'Emily In Paris' Star Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu Says Sylvie Was Meant For A Younger Actress

Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu is opening up about her role in "Emily in Paris."

In the hit Netflix series, Leroy-Beaulieu, 59, plays chic French boss Sylvie Grateau, who was initially deemed Emily Cooper's (Lily Collins) nemesis. However, there is no competition for Emily, who wishes to be under Sylvie's wing in Paris. Sylvie is known for her sophisticated fashion and Machiavellian management style.

Recalling how she landed the role, Leroy-Beaulieu admitted in a new interview with Variety that she initially thought she would not get it because it was meant for a younger actress.

"One day, Juliette Ménager, the casting director, called me and said, 'I have a role. You're too old for it because it's for an actress who is between 35 and 40, but do you want to read it anyway?'" she recalled. "I read it and told Juliette, 'I know Sylvie Grateau. I know her by heart!' My mother worked in the fashion industry [at Dior] so I got to meet many women like Sylvie. I thought it'd be stupid to not give it a try, even if the story was built around a younger character."

After the first casting call, Leroy-Beaulieu said she didn't hear back from the production for over a month, so she thought it had been offered to someone else. But she was thrilled when she was told that she'd landed it.

"When I got the callback, I almost fell off my chair. I didn't think I'd make it," she added.

Before joining the cast, the French actress shared that she "knew of" "Emily in Paris" creator Darren Star's work but admitted that she had only watched one season of "Sex and the City," which he also created.

But Leroy-Beaulieu gushed over Star's ability to "write female roles with such sharpness" and said that working with the writer has "taught me many things, including about myself."

Speaking about her character, the "Call My Agent!" star said Sylvie is "more vulnerable than mean."

Leroy-Beaulieu said her character has a lot in common with the series creator, noting that they both appear cold but are actually "highly sensitive" and are only "protecting" themselves. According to the actress, she has a lot of fun exploring Sylvie's complexities.

"She's not a saint either — she has dark sides and I have a blast playing them all the way," Leroy-Beaulieu told Variety.

The actress went on to say that she's "very pleasantly surprised" by Sylvie's character development on the show.

"As soon as I started reading this part I got a sense that she was very rigid and repressed in the way she behaved and moved, as if she was hiding something. And that's what we find out in Season 2: She came to Paris from the beach town of Saint-Tropez to get a career and had to toughen up to face the Parisian scene. By the start of Season 3, she's understood that she can work with Emily and has freed herself from her American bosses. I didn't expect my character to evolve so much," she told the magazine.

"Emily in Paris" was renewed for Seasons 3 and 4 in January 2021. The two seasons were filmed back-to-back in France earlier this year, Variety reported.

In addition to Collins and Leroy-Beaulieu, the series also stars Ashley Park (Mindy Chen), Camille Razat (Camille), Samuel Arnold (Julien), Bruno Gouery (Luc) and William Abadie (Antoine Lambert).

The first three seasons of "Emily in Paris" are now streaming on Netflix, but no release date has been announced for the fourth season as of this writing.