My seven minutes with Lily Collins

The Emily in Paris star on being bold, her process, performing, and always being Team Emily.

- Pratishtha Dobhal

"Every girl needs Paris." -Eve Chase, The Wildling Sisters

Four years since the world woke up to Emily in Paris after it premiered in 2020 to polarising reviews, to now, when it's been renewed for a fifth season, there's no holding back Emily, or her European adventures. From the get-go, her life was a carefully curated series of playful adventures of an American girl in Paris. However, it wasn't until last year when her maximalist fashion choices were starting to grow on me that I put aside a rather slow Sunday for the series, spending the rest of it until Monday, bingeing.

More than the storytelling, it was Lily Collins, a natural performer who started acting at the age of two, who kept me coming back for more. Having seen her in the critically acclaimed young adult film, To The Bone (2017), I was fascinated by her versatility and charming disposition that fuelled what has easily become everyone's favourite series internationally. Not rogue, dystopian, or hard-hitting (a genre everyone, including me, had developed a penchant for, for a while), Emily in Paris is light-hearted and doesn't take itself too seriously exactly what you need to unwind after a hectic time at work or play. PSA: Lily Collins appeared in two episodes of the very popular teen drama 90210 (2008) and has often been compared to Audrey Hepburn for her amazing grace-something that maybe cultivated over time but must be inherent for it to last.

As part of a global media mash-up while promoting her series, where I was given a 3:30am Zoom call slot and generously allotted seven minutes that I had to pro max to 20! (come on...I was going to be meeting Lily Collins...how could I not?). This, right here, is proof that prepping more than you've been asked to can work in your favour. Especially when you get the opportunity to sit down with a performer par excellence.