Great news for Emily in Paris fans!

VARIETY – “Emily in Paris,” Darren Star’s Emmy-nominated romantic comedy series, has been renewed by Netflix for a third and fourth season.

Season 2 was released on Dec. 22, debuting in the Global Netflix Top 10 and topping the list across 94 countries with 107.6 million hours viewed from Dec. 22 to Dec. 26. Season 1 also made the Global Top 10, re-emerging on the list across 53 countries.

“Emily in Paris” follows Emily (Lily Collins), an ambitious twenty-something marketing executive from Chicago, who unexpectedly lands a job in Paris when her company acquires a French luxury marketing company. She is tasked with revamping their social media strategy, and embarks on a new life in Paris filled with adventures and challenges, as she juggles winning over her work colleagues, making friends, and navigating new romances. Season 2 sees Emily travel from Paris to the French Riviera, including Saint-Tropez.

In season 2, now more entrenched in her life in Paris, Emily’s getting better at navigating the city but still struggling with the idiosyncrasies of French life. After stumbling into a love triangle with her neighbor and her first real French friend, Emily is determined to focus on her work — which is getting more complicated by the day. In French class, she meets a fellow expat who both infuriates and intrigues her.

The next season will shoot once again at the Studios of Paris on the outskirts of the French capital in the spring or summer. Some other locations are being explored, including London.

The escapist show bowed in October 2020 and was an immediate sensation, luring over 58 million households in its first 28 days on the streaming platform. “Emily in Paris” even landed on Nielsen’s list of the top 10 most-watched streaming shows for the week after its premiere, toppling “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Criminal Minds.” The show also earned two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Program.

Star, whose track record include hit series like “Sex and the City,” “Beverly Hills, 90210” and “Melrose Place,” is wrapping up the shoot of his new show “Uncoupled” – also for Netflix — later this month, and is then expected to dedicate himself to the writing of Season 3 of “Emily in Paris.”

The series is produced by MTV Entertainment Studios, Darren Star Productions and Jax Media. In addition to Star, it is executive produced by Tony Hernandez at JAX Media, Lilly Burns at JAX Media and Andrew Fleming. In addition to Star, additional executive producers include Tony Hernandez and Lilly Burns (Jax Media) and Andrew Fleming. Raphaël Benoliel, Stephen Brown, Collins, Shihan Fey and Jake Fuller are producers.

GLAMOUR UK – On- and off-screen BFFs Lily Collins and Ashley Park, AKA Emily and Mindy in Emily in Paris, talk to GLAMOUR’s Emily Maddick about the power, pleasure and pitfalls of friendship as they become our January cover stars.

Lily Collins and Ashley Park – co-stars on the wildly successful Emily In Paris – are unanimous: their friendship has taught them both to believe in themselves in ways that they never thought they could.

“Ashley’s a friend who makes you feel like being you is enough. She gives you what you need when you don’t even know it yourself,” Lily tells me, while Ashley reveals, “Lily has made sure that I understand my own value… she has believed in me in ways I didn’t believe I deserved.”

And these are not just the gushings of Hollywood actresses fawning over their peers, but legitimate testaments to a true and beautiful friendship fostered both on – and off-screen. As stars of the Netflix juggernaut that is Emily In Paris, Lily, 32, and Ashley, 30, have found themselves in a show that puts the trials and tribulations of female friendship front and centre of the action.

So, who better to front our January friendship issue?

We’re a long way from Paris when I meet Lily and Ashley on location for their GLAMOUR shoot, in a disused parking lot in sun-drenched downtown Los Angeles in November. And while this may be as far away from the Champs-Élysées chic environs we’re used to seeing the girls in, the fashion most certainly is not. LA super-stylist, Nicolas Bru, has called in haute couture from Giambattista Valli and eye-popping creations from Sonia Rykiel and Richard Quinn – all exquisite gowns that would make even Emily In Paris’s legendary costume designer, Patricia Field, swoon.

