This week, Tommy is joined by actor Lucas Bravo who is currently melting hearts once again in Part 1 of Season 4 of the smash Netflix series, Emily in Paris. Lucas plays Gabriel, a dreamy chef turned restaurateur who has a complicated on-again off-again romance with his downstairs American transplant neighbor, Emily Cooper (Lily Collins). The show consistently sits at #1 on the Netflix charts and for good reason. Today, Lucas opens up about what makes Season 4 the most special to him, why he’s never felt closer to Lily Collins after filming this season, why he will forever be grateful to her, how the chemistry has grown from season one to now, if he thinks Emily and Gabriel are meant to be endgame, why he has always rooted for their relationship to thrive, learning to become comfortable with the sudden visibility the show’s success brought him, how his passion for acting also became his therapy, managing the imposter syndrome that still creeps in from time to time, and the one thing that always helps him refuel his soul.
Hey, guys, welcome to I've never said this before with me Tommy de Dario Today's guest.
Oh.
He stars in a show that brings the world so much joy. Lucas Bravo is currently melting hearts once again in part one of season four of the smash hit Netflix series Emily in Paris. Lucas plays Gabrielle, a dreamy chef turned restaurant tour who has a complicated, on again, off again romance with his downstairs American transplant neighbor Emily Cooper.
Did you get all that?
The show consistently sits at number one on the Netflix charts, and for good reason. It's been set in Paris, one of the most romantic cities in the world. The fashion it always delivers, the love triangles, provide all the fun drama we look for in romantic dramedies, and the entire series it just makes you feel like your dreams can be attained. Emily in Paris just feels like lighthearted escapism in a world where we.
So badly need it.
Part two of season four drop September twelfth, and today, Lucas and I dive into the world of Emily and Paris through his perspective, but we also really get to learn more about the man behind such a fan favorite character. So let's see if today we can get Lucas to say something that he has never said before.
Hey, Lucas, how you doing today?
Great? How are you doing?
I am doing awesome. You've had a long day. Did I hear you were just playing with puppies?
Yes, yes, it was. It was my first time trying this. Wait was it BuzzFeed? It was busfeed? Yes, and they're they're up for adoption. It's a very, very cute moment, but it also feels weird to like force little puppies to be on set with people in lights, and I have mixed feelings about this exercise.
Yeah, well, I'm sure they appreciated their time with you. Now we are here today to celebrate you and the brand new season, season four of Emily in Paris, which I feel like the world has eagerly been awaiting. People have been counting down for this moment and the show is finally here. So I guess to start what makes this season so special for you?
I feel like this season I had more on my plate and very interesting scenes to play and great writing to juggle with So it's the most fun I had so far on Emily in Paris. And you know, throughout season two and three it was a lot of trying to get back with Emily and trying to juggling with a lot of issues without finding any solutions. And I feel like in season four there's a lot of addressing issues and a lot of finally moving forward, and also a lot of a bit more love in a position to the solitude Gabrielle was going to in the first two seasons. In the previous two seasons.
MM, yeah, we can't wait for that.
And I know that this season in particular, there's some tense moments. A lot of people taught on the trailer, that big yelling scene between you and Emily. Was it fun for you to play different variations of your character for season four?
Yeah, of course, because you know, you shoot a season and you go out into the world and gather experience and become not someone else, but you're in constant evolution. Were complex human beings, as you know, and then you come back to a show that has just at one day in between, so you have to step back into those shoes and it's hard. When you were changing you want to infuse those changes into your character, but you can't really because you don't learn that fast. It's only been a day in the million Pairis world. It was fun to to finally have more room because the more the more variations you get, the more you can infuse your your u nuances and your experience into so so it was fun and we loved it with Lily and I just really enjoyed yelling at each other and at the end of the scenes we would we would ask Darren for more fighting scenes throughout the season, and it kind of gave that to us and and somehow, you know, it's like in real relationships that in life. It really gave us something that fed into the Emily and Gabrielle bubble and it allowed us to go further into the chemistry. And it was one other reason why this season was so much fun for me. And and also I feel like it's more mature, there's something more Parisian so to speak. You know, they're just it's not about Emily just discovering Paris. Now she's almost French. She she knows how things evolved, what the dynamics are, what the patterns are, and how to to navigate French culture. So it's it's more, it's more real.
