In addition to a very busy TV news since the start of the school year with "Grand Hôtel" and "Le Mensonge", Victor Meutelet plays Timothée, Camille's brother, in episode 8 of "Emily in Paris". He told us about this first experience in English.
Carole Bethuel / Netflix
Available on Netflix since October 2, the series Emily in Paris, worn by Lily Collins and created by Darren Star (Sex & the City, Beverly Hills, Younger), features many French actors in the main roles, including Philippine Leroy -Beaulieu, Samuel Arnold, Camille Razat, or the Lucas Bravo revelation. But some French actors also make a guest appearance for a sequence or an episode. Like Victor Meutelet, the star of Grand Hotel, recently broadcast on TF1, who lends his features to Timothée, Camille's brother, during several sequences of the eighth episode of the series. With the key to a most unexpected surprise for the heroine embodied by Lily Collins.
While it is in parallel with the credits of the series of France 2 Le Mensonge, Victor Meutelet returned for us on his participation in Emily in Paris - his first American experience -, on the challenge of a shooting in English, and on the fun twist related to his character. Without forgetting to give us his point of view on the controversy that has agitated social networks for a few days, since many Internet users criticize Emily in Paris for her fantasized vision of the capital and her clichés in spades about the French.
AlloCiné: How did you find yourself in this American adventure?Victor Meutelet : In the most classic way. My agent called me asking if I was interested in this adventure in English. Obviously I answered him "Yes, why not", and I received two scenes to work on. And it all happened very quickly. That was Monday, Tuesday I took the tests, and Wednesday I was told it was good. For a shoot that took place the following week. But it's pretty cool when everything goes without a hitch.
What did you like about this opportunity?It's a whole. I had never had the opportunity to shoot in English and I wanted to. Afterwards, of course, it adds additional pressure because I was apprehensive about the plateau. Even though I have a very good level of English. But I was like "If someone starts giving me directions or talking to me in technical cinema jargon in English, I'm going to be dumped." And finally, no, everything went well. And beyond the experience of filming in English, the opportunity to work with a big name like Darren Star, or to have Lily Collins for a partner, it was still not nothing. So obviously I wanted to be part of this adventure. I didn't want to miss it.
Screenshot / Netflix
The series of Darren Star, precisely, is it a universe that you knew well before playing in Emily in Paris?I knew his world and the actors who play in the series in question, of course, but I had never watched Younger or all the seasons of Sex & the City. I was not a big fan of Darren Star. But I knew what he was doing and I respected him enormously. Because they are after all series classics. It's not nothing.
You appear in just one episode, the eighth of the first season. How many days of filming did that represent?It really wasn't very long, especially since all my scenes took place in the same setting. I believe that in all I had 4 or 5 days spread over a single week.
Like all the French actors in the series, you do very well in English. Did you have a coach on the set?Thank you, I'm glad you thought that because it was really a first for me. A big leap into the unknown. But, no, I didn't have a coach. I only tried to work the texts as much as possible. Even more than usual, I admit. Because I was a bit on uncharted territory, in English. So I worked on the texts on the line, saying to myself "I still have to get away from it and I can improvise by sometimes adding a little word, so that it looks natural, as I often do. in French". But obviously I had less that freedom because it is not my mother tongue. But the advantage I had was that I played a Frenchman who speaks English. So at worst, if I made a grammatical mistake or reversed two words, it wasn't a big deal. It was also part of the character. And suddenly I was hanging on to that and I was like "Go on, try things, and if it's not good grammatically we don't care". But by working a lot up front, I was able to focus mainly on my game, and not on playing in English.
What we remember in particular from this episode is the twist around your character and his age, since Emily discovers, after sleeping with him, that he is only 17 years old. It is a "detail" which must have amused you when reading the scenario ...Yes, of course, it made me laugh. I found that it added an additional feature to this story. Because even if Emily is mainly in love with the character of Lucas Bravo during her stay in Paris, she also saw a few adventures in parallel, and I found that this one was very funny. It offered something different and unexpected to the show.