As the shoot progresses, Lily and Ashley’s chemistry is electric, their laughter infectious and they do not stop to draw breath; apart from, that is, when I catch up with them individually over lunch for their respective cover interviews…

When it comes to female friendship, Lily’s character Emily Cooper finds herself in a très sticky situation at the start of season two. (Spoilers incoming.)

Having learned that her dishy neighbour, chef Gabriel (Lucas Bravo) is leaving Paris – and therefore breaking the heart of his long-term girlfriend and Emily’s good friend and client, Camille (Camille Razat) – Emily finally succumbs to their chemistry and a ‘farewell’ night of passion. Only to discover the next day that Gabriel is staying in Paris after all. What transpires is Emily trying to make amends for her mistake while attempting to prioritise – and salvage – her friendship with Camille. It is brave to have the plot focus on a female protagonist who has betrayed her friend and I wonder what Lily’s own take is on this moral dilemma?

“Emily definitely has deep-rooted feelings and regrets about what happened because she does feel really badly about it,” says Lily. “And it wouldn’t cause her so much turmoil if she didn’t care. And so I think, whenever something affects me so deeply or troubles me, it’s because I care. And that’s a good thing, but it makes it way harder because when you’re conscious of something… and now you know you have to do something about it; what do I do?”

Lily agrees with me when I say that I found female friendship front and centre of season two.

“Emily ultimately really values her friendships. And [in] season two, she really leans into the female friendships, which is something that I really was excited about pursuing more of.”

Read more at the source

W MAG – For W’s second annual TV Portfolio, we asked 26 of the most sought-after names in television to pay homage to their favorite small-screen characters by stepping into their shoes.

“I’m playing the most American character I’ve ever played,” says Lily Collins, the star of Netflix’s hit comedy Emily in Paris. “I’ve never felt more American, but in my real life, I feel very British. And yet I felt so disconnected from my European side, having to be Emily.” Collins is speaking from Paris, where she has begun filming season 2 of the series—which is coming off of a recent Emmy nomination that left her and her costar Ashley Park in bits. “[We] were together on set in my apartment when she read her phone and said, ‘Were we? Are we? We were nominated for the Emmys!’ ” the actor recalls. “We didn’t know they were being announced, and then we just started screaming and had to yell, ‘Cut!’ ” Collins, who was born in Guildford, Surrey, in the English countryside, might star in a Paris-based show as an American girl, but her roots, she says, are firmly planted in the U.K. This is part of the reason she chose to honor The Great British Bake Off for W’s TV Portfolio, in which she embodies judge Prue Leith—also, because she herself loves to bake. “There are these specific chocolate chip cookies that I make, which I’ve been asked many times for the recipe,” she says of her signature dessert. “Eight years ago, I started Googling ideas, and at this point, it’s all just based on memory and sight.” We’d like to think she’d do well against Paul Hollywood’s judging eye.

When was the first time you saw The Great British Bake Off?

I saw the show’s first season. I feel so at home in the English countryside, having grown up there, and I love any show about baking and cooking. I love being surrounded by the British accent, especially if I’m not in England; there’s something very nostalgic about it. I just watch every season, even when they were changing hosts. I can’t stop watching. I binge it.

Can you bake?

I do love baking. I see it as very therapeutic. I like to think of it as a bit of a puzzle piece, as well, because I bake a lot of gluten-free, vegan things, which a lot of the time people think sounds not so fun or gross, but I get such a kick out of making something with vegan chocolate, or more ingredients, and seeing if it works. And when my little brother told me that my cookies were absolutely amazing and he loved them and ate five, I told him it wasn’t real chocolate, and his mind was blown.

How did Emily in Paris come to you? How did you first get the project?

