Speaking of Italy, let’s talk about the character of Marcello. You needed somebody who has rich chemistry with Emily. Why was Eugenio Franceschini right for the role?
We looked at a number of Italian actors, and I wanted to cast an Italian actor, not an American actor. And we found Eugenio, and he was just terrific. Lily read with him when he came to Paris. I felt like he was somebody who had a different flavor, different vibe than other men Emily had been with.
We also meet Genevieve, who is quite the character. Emily and Gabriel have no idea what she’s been up to, so what can we expect from her? What did you want out of that character?
I wanted to bring in a character who Emily would, in a way, be a mentor to. Emily 2.0, like a young Emily, but also give her this sort of interesting backstory that was connected to Sylvie and her husband. Sylvie has a past. Sylvie has a whole full life that we’re always kind of discovering. All we know about Sylvie is what we know about her from work, and so we’re finding out more and more about Sylvie’s life. And this is a part of Sylvie’s life and her very complicated relationship with her husband.
Is Genevieve redeemable? Could viewers end up loving this character, or are we going to constantly hate her for what she did?
I don’t know. What has she done, really? Aside from flirting with Gabriel who Emily isn’t with, she hasn’t been so bad.
Didn’t she tell Emily that Gabriel said in French that he never wanted to be with her again?
Yes, that’s true. She did say that.
I was like, okay, wait a minute. [Laughs]
Yes. Okay. Okay. Yeah.
