Quite the discussion! Following the release of Netflix’s Emily in Paris, which follows Lily Collins‘ Emily Parker from the U.S. to Paris for work, the actress raised quite a few eyebrows when she revealed how old she thought her character was.
“I don’t believe we’ve ever given her a specific ‘number’ for her age, but I believe that she’s pretty fresh out of college,” the 31-year-old actress recently told British Vogue. “Maybe this is her first year after graduation. I want to say she’s like, 22-ish. She’s had enough experience at her company in Chicago to have earned the respect of her boss. … She’s gone to school for this, and she’s completed internships.”
Fans immediately tweeted their confusion, pointing out that Emily had gone to grad school and questioning how she had such a glamorous job if she was just out of college. Collins quickly backtracked, posting to Instagram on Thursday, October 16, that she had made a mistake.
“Emily looking at me when I get her age wrong,” the England native captioned a GIF of her character giving her a dirty look. “Sorry girl … You might not be 22, but I gotta say – you do act like it sometimes!!!”
Lucas Bravo, who plays Emily’s love interest and neighbor in the series, also responded to the age mystery.
“I would say she’s probably 24,” the actor, 32, told E! in an interview published on Friday. “Something happens after 26 where women start exploring — in terms of personality. I feel like she’s still very strong-willed and she has certainties, but yeah, I would say [that she is] around 24.”
The series has received quite a bit of backlash, with fans claiming that its betrayal of Paris is full of clichés. However, Bravo feels that’s part of the point.
“I think they’re right, in a way,” the France native told Cosmopolitan magazine in an October 9 interview. “We’re portraying cliches and we’re portraying one single vision of Paris. Paris is one of the most diverse cities in the world. We have so many ways of thinking, so many different nationalities, so many different neighborhoods. A lifetime wouldn’t be enough to know everything that’s going on in Paris. It’s an entire world in a city. At some point, if you want to tell a story about Paris, you have to choose an angle. You have to choose a vision. French critics, they didn’t understand the fact that it’s just one vision. They’re like, ‘Oh, this is not what Paris is.’ Of course. Paris is many things.”
Emily in Paris is streaming on Netflix.
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