I saw Darren Star from across the room at a charity event years ago. I was with my mom, and I’m like, Oh my god, that’s Darren Star. I really wanted to say hi, but I was nervous. I just didn’t say anything. Cut to almost a decade later, I got the script for the pilot, which was the first two episodes combined. I thought, This is what I’ve been waiting for, this is the role, because I shot two episodes of the reboot of 90210 years ago, which, obviously, is Darren Star. I was the drunk girl, Phoebe, at prom who really wanted to be prom queen and ended up barfing in a toilet. I remember thinking, Oh my god, I love Grosse Pointe. I love Sex and the City. I love 90210, all of the above. I love Darren Star shows. So they brought me in to meet with Darren. We had a great chat. Then a couple of weeks later, I auditioned. I threw together a wardrobe from my closet. I had one of my best friends come over, and we planned this look of what we thought Emily would [wear]: a J.Crew white shirt with a cashmere vest on top, a tartan skirt—which might’ve been an old Abercrombie skirt that I still had in my closet—and boots. I looked very collegiate and like I was trying too hard. I really felt it was Emily—definitely not the Emily we’ve created, but it was something. I arrived, and I auditioned for Darren. I felt good about it, but you just never know. I just wanted it so bad. On my 30th birthday, I was on set in Alabama, shooting in a bunker underground, and Darren called me and said, “Would you like to be my Emily?” I was very confused, because I just hadn’t heard anything [until then]. And I was like, “Me? Really?” It was a very Emily reaction, now that I think about it.

Do you get to keep any of Emily’s wardrobe?

I wish. I did get sent the white orchard dress that I get splattered with paint on last season. I got a clean one—the designer sent me one with a pair of shoes, so I get to keep that for memory’s sake. But I think a lot of my new favorite outfits are from this season. The wardrobe even went up more, which I didn’t even know was possible. From last season, I go back and forth. The opera house look felt like it was such an iconic moment for her. I can’t help but reference the Eiffel Tower silk shirt, because I just felt like that, with the Mona Lisa hat, was a real tongue-in-cheek Emily moment. She embraces “more is more.” She’s shamelessly herself. And I feel like she’s always in on the joke, and that just perfectly represented that to me.

Have you thought about your wedding dress for your upcoming nuptials to Charlie McDowell?

As a fashion lover and a person who’s obsessed with looking [for my own wedding dress], it’s a fun thing to start Pinteresting. I’ve always loved [a] fairy tale [look], but fairy tale in a very classic way. I like whimsy, but I also really love a classic look. So it’s trying to combine all of that, and it’s not something that you take lightly—you want to make sure it’s just right. I didn’t grow up with the ideal image in my head of what it had to be, so it’s really fun to think about that as an adult.

Lily is on the cover of Byrdie! You can check out some photos in the gallery, a video, and her interview below.

BYRDIE – On the surface, everything about my lunch date with Lily Collins appears normal. We’re dining in the outdoor restaurant of one of L.A.’s most storied hotels, frequented by Hollywood legends like Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor, and famous for its ivy-lined walls, currently filtering in L.A.’s seasonless sunshine. But there has been nothing “normal” about the year of 2020, as the entire world grapples with a deadly virus, and the words “pandemic” and “contagion” spell out our reality (instead of an apocalyptic film featuring Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow). This explains why Lily, dressed in a pewter Maje blazer and dark jeans, is palpably hesitant when the hostess leads us to our table in the center of the outdoor space, flocked in every direction by groups of chattering guests. Los Angeles has only recently eased its dining restrictions to allow for outdoor service, and thus, something as “normal” as an afternoon lunch interview carries with it the added weight of months of social distancing, optics, and the unease of safety protocol (are the tables really six feet apart, I wonder…).

“This is the first time I’ve eaten at a restaurant since quarantine started,” Lily whispers to me, eye wide as we sit down. She seems slightly shell-shocked, which is understandable since the beginning of quarantine was in March and we are now dining together at the tail-end of October. I flag down our hostess and request a quieter, more socially-distant table. Luckily, there happens to be one in another area of the restaurant, and as we sit down, Lily visibly relaxes with a sigh. “I’m sorry, it’s just that I haven’t been around this many people for so long,” she apologizes, swirling liquid Stevia into her hot black tea. “It was a lot.”

