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Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, the unexpected star of 'Emily in Paris': “#MeToo was cosmetic. Everyone put the 'hashtag' and then forgot”

2023-02-25T17:09:19.897Z


About to turn 60, the French actress has become a world celebrity thanks to her role in one of the favorite series of generation Z. She assures that she is not very similar to her character, a self-confident and irreverent Parisian , although the truth is that it is not so different either


Tourists who crowd Paris often confuse Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu (Paris, 59 years old) with Sylvie Grateau, the character the actress plays in the television series

Emily in Paris

.

Whether she is having lunch in a quiet bistro on the Rive Gauche or browsing the latest Schiaparelli couture collection on the other side of the Seine, there is always someone who approaches her with the fantasy of chatting and taking a selfie with the sexy boss. and irreverent Emily Cooper (Lily Collins).

“I greet and am attentive, of course.

Then they realize that I'm not like Sylvie and they tell me: 'You're much nicer,' admits Leroy-Beaulieu as he serves us in a small cafe near her house, in the Saint-Germain-des- pres.

“I can no longer go down the street in my pajamas to buy a baguette.

The French don't care, because they are

blasés

, indifferent.

But the tourists are very enthusiastic, ”she continues, lowering her gaze a bit so as not to be recognized by two young girls who have just entered the canteen.

Darren Star, creator of

Emily in Paris

and TV hits like

Feeling Live

,

Melrose Place

and

Sex and the City

, did not have Leroy-Beaulieu in mind when he began his search for someone to play Sylvie Grateau.

In fact, the American producer and the scriptwriters of the comedy were looking for a 35 or 40-year-old woman.

“But the casting

director

knew me well and she told me to give it a try.

I introduced myself and did not hear from them again for two months.

I thought: 'They must have found someone younger.

No problem'.

Finally they called me”, recalls the actress.

Recognize that all this is due to streaming

platforms

like Netflix, which are giving more opportunities to interpreters from all over the world and of all ages.

“It is true that when you are over 50 you receive fewer job offers.

But I don't want to complain too much about this matter.

I think actresses should stop complaining about being women and just act.

If you insist on saying that you are the victim of an injustice, then you may end up becoming that for the rest of your life.

The world is full of injustices and you have to fight for what you want.

I don't want to sound arrogant, but I feel that way,” she says.

"I'm not worried about getting old.

I have inherited my father's genes.

He is 92 years old and until not long ago he was skydiving ”, says Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu.

On this page, he is wearing a Cortana silk tulle dress and roulotte, and Saint Laurent x Anthony Vaccarello sandals and red ring.Javier Biosca

Leroy-Beaulieu is a cornerstone of the

Emily in Paris

phenomenon , a global hit since its premiere.

Almost 60 million households around the world watched the series during its first month on the screen, in 2020. The third season, released in December 2022, reached first place in the ranking

of the most watched on Netflix

in a few weeks.

But popularity is nothing new for the actress, a celebrity in France since film director Roger Vadim cast her in the 1983 film

Surprise Party

. Two years later, she starred in

Three Bachelors and a Baby Bottle.

, which earned her a Best New Actress nomination at the Cesars.

The film won the French Film Academy Award for Best Film in 1986 and was nominated for an Oscar in the Best International Feature Film category.

“It is very dangerous to achieve success when you are very young.

I was starting out in this profession and I was scared because as a child I had seen how my father had to deal with fame.

It was not always easy, ”he recalls in perfect Spanish.

Her mastery of our language comes from a youthful romance with an Argentine.

When he talks about his father, he refers to Philippe Leroy-Beaulieu, a renowned French actor who in the 1960s and 1970s worked under directors such as Jean-Luc Godard, Jacques Deray, Dario Argento and Luc Besson.

Philippine was born in 1963, the year her father became known thanks to his role in

55 Days in Peking

, the Hollywood classic starring Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner and David Niven.

The following year, Philippe Leroy-Beaulieu would shoot

Llanto por un bandit

, by Carlos Saura, and

A married woman.

, by Godard, and would become a star in Italy.

“I grew up in dolce vita Rome”, says the actress, who lived her childhood surrounded by paparazzi and celebrities, but also by intrusive glances and uncomfortable interruptions.

“When I was a child I couldn't go out to lunch with my father because people would come up all the time asking for autographs.

