Touring the ‘Emily in Paris’ Season 4 Set With Lily Collins

Architectural Digest

Today, AD joins Lily Collins to tour the ‘Emily in Paris’ season four set. From the stylish offices of Agence Grateau to Emily’s cozy apartment, go behind the scenes and see how the Netflix show captures the magic of Paris in its sets.  Director: Daniel Fliegauf Director of Photography: Pierre Fontbonne Editor: William Long Featuring: Lily Collins; Anne Seibel; Darren Star; Lucien Laviscount; Lucas Bravo Senior Producer: Alyssa Marino Director of Creative Development: Morgan Crossley Producer, On Set: Leandra Behrens Line Producer: Joseph Buscemi Associate Producer: Pichteeda Taing Production Manager: Melissa Heber Production Coordinator: Fernando Davilla Talent Booker: Ernesto Macias Talent Booker, On Set: Caroline Mauger Production Company: Ordinary Lights Sound Mixer: Laurine Oustric Production Assistant: Lorenzo Priotto Post Production Supervisor: Andrew Montague Post Production Coordinator: Holly Frew Supervising Editor: Christina Mankellow Assistant Editor: Billy Ward Colorist: Oliver Eid

Transcript

00:00Hi AD, Lily Collins here, and welcome to the set of Emily in Paris.

00:15So here we find ourselves in Agence Groteau, formerly known as Savoir, which is a very

00:23important and special set for me because it's where Emily really found her footing and groundedness

00:29in Paris.

00:30I mean, let's not lie, a lot of adventure happens in these rooms.

00:36I'm going out to lunch, a long lunch with wine.

00:39It's 11am.

00:40Well, c'est la vie!

00:43I was so amazed at how big this set was the first time I ever saw it.

00:47I didn't realize that each of us would get our own office and that it would be so spread

00:52out and it would look so livable.

00:54We joked that we would put mattresses in here and actually sleep here because the crown

00:58molding, the colors, it's so calm.

01:00The floor, everything about it felt as though they'd just taken a Parisian apartment and

01:05put it into an office workspace.

01:08So my mind was blown.

01:09They're chandeliers.

01:10I mean, they really went above and beyond on this set.

01:14In terms of the agency, you know, I really talked a lot about finding this Hausmanian

01:18building.

01:19You know, Hausman did all this fantastic architecture all through Paris and I love his buildings.

01:24When we found the exterior of the agency, which is Place Valois in Paris, my aim was

01:29to mix and match the exterior with the interior.

01:32So we survey all the windows and we adjust the whole set inside according to the space

01:38and the backing.

01:40What you see here is the real backing, Place Valois, inside a real place, never existed.

01:46Here we like to call it the bullpen.

01:49Luke sits over there, Julian sits over there, and if we make our way in this direction,

01:55we have my office.

01:58It looks pretty much the same from season one.

02:00There's usually a few little knick-knacks that change on the desk because obviously

02:04one would acquire more things.

02:07But for Emily Cooper, I like to think it's pretty darn clean most of the time.

02:11And what I find to be really cool, it's all in the details.

02:14We have Agence Grotteaux cards, we have papers with our names on it, we have envelopes.

02:21They literally make a deck for each brand that we're pitching, if they're real or fabricated,

02:27just in case one of us chooses to open it in a scene and use it as a prop.

02:32Like I said, attention to detail is so impressive on this.

02:36Season four, Alfie, for the first time he comes to the agency, which to me is one of

02:40my favorite sets on the show.

02:42I come into the scene at the agency to take on a new deal, and I'm not too impressed by

02:47the ideas that Emily's brought to the table.

02:50But obviously, she comes through and delivers.

02:54We have the conference room, which is sometimes the bane of our existence because we usually

02:58have so many cast members and there's so many angles that we're shooting, we're usually

03:02in there for a couple of hours.

03:05And it's where I had my first pitch meeting, where I was pitching myself as Emily Cooper

03:09coming to Savoir, which was a very monumental scene for me.

03:12I'm Emily Cooper, and I'm so excited to be here in Paris.

03:16These are technically awards that our company has won for best marketing, which I just realized

03:21are fabricated for our show.

03:23Apparently, Agence Groteau is doing a good job.

03:26And if you keep following me this way, we have a fully functioning kitchen over here,

03:32and the door to my boss's office, Sylvie.

03:36Now, she'd probably kill me for taking you in here, but I'm going to do it anyway, so

03:39come on in.

03:40Sylvie, just curious...

03:41It's customary to knock, wait for a reply, then enter.

03:47Busy.

03:51This office is where I have done many pitches to Sylvie.

03:54It's where she's yelled at me, told me I'm not doing a good job, told me I'm doing a

03:58better job, where I fought with my co-workers, but this is where she sits, and usually it's

04:03not my view, so I feel like today I'm, I don't know, I have the upper hand a little

04:07bit.

04:08But this office is also very calming to me.

04:10I love the colors, I love the aesthetic.

04:12I think it's really interesting what Anne has done with this office, when it went from

04:15Savoir to Agence Groteau, and how she changed it.

04:18I wanted different rooms to be really separate, to give a depth of field, and for Emily, she's

04:25like very girly, so the color is slightly pink, but you don't really see it.

04:30And from that, I went to Sylvie, which is a bit colder, because she's colder.

04:35The conference room was a challenge, the blue, it gives a very big contrast with the other

04:40open space.

04:41That's something I really like to do, is working on colors.

04:44Bon appétit, ladies.

04:45Bon appétit.

04:46I'd bon appétit him.

04:47That set was, at the beginning of the first season, a real set.

05:03We used a restaurant on the Place de l'Estrapade, and we used the inside as well.