Now that we’re alone(ish), I begin to experience what can only be described as the Lightness of Lily. I can’t pinpoint what it is exactly—her openness, easy laugh, or maybe just her smile—but there’s an unmistakable aura of happiness emanating off of her, made more noticeable by the fact that it’s so rare to encounter this type of joyful lightness during such a difficult year. Seconds after sitting down, she immediately dives into stories about her road-tripping adventures with her fiancé, writer and director Charlie McDowell. “It’s the best way to create a sense of adventure,” she tells me earnestly. “You’re taking yourself from A to B. You’re part of nature. We go camping and we’re in the middle of the Redwoods or driving through cities that we never would have gone through before.” She credits these road trips and moments in nature for keeping her grounded as everything else in the world feels so uncertain: “You’re literally breathing in clean air. You’re not feeling at a loss of creativity and you’re doing things with your hands and getting outside and building fires, and feeling really at peace in a time when there’s just been so much darkness.”

Each time her fiancé comes up throughout our interview, Lily’s face lights up. The pair was recently engaged during one of her aforementioned road trips through Santa Fe and Sedona, and though it happened after only a year and a half of dating, Lily says she wasn’t surprised at all by how quickly it happened. “I’ve known he was ‘The One’ since the very beginning,” she says frankly. “All my friends joked with me at first. They’re like, ‘How can you know’ I’m like, ‘I know. I just know.’” When the proposal happened—which she describes as “a surreal moment that you just replay over and over in your head”—she said yes without hesitation. She beams as she tells me this, then stirs her tea: “Can I just say? Honestly, I’m so excited to be a wife.” I ask her to expand. “I don’t think of it in any way, shape, or form to do with whether or not I’m a feminist,” she clarifies. “To me, it’s more like, I can’t wait to be with this person, and now we get to plan something that we’ll have for the rest of our lives.” When she explains it like that, it’s hard to argue. The Lightness of Lily—it flickers stronger.

Read more at Byrdie.com

Lily graces the new cover of Backstage magazine. You can read her interview below!

BACKSTAGE – Lily Collins wants to tell a story. No, really—that’s why she’s Zooming from her Los Angeles home on a mid-October day, talking about why she became an actor. “I have always loved telling stories, since I was a kid,” she reflects. And as the child of Phil Collins and Jill Tavelman, it’s only natural that she got bit by the performance bug. “I knew that, as an adult, I wanted to take people on that journey with me. It’s a form of escapism. There’s such a magic to those worlds that we create onscreen.”

She’s been creating that magic for the last 11 years, from her feature film debut in “The Blind Side” to worlds horrific, thrilling, fantastical, comedic, dramatic, and beyond. She’s escaped typecasting, instead disappearing into stories near and far, past and present, each one different from the last. Her two most recent projects are both for Netflix, but they continue the trend of falling on opposite ends of the genre spectrum.

Just before the industry took a pandemic-induced pause in 2020, Collins was jumping between France and Hollywood—first to lead Darren Star’s “Emily in Paris,” on which she plays a millennial marketing executive who becomes a fish out of water after she’s transferred to the City of Lights for work, and then opposite Gary Oldman in David Fincher’s “Mank,” which charts the Oscar-winning screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz’s co-writing of “Citizen Kane.”

“I love every genre, in a sense. I don’t want to ever say I’ll never do one, because an incredible filmmaker may put a bizarre, interesting twist on a genre that you never thought you’d associate with, and all of a sudden you’re going, ‘I couldn’t imagine not being a part of this,’ ” Collins says. “I want to feel like there’s something I’m going to learn about [myself] through a character, and then there’s something that people will be able to learn about themselves.”