It was complicated for me”, she admits, as she adjusts the woolen cap that she has decided not to remove during the interview.

The recognition that she is experiencing now is different.

“I am already an age and I have lived a lot.

I'm not as innocent as when I was young.

Now I take everything more calmly ”.

Leroy-Beaulieu wears a Ferragamo top and pants and Christian Louboutin pumps.

Javier Biosca

Her dream of being an actress began when she was 12 years old and saw ballet dancer Carla Fracci playing the role of Odette in

Swan Lake

.

Shortly after, she became fascinated with Liza Minnelli in

Cabaret

and then it was clear to her.

She with 16 she began to study Dramatic Art in Paris.

Her father was glad for her.

Her mother, Françoise Laurent, a former model who worked as a stylist and consultant to designer Marc Bohan at the Christian Dior fashion house, tried to dissuade her.

“She lived with an actor and she knew how difficult that was.

She was right, ”she points out.

Throughout these 40 years of her career, she has had ups and downs and that is why she takes what she is experiencing calmly: "I know that tomorrow I can fall into oblivion again."

It doesn't look like that's going to happen anytime soon.

In the summer she will start shooting the fourth season of

Emily in Paris

and in recent months she has received many offers to work in the United States.

She has rejected them all.

She says that in Hollywood she is approached for roles that look like Sylvie, but are worse versions of the original Sylvie.

"This is what happens when you succeed with a character, they ask you to repeat it a hundred times," she laments.

“Also, I love Europe too much.

I am very European.

I grew up in Italy, I live in France, my daughter lives in England, I have friends in Portugal and Spain… Why would I move to the United States?

The cultural gap between France and the US is huge,” she points out.

Emily in Paris

it shows just that: the cultural differences that exist between the French and the Americans.

Lily Collins plays Emily, an inexperienced American who comes to the City of Light to work in a

marketing

agency .

Leroy-Beaulieu plays her Parisian boss: seasoned, empowered, chic and non-sexually biased (her character of her is married, though that doesn't stop her from having affairs with younger men).

Criticism of

Emily in Paris

confirms that the cultural gap the actress is talking about is real.

The American public opinion and audience have adored the series.

The French press and public have been more skeptical.

“The berets.

Croissants.

The baguettes.

Hostile waiters.

The irascible janitors.

Inveterate womanizers.

The lovers and the mistresses.

Name a cliché about France and the French and you will find it in

Emily in Paris

, ”the

20 Minutes newspaper published.

when the comedy came out.

"Sometimes we French can be snobbish and arrogant," says the actress, lowering her voice a bit so that the other customers in the cafe don't hear her.

“There are people who tell me that they have seen a whole season and that they have hated it, and I ask them: 'Then why have you seen all 10 episodes?

“Today we can get what we want without having to imitate men,” says Leroy-Beaulieu.

In the image, wearing an elastic taffeta dress by Philosophy di Lorenzo Serafini, elastic and taffeta gloves by AZ Factory, and jean ankle boots by Alexandre Vauthier Haute Couture.Javier Biosca

She doesn't seem to care about the opinion of the critics, but she does care about the opinion of the young (and not so young) women who watch

Emily .

Worldwide.

“My character tells them that they can feel confident without the arrogance of men.

For a long time, women tried to break the glass ceiling by acting like them.

Today we can get what we want without having to imitate them, without pretending to be macho, ”she explains.

However, he refuses to talk about women as victims of machismo or patriarchy.

“We are obsessed with the culture of victimhood.

We are obsessed with being offended and with a reductionist concept of identity.

If you are a woman, that has to be your identity.

If you're black, that has to be your identity.

If you're gay, that has to be your identity.

A single word should not define everything we are”, he continues.

Many French artists of her generation have been critical of #MeToo, the movement that began as a hashtag on social networks in 2017. It emerged among American actresses to denounce sexual assault and harassment in the entertainment industry, following the abuse allegations against film producer Harvey Weinstein.

A few months after it went viral, a hundred actresses, singers and intellectuals from France signed a manifesto in favor of the right of men to "molest" because, according to them, it is "essential for sexual freedom."

“Rape is a crime.

But insistent or unlucky flirting is not a crime, nor is gallantry a macho aggression”, affirmed stars such as Catherine Deneuve and Ingrid Caven.

