This might just be the perfect way to illustrate the global reach and significant influence wielded by the titan of streaming services, Netflix. The entertainment monolith is actually the force behind a feud brewing in Europe, as France’s Emmanuel Macron has vowed to enter into a battle with Italy, and the mayor of Rome has weighed in on the geopolitical fracas as tensions mount.
Over the hit show “Emily In Paris”.
The popular program, starring Lily Collins, is centered in the fashion world where she plays the role of a young marketing executive at a Parisian design house and deals with glamor, romance, and cultural differences as a Chicago Yank residing and working in France. The show, already renewed for a fifth iteration, has just concluded its fourth season and it finished up with a dramatic twist ending.
The titular character was going to be embarking on her next career adventures in Rome. This plot reveal came as a surprise to audiences, but apparently it was also something of a shock to France’s President, Emmanuel Macron. The world leader with little else to concern himself with has come forward to declare he wants to fight to keep the production based in his city.
In what was already a curious move, Macron sat in with Variety and in his interview with the entertainment magazine he discussed all manner of popular culture. Deep in the discussion, after a slew of topics from classic French cinema to this past summer’s Olympic Games to Taylor Swift, the topic of Netflix came up. It began with discussing the failed efforts of developing a European streaming competitor, but then the topic of “Emily In Paris” came up.
Macron’s wife, Briggite appeared in one episode, and the French leader raved about her performance as well as how the program has been serving up a positive portrayal of his country for years, and then the magazine dropped the bomb about the production leaving.
VARIETY: "Emily In Paris" is moving to Rome for its fifth season. How do you get Emily back in Paris?
MACRON: We will fight hard. And we will ask them to remain in Paris! "Emily In Paris" in Rome Doesn't make sense.
Well now, Rome does have a significant place in the global couture culture, so there is some logic to this shift, should it take place. And then this brief exchange in the interview caught the ear of Roberto Gualtieri, the mayor of Rome. He responded on social media: Dear Emmanuel Macron, don’t worry: Emily is doing great in Rome. And one can’t control the heart: let’s let her choose. Then Gualtieri expounded on this with his own interview, this one with The Hollywood Reporter.
Doesn’t President Macron have more pressing matters to worry about? I would like to believe, at least I would like to hope, that Macron was joking, because he ought to know that a production company like Netflix does not take orders from heads of state or make decisions based on political pressure. You really cannot intimidate or interfere with Netflix production plans for the next season of Emily in Paris. It is just not done.
This is the state of our world anymore in 2024. As events both domestic and international unfurl in a bizarre, surreal fashion here we have presidential candidates sparring over pets being eaten and global leaders getting into a petulant snit over a streaming show about high fashion and starring a woman with caterpillar eyebrows.
As for the true fortunes of the program, there is cause for Macron and others to be calmed, at least for the time being. The show’s creator Darren Star appeared to be hedging possibly on this development. As he described it, Star said Emily will now “have a presence in Rome.” That seems a bit less than describing a wholesale move to another locale.
And, in the end, the show is titularly described as being “In Paris.” So maybe both men can bury their swords - or, in this case, their remotes - and possibly turn their attention to matters that, ultimately, actually matter.