Collins’ bold beginnings in acting make it clear why she uses each role as a chance to learn. In fact, her whole career in acting has been self-taught. “I was part of plays and musicals when I was a kid, and I think I was 16 years old when I thought, OK, I actually do want to do this. Not just at school—I really want to pursue this professionally. I started auditioning for jobs to get more experience, but I was told no,” she remembers. “I mean, I was still so green. I was auditioning, and I didn’t really understand what ‘green’ meant. I would ask for feedback, and they would say things like, ‘You just need to keep doing it. Just train, in whatever way that means, practice, and do more research. You’re new, and that’s fine.’ ”

And while rejection is something most teenagers will go out of their way to avoid, a burgeoning modeling career and aspirations to become a broadcast journalist gave Collins some experience with the feeling. When she developed her acting convictions, she knew she’d be faced with more of the same. “I waited until I was at an age where I felt I was strong enough to continue to be told no. If I had felt that it would discourage me too much, I would have known to not pursue it, I think, but I really felt strongly about it.”
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Emily in Paris has been renewed for Season 2! Yay!

DEADLINE – Lily Collins is set for another Parisian adventure after Netflix renewed Darren Star’s Emily in Paris.

The romantic comedy originally was set up at Paramount Network but moved to the streamer over the summer and launched at the start of October, when it moved into Netflix’s Top 10 list, per Nielsen.

The renewal came in the form of a letter from Emily’s fictional boss, Sylvie Grateau (see below).

In Emily In Paris, Emily (Collins), an ambitious twentysomething marketing executive from Chicago, unexpectedly lands her dream job in Paris when her company acquires a French luxury marketing company — and she is tasked with revamping its social media strategy. Emily’s new life in Paris is filled with intoxicating adventures and surprising challenges as she juggles winning over her work colleagues, making friends and navigating new romances.

THR – Hope Dickson Leach is directing the family drama, with Protagonist Pictures to shop the pic in Cannes.

Jack O’Connell and Lily Collins are joining The Cradle from The Levelling director Hope Dickson Leach.

O’Connell and Collins will play a couple not ready to expect their first baby as they track down a childhood cradle, only to make a discovery that will change their family forever. Protagonist Pictures will launch the project to international buyers in Cannes.

UTA and CAA are handling North American rights. The Cradle is adapted from the 2009 novel by writer Patrick Somerville, who co-wrote the screenplay with Dickson Leach.

The producer credits are shared by Gail Mutrux and Tore Schmidt for Pretty Pictures. Production on The Cradle is set for summer 2018.

Dickson Leach is repped by UTA and Casarotto Ramsay & Associates. O’Connell is repped by CAA, Conway van Gelder Grant and Sloane Offer Weber & Dern. Collins is repped by CAA, LBI, Definition Entertainment and Sloane Offer Weber & Dern.

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER – BBC One and Masterpiece have set the cast for its forthcoming take on Les Miserables.

Set to star in the six-part drama from Andrew Davies are David Oyelowo (Selma) Dominic West (The Wire, The Affair) and Lily Collins (Okja, The Last Tycoon).

Set to begin production in February, West will take on the role of Jean Valjean, what he called “one of the greatest characters in world literature.” “His epic journey of redemption is one of the extraordinary roles an actor can take on and I can’t wait to get stuck in to bringing Andrew’s brilliant adaptation to the screen.”

Oyelowo will be taking on the part of Javert, joining Collins as Fantine. The cast also includes Adeel Akhtar (The Night Manager) and Olivia Colman (The Night Manager) as Monsieur and Madame Thénardier, Ellie Bamber (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies) as Cosette, Josh O’Connor (Ripper Street) as Marius and Erin Kellyman (Raised By Wolves) as Éponine.