Screenshot / Netflix
You are obviously still very young, since you are 22 years old, but did it bother you to play a 17 year old teenager?I asked myself the question at the beginning. I wondered if I wasn't going to look too old, but eventually they wanted to play on it. Because if I had looked younger, Emily wouldn't have cared about me and it wasn't working. So it was necessary. But it's true that I'm not too used to playing teenagers anymore (laughs).
We do not yet know if there will be a season 2 of Emily in Paris, but in case of renewal would you like to come back for an episode, or even more?At the moment I don't know if there will be a season 2 and I don't know how the writers approach my character. Was he just a guest for an episode? Are they thinking of bringing him back? I do not know. But if someone called on me, it would be with great pleasure. I imagine that will also depend on the evolution of Camille's character. If she gains importance and we go back to her family, then yes that would be an opportunity for me to be there. I do not know what is planned, but I had a lot of fun so if I am offered to repeat the experience, obviously I will be there.
The series seems to be a big hit on Netflix since its release, but at the same time it is very criticized on social networks because of its fantasized vision of Paris and the clichés it conveys about Parisians and the French. What do you think of this controversy?There are still a lot of very funny hashtags on Twitter. People often have good jokes (laughs). And I understand what they mean. The real Parisian who takes the metro in the morning or finds himself in traffic jams at Porte d'Italie, he does not recognize himself in the series, that's for sure. This is not the aspect of Paris that is shown in the series. But it is totally assumed and wanted. Emily in Paris does not pretend to be a naturalistic series on Parisian life. And I think with the difficult times we're all going through at the moment, it's also pretty cool to let go of reality. It is a tacit agreement between the series and the viewer. From the start we know we are not in the real Paris of real life, but that's okay. I think we can still have fun in front of this series. And, the proof, it is criticized but it is still number 1 on Netflix. In France including.
Yes, and when you watch a series like Gossip Girl, you can't say that the realism is what jumps out at you. The vision of New York was there, too, very fantasized ...Exactly. And if that happens Gossip Girl was criticized by New Yorkers while the French, them, watched it without being noticed. And I'm sure the opposite is happening with Emily in Paris. These clichés should not embarrass or shock Americans much.
Screenshot / Netflix
Emily in Paris was originally intended for the American channel Paramount Network, and not for Netflix. Finally, thanks to Netflix, it reaches a fairly huge international audience. We imagine that for you it must have been a good surprise ...Yes, good for us. The basic experience that attracted me to this was touring with Darren Star and Lily Collins, and performing in English. Receiving the series, especially in France, was not a criterion for me at the start. But now that she's on Netflix I'm delighted, of course. It will allow a lot more people to watch it so it can only be positive.
Finally, you find yourself linked to Netflix a lot for some time, with The Charity Bazaar, then the MILF movie which was recently released on the international platform and was a hit. And now Emily in Paris. Do you have a lot of feedback on this? Do you feel a difference in your career since Le Bazar de la charité?Yes, I feel a difference. What's cool is that there are some projects that go directly to Netflix, like Emily in Paris and Plan Coeur. It's uploaded all over the world at the same time and obviously you get a lot of messages at that time, it's pretty impressive. And it's great because when I participate in a project I necessarily want it to be seen by as many people as possible. And then there are projects like The Charity Bazaar or MILF, which are coming to Netflix as a second step. And what's great is that it gives a second boost to the project. For Le Bazar de la charité, there was the broadcast on TF1 during which I obviously had a lot of feedback. Then it faded a bit and finally the thing comes back to life again thanks to Netflix. That's great. And this is even more the case with MILF because the film was dated two years ago. The theatrical release had gone well but it hadn't been the hit of the year either, so it's great that Netflix is allowing a movie like this to exist again and be discovered outside. of our borders too. It gives great visibility to projects.
Interview on October 7, 2020 by phone. The Emily in Paris trailer, available on Netflix:
