Lily living the dream

Lily Collins ha has a lot in common with her Emily in Paris alter e ego,

LILY Collins is ha having a pinch-me moment on the P Parisian set of new Netflix rom- com Emily in Paris – exhilarated by her he first TV lead. The series, cre created by Sex and the City’s Darren Star, h has a lot of the fashionable flair of his m mega hit, given its costume designer is Patricia P Field – known for making Sara Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw a style icon.

“Oh my gosh,” the 31 31-year- old tells The Guide breathlessly, “when I knew that Darren was doing t this show, I read the pilot, and went, ‘ Oh my God! I love it,’” she laughs. “I grew up u watching all of his shows – Beverly Hills, Hill 90210, Melrose Place, and of course, Sex and the City.” The excitable star co continues: “to work with Patricia Field ... she is like a god to me. Even to be in the sa same room with her, let alone having her place things on my body, it’s incredible.”

While Collins is perf perfectly cast to play the bubbly Emily Cooper, Coope one of the biggest characters in the show remains the City of Light itself.

“I’ve been to Pa Paris many times but never lived here,” h Collins says. “Everyone s said before I came, ‘ Paris will change cha you.’ And it really has. I got g so used to the way of life here he now that’s it’s going to be w weird when I get back to Los Angeles.” A Channellin Channelling her fish- outof-water experience experi into the role, the young sta star embraced the opportunity like no other othe in her career. “To have apartment keys k feels pretty cool and I’m actually ex experiencing all these Emily-isms, along with her,” “Basically, everything everythin that Emily goes through, that los lost-in-translation experience and finding find herself, I feel I’ve also done as L Lily. I’m enjoying walking around a city that used to feel so big but is feeling now very neighbour neighbourhood-y to me,” Collins smiles.

““I I can relat relate to the concept of this young girl moving here that turns in into this whole life experience where she grows physically, emotionally and spiritually as a person.”

Two makeup artists scurry over to ready her for the next scene in which our heroine, who has recently moved from Chicago, does her best to avoid looking awkward at a high- end launch party held by the marketing firm she works for.

On the surface, Emily’s lack of sophistication couldn’t be more at odds with the poised and elegant Collins.

Yet she insists she can empathise with her alter ego.

“Well, I know what it’s like to be an outsider. When I first moved to Los Angeles from England, I was about five years old and I spoke with an accent and I used different words. I just wanted to fit in and so I felt like a fish out of water.”

That nervy five-year- old remains inside her, despite the awards she’s amassed since her first gig playing Sandra Bullock’s daughter in The Blind Side.

“Every time you walk onto a new movie or TV set, you’re nervous. But it’s in those moments where you can learn so much about yourself and how you deal with that [outsider] feeling.”

“I think if we can all admit to feeling weird or out of place, we can unite in a sense. I try to thrive off those weird feelings because that’s when you can have the coolest experiences.”

Precociously talented during her teen years, the broadcast journalism graduate wrote a column for British Elle magazine; contributing to Seventeen, Teen Vogue, and the Los Angeles Times.

“I’m still a journalist at heart,” she says, “and I come from that perspective.”

Following up our chat in Paris, we re- connect over Zoom from her home in Los Angeles, nearly one year later.

“It’s so strange to think that I was shooting this a year ago, playing a character who gets lost in Paris and can wander around and explore a foreign city,” she says, wistfully.

“That’s such a foreign concept now.”

EMILY IN PARIS

streaming, netflix