Davies will go back to the original novel and delve deep into the layers of Hugo’s story, revelling in Jean Valjean and Javert’s cat-and-mouse relationship, against the epic backdrop of France at a time of civil unrest. Davies, Faith Penhale for Lookout Point, Bethan Jones for BBC Studios, Mona Qureshi for BBC One, Rebecca Eaton for Masterpiece, West and Oyelowo exec produce. Tom Shankland directs the series, which was was commissioned by Charlotte Moore, director of BBC Content. Production begins in February in Belgium and Northern France.

Collins is repped by CAA, LBI Entertainment and Sloane Offer; Oyelowo is with CAA, Inphenate, Hamilton Hodell and Schreck Rose; and West is with WME.

BBC recently dropped the Weinstein Co. as a producer on the series.

VARIETY – Lily Collins will star opposite Zac Efron as the former girlfriend of notorious serial killer Ted Bundy in the thriller “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile.”

Voltage is handling sales at the American Film Market, which opens Wednesday in Santa Monica, Calif.

The film is told from the point of view of Elizabeth Kloepfer during the multi-year period that Bundy hid his murder spree from his live-in lover, played by Collins.

Collins recently starred in “To the Bone” and “Okja,” and was also nominated for a Golden Globe for best actress (comedy) for her starring role in “Rules Don’t Apply.” She will star as Edith Bratt in Dome Karukoski’s “Tolkien.”

Efron came aboard the Voltage Pictures project at the Cannes Film Festival in May. Bundy was executed in 1989. Shortly before his execution, he confessed to 30 homicides committed in seven states between 1974 and 1978.

Joe Berlinger will direct “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile.” The original screenplay, written by Michael Werwie, won the Nicholl Fellowship first prize and was featured on the Black List.

“Lily has very quickly distinguished herself as a major talent in a number of diverse roles in recent years,” said Berlinger. “I am really excited about taking Zac and this hugely talented actress to some dark but very human places they may not yet have explored.”

Efron was most recently seen in “Baywatch” and will be appearing in the upcoming James Franco comedy “The Disaster Artist.”

Voltage Pictures and Cota Entertainment are producing, alongside Michael Simkin and Jason Barrett of Efron’s Ninjas Runnin Wild. Ara Keshishian, Nicolas Chartier, and Michael Costigan will be producing via Voltage and Cota. Voltage is fully financing with Jonathan Deckter as an executive producer. Production is set to begin on Jan. 10.

Amazon has sadly canceled The Last Tycoon. I am very disappointed with the news. I wish we got to see more of the characters and the film Celia and Monroe were working on together. I loved the series and Lily’s role in it, sad for it to only have one season.

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER – It’s the latest belt-tightening move from the streaming giant.
Amazon has canceled its F. Scott Fitzgerald period drama The Last Tycoon, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter.

The decision arrives days after the retail giant/streamer made an about face and canceled another Fitzgerald drama, the previously renewed Z: The Beginning of Everything, starring Christina Ricci as the author’s wife, Zelda Fitzgerald.

Amazon had spent roughly $7 million during pre-production on the scrapped season of Z. The cancellations come as what sources say is larger belt-tightening going on at Amazon as the outlet looks for a large-scale hit.

The streamer is now beginning to rack up a series of one-and-done shows, with The Last Tycoon joining Z as well as its 1970s Newsweek period drama Good Girls Revolt joining drama Mad Dogs.

The pricey Tycoon was picked up to series last year and began streaming on Amazon on July 28. While Amazon, along with Netflix and Hulu, doesn’t release viewership information, the drama debuted to mixed reviews from critics (its score sits at 53 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and 57 percent on Metacritic).

The series starred Matt Bomer, Kelsey Grammer and Lily Collins, and its nine episodes centered on machinations of the Hollywood studio system in the 1930s.

The show is based on the unfinished novel of the same name by Great Gatsby and This Side of Paradise author, F. Scott Fitzgerald who centered the book on the character Monroe Starr, modeled after the producer Irving Thalberg.