05:08And then the next year, we decided to make it bigger inside.

05:12Anne Siebel made sure that we could have a fully functional kitchen, so we could have

05:16a Michelin star chef that actually created an entire menu just for the restaurant.

05:21The plates actually exist, but only in the story.

05:25So whenever we're done shooting, I just eat the plates.

05:30So we had red color matching the outside.

05:33And then when ex-grandmother Gigi came in the script, we decided to change a bit the

05:37look of it.

05:38So we changed the table clothes, we moved the chairs, we made the round table instead

05:42of just a banquette.

05:44And the colors changed slightly.

05:46Diane wanted something a bit more subtle, more earthy, more Normandy.

05:50So that's how it evolved.

05:52This place got pretty posh.

05:55And maybe now it will evolve again.

05:57We don't know what happened to Gabriel.

06:00We're about to start shooting again.

06:02And whenever I'm starting a scene inside the restaurant and I'm storming out the restaurant,

06:07we cut.

06:08And two weeks later, I shoot it in the actual Place de l'Estrapade.

06:11It's a bit weird in terms of continuity, but yeah, it's the magic, I guess.

06:22And finally, we are in my fabulous apartment, which appears a little larger on camera.

06:31It's a confined space.

06:32Emily's apartment, it was inspired by the Champs-Elysees, the mage rooms that were on

06:36the very top floors of Parisian buildings that still exist.

06:40They have great views.

06:42They have pitched ceilings.

06:43They're super romantic.

06:44Oh my God, I feel like Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge.

06:48The stairs from the first season to the second season, we had to build it because the people

06:54who rent the stairs in the real location decided to paint it and renovate it.

06:59So we had no more continuity with our show.

07:01So we decided to build it.

07:03So you have the stairs that we built on stage from scotch to be able to have it on the second

07:08season the same.

07:10As an example of Easter eggs, in Gabrielle's apartment, we decided to make like an homage

07:16to Darren Star, the showrunner.

07:18And there's a poster where Darren is a jazz musician.

07:22It's in the bedroom of Gabrielle.

07:24And I don't think anyone noticed that this name is big on the wall.

07:28After we'd been filming there a while, I sort of looked at it, I was like, wait a second,

07:31is that, there's my name on that, on that picture.

07:34Little things have changed here and there because they would, seeing as though Mindy

07:41and Emily have acquired more memories and adventures.

07:45And this is actually really fun.

07:46I noticed this when we came this year, that they had put our Polaroids up on this pole.

07:51We were just becoming close friends and it was so fun to just explore Paris together

07:56in a way that neither of us ever had.

07:58So I love these little memories.

07:59There's a few other ones scattered around, but these are perfect placement.

08:04Also behind me, the fashion wardrobe, which, you know, it's a little small.

08:09I like to think that downstairs, maybe we have like a storage facility or maybe some

08:13of the floorboards open up and there's like all of our stuff jammed in there.

08:17There's some of my running looks.

08:19There's outfits like this was at Versailles.

08:23This was in Provence.

08:24And so it's nice to see that we get to incorporate our actual outfits.

08:28Same with the shoes, of course.

08:30It's nice to have little props from each season so that it really feels like a home.

08:35Tiny bed.

08:36It is a tiny bed.

08:37It only took us until this season to realize that the couch actually pulls out into a bed

08:44because we've never really shot there as a bed before.

08:46We always just assumed that we both shared the bed.

08:49And I walked into set one day and Ashley and I were like, why is there a bed here?

08:54And they said, well, obviously one of you sleeps on the couch and our minds were pretty

08:57blown.

08:59Em?

09:00Hi!

09:01Hey!

09:02Hi, what's up?

09:03I think the experience shooting in Amy's apartment is always intimate.

09:06Even if the scene's not meant to be intimate, it's intimate.

09:08We've got all the crews in there and everyone's kind of running around.

09:12Until they say action, you're always going to be in someone's way.

09:15It's just kind of like make yourself as small as possible and then when it's time to go

09:18get in there, get the job done and try and get out unscathed.

09:22Honestly, I haven't really used this kitchen that much.

09:25I think Ashley's probably used it more than I have, but I have used it enough to tell

09:29you that it's a working kitchen.

09:30The faucet works, same as the bathroom.

09:33At the beginning of season three, when I was in the bathroom, freaking out to myself in

09:37the mirror and I cut my bangs, I feel like that was a real moment for Emily, a really

09:42nice way of making the bathroom memorable.

09:44And I'll never forget shooting that.

09:46We only had one bang piece.

09:48We had to cut it right the first time, but it was fun.

09:50Emily, no!

09:52All the locations are in Paris.

09:54Everything is here.

09:55I've always been amazed at the number of real locations we've been able to film at.

09:59We filmed this fashion show in Versailles, the Hall of Mirrors.

10:02We filmed at the top of the Eiffel Tower.

10:04We filmed at the Musée d'Art Decoratif.

10:07We filmed in the Musée d'Orsay.

10:09I think that's one thing Emily and Paris does really well.

10:11We have the key to the city and they make the most out of it and building these sets

10:15as well, it's expected.

10:17Some really fun adventures that we've had this season with different outdoor venues.

10:22And a fall-winter season means new wardrobe, new looks, new colors, lots of new hair and

10:27makeup.

10:28I think we hit our record for looks this season, so I'm very excited.

10:31To me, the show is about transporting the audience somewhere and I think this season

10:35we do this in a bigger way than we ever have before.

10:38It has been so nice having Emily and Paris on the set.

10:41It's been so much fun.

10:43It has been so nice having you guys visit our sets, but sadly I have to go back to work

10:47now.

10:48Hope to see you again soon.

10:49Merci!

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