The 32-year-old actress, who receives two Golden Globes nominations for her role on the show, discusses the upcoming season of the Netlix show in a new interview.
- Dec 3, 2021
AceShowbiz - Lily Collins is aware of the criticism surrounding "Emily in Paris". The 32-year-old actress revealed in an accompanying interview for the December issue of Glamour, which has her on the cover, that she made changes in the Netflix show's upcoming season.
Of the first season of the series which was released on Netflix in October 2020 amid COVID-19 quarantine, Lily said, "We never represented it as anything other than what it was going to be." She added, "And we didn't know the world would be in the state that it was in when it came out."
The actress continued, "People said they were laughing and smiling for the first time in a long time, that it reminded them of what fun felt like and that we were able to offer some escapism and romanticism and travel. I was so proud of that. I did not expect it to all of a sudden be something that people were upset [about]."
While some fans love the bubbly story about an American marketing executive sent to Paris for work without knowing how to speak French, some others took issues of French culture depiction as well as its call-out of deep dish pizza. "We do poke fun at America too. Emily is just as willing to mention things about where she's from, and they joke about her as much as things are joked about her coworkers or the way of life there," Lily defended the show.
"And so when it was little nitpicky things about deep-dish, or that I messed up from the age, I laughed about that. I messed up, I'm so sorry," the "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones" actress continued. "I know that in this industry, having been in it, having grown up in it, you know that not everyone's going to love what you do all the time."
"It was definitely an interesting time for the world when those Golden Globe nominations came out," she admitted, referring to more backlash for receiving two nominations for her role on the show as people accused HFPA, which was later revealed to have no black members, overlooked black-led projects. "Honestly, my focus and my concern [at the time] was more on the subject matter at hand and change that needed to be made, as opposed to how I fit into all of that with the show. Yeah, it was definitely a lot."
Lily then shared that season 2 of "Emily in Paris" will feature more diversity. "I was really passionate about including [more] women, people of color, and also sexual orientation, to really show more of what the world is, and be a part of the Emily family," she explained. "If there's ever an opportunity to be better, do better, and have more representation and inclusion, you should run with it."
"There were certain conversations that we became a part of [such as the Golden Globes]... and while I don't think I expected to be thrown into it in the way in which we were, I felt like it was definitely an opportunity to be able to do better in season 2," the actress added. "It was definitely difficult to go through in a sense, but nowhere near as difficult as what the overall conversation was. And that was what was most important."
Season 2 of "Emily in Paris" is set to launch on Wednesday, December 22 on Netflix.
