Mademoiselle Emily is back with a bang — she literally chops her hair into bangs — for season three of hit series ‘Emily in Paris’, which releases on Netflix on December 21.
At the end of season two, audiences saw marketing executive Emily grappling with her romantic and career demons — she had to pick between love interests Alfie or Gabriel; and between working for Sylvie in France or for her former boss Madeline in Chicago. What we know so far is that Emily, played by Lily Collins, has decided to stay in Paris and maybe disentangle herself from her confusing love triangle.
Gulf News spoke about the upcoming episodes with Collins and other cast members — Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu (Emily’s fierce boss Sylvie); Ashley Park (Emily’s friend Mindy); Lucas Bravo (Gabriel — love interest #1); Camille Razat (Gabriel’s girlfriend Camille); Bruno Gouery (Emily’s crazy co-worker Luc); and Samuel Arnold (the dashing co-worker Julien). Here’s what they had to say:
On what the new season offered them compared to the previous two...
Collins: It offered me the opportunity to blend into more of the French culture as the character more and more. I think with every decision Emily makes and the more time she spends here, she becomes more rooted and grounded in her surroundings and more quietly confident and comfortable within Paris. So whether that’s the wardrobe, her friendships, the language, her workplace, we got to see less jokes about Emily finding her footing in Paris and more comedy within the different characters. And I really appreciated that.
Park: I think Mindy, in the first season as we were getting to know her, kind of served as comedy and a support. And then we really delved into more of her music and vulnerability in the second season. And I think in this third season, we really see her come into not apologising for herself and really exploring new colours and spectrums of like her love life and her relationship with herself, her friendships and the city.
On the fashion in season three ...
Collins: This season, when I met with Marylin [Fitoussi], our costume designer, she said the moment she knew who my character was this season was when I cut my bangs. Because when she started to see me as Lily, the way that my face changed shape or the way that my style evolved with that French-iness already with a bang ... And so then she starts pulling different shapes and colours and prints and designers for me. Some of my favourite looks were ... [this] black and white Dolce & Gabbana high shouldered top with micro shorts and Louboutins. And there is an incredible purple outfit that I wear head to toe in purple in the lavender fields in Provence, which felt very Emily to go above and beyond in the colour palette.
Park: I think that for Mindy, in season two, she’s trying to find where she fits in ... But everything was so different from each other. I felt like she was still trying to figure out who she was [and] what the costume was. In this season, especially with my hair and make-up team ... she does have a certain persona when she performs but then we really start to streamline what felt very chic and adult about Mindy as well and found a rhythm for that.
On what it’s like to be part of a big Netflix production...
Razat: Well, like you said, it’s very different because Netflix is a huge, huge set. So we’re just very content to be together once again, because that’s three years now that we know each other ... we just enjoy being on set.
Bravo on ‘rejecting’ the title of heart-throb ...
Bravo: It’s not so much that precise title that I reject. I just never liked labels. I know we live in a world where we need to be put in a square and with a stamp on it because it reassures everyone to know what they’re dealing with. Once you identify something, your brain can place it somewhere and it always gives a feeling of safety. But I’ve never really liked titles and I think people are so much more complex than just the limitation of a word. And so it wasn’t so much the rejection of heart-throb, it was just the fact that I like to see myself and people in general as more complex human beings.
Leroy-Beaulieu on what she admires about her character Sylvie...
Sylvie’s very courageous. She’s daring, she does stuff. She puts herself in situations where everything’s not gonna be easy at all. And then she goes for it. And I really liked that. I like that she makes no compromise. There’s a moment in season three, where she basically is declaring war on one of the most important families in fashion and she just does it because it’s her belief. There’s some purity there that I love.
On showcasing French culture to a wider group of people through streaming ...
Arnold: I think it’s a dream for a storyteller to be able to tell his story to an enormous amount of people and being on Netflix is just like the entire world now, and sharing our culture, the French culture, and the French language is just like something that we can be very proud of.
Leroy-Beaulieu: Yeah, it’s proof also that every human problem or issue is universal. So when you tell a story, you can tell a story to the whole world ... there’s subtleties that are very cultural, but deep, deep inside everybody shares the same needs, feelings, longings. It’s so nice to have a platform like Netflix that makes that possible.
On being similar to their characters ...
Gouery: I’m a little bit fantasque. How do you say in English? Strange. A little bit crazy. That’s the reason why many people in the streets when they cross me, ‘Oh, Luc, you’re crazy.’ And I’m a little bit crazy since I was a little boy. Everybody said to me in my family, at school, ‘You’re crazy’. I’m crazy. Like Dali. I would like to play Dali one day.
Arnold: And I think that the similarities between Julian and myself; I think we are both very stylish, not in the same way. And I just like the fact that he’s just a young man, trying to make it in his industry the same way I do. And I’m pretty sure it’s going to be successful. And I’m pretty sure I’m gonna be successful too. So I love that for me and Julian.
Don’t miss it!
Season three of ‘Emily in Paris’ starts streaming on Netflix on December 21.
