The Untold Truth Of Lupin

After starring in countless books, shows, and films, brilliant fictional detective Sherlock Holmes has become synonymous with intelligence and grace under fire. He's still a famous character inspiring projects in various forms of media today, but in the 19th century he was arguably the greatest action hero in the western world. And he was British, the longtime rivals of the French. Which is why a French magazine, Je Sais Tout ("I know all"), hired noted short story writer Maurice LeBlanc to write a French answer to the wise, wily detective. That answer was Arsene Lupin.

Arsene Lupin wasn't just a copycat. He wasn't even a detective; Lupin was a thief, but he only stole from bad people, making his thefts morally justifiable. In his adventures, Lupin often exposed the seamy underbelly of high society while planning and executing his thefts and bringing some justice into play, ironic for a thief. He relied on his powers of deduction, his charm, and his wits, making him similar to Sherlock. While there were other influences, specifically other famous literary thieves, the Sherlock connection was made obvious when Leblanc wrote a series of stories featuring Holmes with Lupin. However the detective's name was changed in the Lupin stories, if only slightly — likely due to copyright concerns, LeBlanc changed Sherlock Holmes' name to Herlock Sholmes.

Louis Leterrier is the director of the first three episodes of Lupin, helping establish the tone for the series — although he put his creative stamp on the show even before that. Leterrier was actually part of the show's braintrust, along with actor Omar Sy, showrunner George Kay, writer François Uzan, and Gaumont producer Isabelle Degeorges. This connection began even before the development of Lupin — Leterrier was Sy's neighbor in Los Angeles, and they developed a strong rapport as two French creatives in the city of angels.

Something Leterrier distinctively brings to the show, however, is action. French filmmakers have moved from "nouvelle vague" to fast-paced action thrillers, most notably led by Luc Besson (director of films such as The Professional and The Fifth Element and producer of film series like The Transporter and Taken). Leterrier is Besson's protégé, having directed The Transporter under Besson, though he's also noted for directing The Incredible Hulk. Leterrier also directed the magic-centric heist film Now You See Me, which may have come in helpful when it comes to Diop's sleight of hand throughout Lupin. Leterrier obviously drove the emphasis on action in the series, but also often took it upon himself to do some of the production work to get it right.

While writer/producer George Kay played a major role in creating Lupin, only Omar Sy and Gaumont's Isabelle Degeorges were mentioned in the deal with Netflix in 2018. Sy and Gaumont had been playing around with the idea for a while, according to a New York Times story which places the fateful conversation when Sy first proposed his turn as Lupin a couple years before it came to fruition. In the same article, Kay says he was interested because of the chance to work with Sy and Netflix. 

Kay brought years of experience as a writer and producer to the table, and no doubt his familiarity with the English-speaking world was helpful: He'd been writing for television since 2006, mostly for British TV. He wrote several episodes of the hit action thriller series Killing Eve; in 2018, Netflix purchased Criminal, a series created by Kay and produced by his company Idiot Lamp. A four-chapter anthology, this police thriller is tonally similar to the work Kay went on to do with Lupin.

The Pellegrini house is set at the Musee Nissim de Camondo. The Louvre is all over the trailers, since it's the centerpiece of the pilot (and arguably the most famous museum in the world). It's very notable that they actually filmed at the storied arthouse. The idea that the "unseen" workers who clean and maintain this museum have amazing access to priceless artifacts adds to the social commentary of the series. These people sneak past detection since nobody would think they're sophisticated enough to heist the museum's priceless works, a concept that helps explain how Assane Diop can slip through the shadows because people don't look closely at him. Yet another museum influenced Kay even more during development: the Musee d'Orsay.

George Kay looked to the time period of the Lupin books for guidance, and the Musee d'Orsay focuses on the turn of the 20th century. At first Kay went there to just look at paintings and get the feel, but eventually, it became an inspiration. Kay said a van Gogh work inspired an episode, the museum inspired a name of a character to come in season 2, and the town of Etretat, a sort of Leblanc holy ground where season 1 ends in a cliffhanger, is depicted in many renderings found in the d'Orsay.

In Maurice LeBlanc's story "The Queen's Necklace," it's established that Arsene Lupin became a thief to avenge his mother, a society woman who was treated poorly by wealthy acquaintances who hired her when she fell on tough times in Lupin's youth. She was accused of stealing their necklace, once owned by Marie Antoinette, but was eventually cleared of the crime. (The thief was actually her young son, who stole it to avenge her.) The new Netflix series Lupin starts with Assane Diop stealing the same Antoinette necklace, though he steals it as an adult. He does steal it, however, from his father's employer, the wealthy Pellegrini family. Mr. Pellegrini looked down on him seemingly from the start, and Mrs. Pellegrini started off not trusting her new butler because of his skin color.

In the series, Assane's father Babakar Diop is accused of stealing the necklace in Assane's youth, leading him to kill himself in prison in shame. The show follows Assane as he takes inspiration from the Lupin novels in a quest to avenge his father, which is especially poignant because Babakar gave him his first Lupin book. And in a callback to the way Lupin stole in the books to avenge his mother, the series starts with the theft of Marie Antoinette's necklace.

Arsene Lupin was known as the gentleman thief, speaking to his role as a man of French high society who uses his breeding and experience to slip into the highest-end locales to steal from the corrupt people at the top. In French, there are two ways of saying "gentleman." "Gentilhomme" refers to nobility. If one says "gentleman" in French, basically repeating the English word, that refers to manners and one's personality, not one's place in society. 

The way Mrs. Pellegrini refers to Assane's dad as a "gentleman" has the connotation that she's almost patronizing this African immigrant with her compliment. And Assane later says he'll be a "gentleman" as well, knowing full well that in his private school he'll never be seen by others as a noble. He learns to fit in with the gentry, though, by adopting the manners and confidence of a person comfortable moving through these refined and exclusive circles but he never sees himself as becoming a "gentilhomme": that is, an actual member of high society. Because Assane Diop knows those people are the real thieves, thugs, and criminals.