Leroy-Beaulieu has mixed feelings about Hollywood activism.

“I think #MeToo was cosmetic.

I'm sorry to say it and I know people are going to hate me.

It was important to talk about it, but then excesses were committed.

Part of the movement, not all of it, began to hate men and decided that they are all rapists.

And that's ridiculous.

Where is it leading us?” he says, gesturing wildly with his hands.

“It did serve to raise awareness about a problem.

But there are people who think that since #MeToo happened, now everything is fine.

That's how bad things are.

The excess made them tell us that we should turn the page, that everything was fine.

Nope, there are still problems.

Everyone put the hashtag and then forgot.

This should not be a hashtag or makeup.

I hate Instagram activism."

“I think #MeToo was cosmetic.

I'm sorry to say it and I know people are going to hate me.

It was important to talk about it, but then excesses were committed.

Part of the movement, not all of it, began to hate men and decided that they are all rapists.

And that's ridiculous.

Where is it leading us?” he says, gesturing wildly with his hands.

“It did serve to raise awareness about a problem.

But there are people who think that since #MeToo happened, now everything is fine.

That's how bad things are.

The excess made them tell us that we should turn the page, that everything was fine.

Nope, there are still problems.

Everyone put the hashtag and then forgot.

This should not be a hashtag or makeup.

I hate Instagram activism."

“I think #MeToo was cosmetic.

I'm sorry to say it and I know people are going to hate me.

It was important to talk about it, but then excesses were committed.

Part of the movement, not all of it, began to hate men and decided that they are all rapists.

And that's ridiculous.

Where is it leading us?” he says, gesturing wildly with his hands.

“It did serve to raise awareness about a problem.

But there are people who think that since #MeToo happened, now everything is fine.

That's how bad things are.

The excess made them tell us that we should turn the page, that everything was fine.

Nope, there are still problems.

Everyone put the hashtag and then forgot.

This should not be a hashtag or makeup.

I hate Instagram activism."

but then excesses were committed.

Part of the movement, not all of it, began to hate men and decided that they are all rapists.

And that's ridiculous.

Where is it leading us?” he says, gesturing wildly with his hands.

“It did serve to raise awareness about a problem.

But there are people who think that since #MeToo happened, now everything is fine.

That's how bad things are.

The excess made them tell us that we should turn the page, that everything was fine.

Nope, there are still problems.

Everyone put the hashtag and then forgot.

This should not be a hashtag or makeup.

I hate Instagram activism."

but then excesses were committed.

Part of the movement, not all of it, began to hate men and decided that they are all rapists.

And that's ridiculous.

Where is it leading us?” he says, gesturing wildly with his hands.

“It did serve to raise awareness about a problem.

But there are people who think that since #MeToo happened, now everything is fine.

That's how bad things are.

The excess made them tell us that we should turn the page, that everything was fine.

Nope, there are still problems.

Everyone put the hashtag and then forgot.

This should not be a hashtag or makeup.

I hate Instagram activism."

“It did serve to raise awareness about a problem.

But there are people who think that since #MeToo happened, now everything is fine.

That's how bad things are.

The excess made them tell us that we should turn the page, that everything was fine.

Nope, there are still problems.

Everyone put the hashtag and then forgot.

This should not be a hashtag or makeup.

I hate Instagram activism."

“It did serve to raise awareness about a problem.

But there are people who think that since #MeToo happened, now everything is fine.

That's how bad things are.

The excess made them tell us that we should turn the page, that everything was fine.

Nope, there are still problems.

Everyone put the hashtag and then forgot.

This should not be a hashtag or makeup.

I hate Instagram activism."

"When you're successful with a character, they ask you to repeat it a hundred times," laments the actress.

In the image, she is wearing a top, skirt and elastic knit boots by Dolce & Gabbana, a bracelet by Dorsale, and a ring and earrings by Elie Top.Javier Biosca

For an instant, Philippine resembles Sylvie, the irreverent character who has made her famous.

In April, the actress will be 60 years old.

“But I'm not worried about getting old.

I have inherited my father's genes.

He is 92 years old and until not long ago he was skydiving, ”she says with a laugh.

She also seems to be ready to take big leaps.

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Source: elparis

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