Lilly Collins plays Emily Cooper in "Emily in Paris". Image Source: Glamour
Netflix’s "Emily in Paris" is coming back with a second season on December 22nd, 2021, and recently the lead actress, Lilly Collins, addressed the criticism that her character receives and is called "annoying" or "very obnoxious".
During her interview with Nylon, Lilly Collins shared that the qualities of her character make her such a great character to play. She quoted, "A lot of the qualities that Emily has, if you put them on paper, would seem so annoying. To have someone be optimistic, bright and bubbly — it’s sad to think that people would look and go, ‘That’s a lot.’ They’re such beautiful qualities, and the fact that she can partner that with being vulnerable and asking for help and making mistakes — she’s not infallible."
The actress also commented on the comparison made between "Emily in Paris" and "Sex and the City", stating that Lilly’s character is mimicking Carrie Bradshaw’s (Sarah Jessica Parker) life to which she mentioned that she is in no way she is trying to mimic Carrie Bradshaw’s life, but Emily probably grew up having Carrie’s posters on her wall.
A still from "Sex and the City". Image Source: Channel 3000
The over-the-top nature of the show, according to Lilly Collins, symbolizes the awe her character experiences while seeing it. Lilly Collins, who studied broadcast journalism at USC and still forms her consonants like she's training for the anchor spot, adds, "I believe this is a heightened reality for Emily, to be moving to Paris, and what she experiences and what she sees." Some of the criticism that the show receives centers around its clichéd depiction of Paris and French people, the little-to-no difficulty Emily faces in achieving her goals, and the surface-level exploration of its characters, including Emily herself.
Lilly Collins plays Emily Cooper, who moves to France to take a new job at a Parisian marketing firm, juggling new friends and love interests along the way. The show garnered mixed reactions from the audience and the critics and received two Golden Globe nominations, which included Best Television Series Musical or Comedy, despite getting a modest rating of 63% on Rotten Tomatoes.
The second season follows the fallout of Emily's hooking up with her French chef neighbor, Gabriel (Lucas Bravo), who is still possibly dating Emily's friend Camille (Camille Razat), which some compare to Sex and the City's Carrie's (Sarah Jessica Parker) hooking up with the married Mr. Big. Both the characters Gabriel and Big are particularly are created by series creator Darren Star.
The second season of "Emily in Paris", stars Jeremy O. Harris, who plays a designer on the show, with Lilly Collins revealing he was a big fan of the first season. "He had spoken out about the fact that he was a big fan, which was so lovely, and I was so surprised", she said of the beloved playwright. Harris himself added, "I like joy — I think that’s surprising to people given the work that I write — but the work I consume often has so much lightness to it. When I was watching (Emily in Paris) I was like, "This is so fun. Why is everyone so upset?"'
Series creator Darren Star said, "There's a new love interest for [Emily], there's a lot more intrigue at work, in relationships. Think she also just gets more immersed in learning French and really struggling with the language in a way she didn't get to do first in the first season, because she's really trying this season."
Golden Globe nominee, Lilly Collins tied the knot last month to Charlie McDowell in a beautiful outdoor wooded venue at Dunton Hot Springs in Colorado and is finally settling into married life. Both Charlie McDowell and Lilly Collins are of British-American descent and wanted to include a bit of that heritage in the celebration. She opened up about settling into married life by stating, "It's so nice to be able to finally say that I'm a wife, [but] sometimes it makes me feel very old. It was very reminiscent of the rolling hills and forests in England. We're both dual citizens, so it was something that we wanted to lean into."
The actress shared that she planned the entire wedding while shooting for the second season of "Emily of Paris". She quoted, "I was in the midst of planning it while shooting the show, nine hours ahead. Finishing filming and then zooming with people and answering emails. [It] was very exciting and great; it was just all happening at once."
Charlie McDowell had directed Collins in Windfall, a movie about a young couple who arrive at a vacation home to discover that it’s been robbed. He is preparing to direct his bride in "Gilded Rage", based on the infamous 2015 murder of investment banker Thomas Gilbert Sr. Lilly Collins said, "I was actually surprised that I was able to really separate him as a director and also as a fiancé. It was so collaborative and fun to go to work and be trusted by each other, and to also take a break from it when you get home and just kind of watch a show and tune out."
Finally, the 32-year-old actress mentioned that one of the things that are her least favorite when it comes to Emily Cooper is the question that is asked by the reporters about who Emily is, like is she a workaholic or romantic? To which she replied, "She doesn't have to be defined by one thing. She loves her job and she also loves love. She's a modern woman. "
The first season of Emily in Paris is streaming on Netflix, and the second season arrives in December.
