For four years, she has played one of the most formidable, but also the most endearing, bosses on the small screen. A key figure in the Netflix series “Emily in Paris”, Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu gives us an overview of a liberating season 4 for her character Sylvie Grateau. The French actress, who grew up in Rome, tells us about her filming in the land of her childhood.
Equally at ease in French and English, she holds the marketing agency that bears her name with an iron fist. If Sylvie Grateau quickly established herself as one of the favorite characters of the series aficionados Emily in Parisit is above all thanks to its interpreter. “I think we found an actress who has a real connection with the person she’s playing.”Darren Star, the creator of the Netflix comedy, told us at the end of season 2. Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu’s life was turned upside down by this fiction which gave her instant and global fame at the dawn of her sixties, four years ago.
Her heroine has guts, ideas and a retort that she uses as a weapon to better defend herself. Season 4 sees her crack the armor in a post-#MeToo plot that is darker than the usually jovial nature of the series. The episodes released online last week also introduce a new life for Sylvie from the moment she sets foot in Rome. This is where Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu lived until the age of 11. “My father was an actor here. I knew the Roman movie sets. What’s very beautiful is that it always looks very chaotic,” she tells us with a smile. The French actress answered our questions from the Italian capital, before the official announcement of the upcoming launch of a fifth season.
GIULIA PARMIGIANI/NETFLIX
Sylvie left behind the ghosts of the past in the first part and allows herself to live outside of work in the second. Would you say that this is the season of liberation for her?
Yes, it’s quite rich. She had buried what had happened to her in the past in order to move forward. She never wanted to be the victim of that, and she says so. The fact of having talked about it is obviously very liberating so she can move forward. We also discover the story of her relationship with her mother, the way she will take care of her stepdaughter Geneviève who is a bit parachuted into her life. We also discover her in Italy with another personality.
Sylvie has a very special connection with Italy, just like you who spent part of your childhood there. Was it you who suggested this idea or was it a total coincidence?
(laughs) No, I can’t give Darren Star any ideas. What I could do was say “yes, yes, yes” when he mentioned Rome. I pushed hard for us to go there but after that it really doesn’t depend on me. Darren is someone who has billions of ideas and doesn’t tell us anything until the last moment. He has a sense of surprise, of 180 degree turns on the characters. He’s done it in all his series! So no, we can’t suggest the idea to him but we can insist by telling him: “Please, we want to go to Rome!” (laughs)
Rome has been attracting major Hollywood productions for several years, Mission : Impossible has Fast and FuriousNOW Emily in Paris. What’s so magical about there?
It’s a city that is first of all very old in its architecture, which is also a huge cradle of cinema. Fantastic people live there, the food is good. The light is sublime. It’s a very cinematic city. It’s really magical to shoot here.
It seems like nothing is going to happen, but everything happens as if by magic.
It seems like nothing is going to happen, but everything happens as if by magic.
Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu on set in Italy
What surprised you most about working in Rome?
It wasn’t my first time filming in Italy so I wasn’t really surprised. I had made two films here a long time ago and my father was an actor here. (Philippe Leroy, died in June) So I knew the Roman movie sets. What’s very beautiful is that it always seems very chaotic. We have the impression that nothing is going to happen but everything happens as if by magic. There is no stress on the points that we try to plan because we are afraid. While they are not afraid and it happens! (laughs)
Have you played the role of guide for your colleagues to the places of your childhood?
We did a report here where I walked around key places from my childhood but not with my colleagues. We didn’t have much time! On Emilywe work a lot. It’s a very fast pace. We shoot very quickly, it’s intense. The team only stayed three weeks in Italy.
Read also
VIDEO – “Emily in Paris” stops in Rome: “It’s really magical to film here”
Mindy dit à Emily : “Paris is for food, Rome is for sex”. But which one is the city of love?
I would say Rome, it’s more sentimental.
Sylvie is one of the audience’s favorite characters. Can we dream of a spin-off series around her?
We were talking about this earlier with Darren. He said to me: “If we do that, we won’t have Sylvie in Emily in Paris“. Maybe he’ll do it when I’m 90, if we do another 200 seasons. I don’t know! I’d like to, huh? That would be really fun.
>> Emily in Paris – 4 seasons available on Netflix
Delphine DE FREITAS