You know, they're talking to you for what five minutes Now, I already can tell you're a very introspective person. And from playing this character from season one to play him to today, you know, through season four, what have you learned about yourself? Like, what's a great life lessoner, something that you've discovered or found out about Lucas and not just about your character.
Wow, well, you know, as as as you know, I went through such a drastic change I went. I went from wondering if I would ever, you know, leave from my passion and to just I think this platform, you know, spreading a show we're in throughout the world. And I went from wondering what tomorrow is going to be to this international visibility. So the change is it's a it's it's been a huge change. You know. I had to I had to accept how I was perceived and find a new, so to speak, goal to chase, because I was chasing for the last fifteen years just being on something and and and having a bit of recognition and and once you start tackling that and stepping into that, you you need a new kind of you always need something that you feel like you want achieve and it's it's but that keeps you dreaming big. And so there's been a lot of changes. But how much time do you have?
Hey we have half an hour, so feel we're doing whatever you want.
To speak on. Yeah, I also had to you know, when when you're in a show and you know you're going to get get back to it and you have many seasons you you you have to accept for your what your character means to the viewers and how they respond to it and how they connect with it. And my first instinct was, wait, I'm more than that. I don't want to be defined just by that. Although I was grateful for the process and the character and when Emily brought me, but I wanted I kind of wanted to drift away from that image and to take on roles are a bit darker and dirtier, so to speak. And after that, I accepted what you represented. I accepted what he brought into my life and how people respond to him, and I stopped trying to move away from it. And ironically it's when I started like shooting movies where I couldn't be any further from that character. So it kind of taught me that, you know, life doesn't give you what you want if you're not ready to receive it, which is some kind of protection, or if you're not able to you don't have the tools to actually understand it the way it's supposed to be.
Yeah, that's all right on man.
I mean it's funny that we all have goals and if we're lucky enough to reach them, we wonder what next, and we don't want one thing to define us. And it's kind of this weird dichotomy where we're so grateful for those things and the opportunities and where we are today, but we're also like, okay, but there's more to me, So what is that more? And what else can I do? So I totally feel you on that. It's a funny thing, right.
Yeah, because I'm starting to understand that maybe there's no end to that process, Like if I reach my next goal, I'm still going to look for another goal. And it brings you back to just you know, enjoy the ride. You're enough and it's not meant to be if it's not fun and everything is exactly the way it's supposed to be, and it's a lot of acceptance. It's a lot of acceptance, and it's interesting. It's an interesting introspective because I never thought my job and passion would also be my therapy. But it is what it is, you know, and when you can mix all of that, it's interesting. But it shouldn't be that, you know, people tell me your job should be one thing, and you should have different hobbies and passions and and have like escapes, and but it's all one big you know, it's on one big bubble that I that I juggle with. I don't I don't know what I'm doing. You know that there's no blueprint to to to to to a human being. But I believe I'm using the tools I was given and the education with the education as given, and I just go through life reading symbols as well as I can with my with my abilities.
And it's funny when people try to tell other people how to live their lives and then you should do this, or you shouldn't do this, or work shouldn't be your sole focused and yes, yes, I hear you, but to each their own, so we all navigate our own life the way that we navigate it. So I always I find that funny you know people need no harm, but it's like, hey, who are we to tell each other how to live your own life?
Absolutely, because we all we don't came from the song that, we don't come from the same you know, education, educational background, we don't, We don't have the same needs, we don't have the same preferences. It's every every human being is so complex and unique. Then yeah, it's always hard. It's always hard to give advices to like a crowd of like, I don't like that. And also, we're all students, you know, of of of this world until you, until you until the end, you'll be studying, you'll be learning things. And socratesm on his death beds said that all I know is that I know nothing. The more the more you you know, the more you understand that you know, you know nothing about all this. And so it comes back to accepting and enjoying the ride.
Yeah, yeah, for sure, And I agree. I mean, I like to think I know some things, but maybe I do know nothing. But what I do know for sure is you bring so much joy to people in this role. And I know that it's a character and it's pure escapism for so many people. And when it came out during the pandemic. It was just like joy that people needed. And you and the cat and of course Lily are so great together. And I believe you've mentioned recently that you've never felt closer to Lily after filming this this last season of the show.
Also talk to me about that.
Well. In season one, everything happened so fast that I came from you know, trying to put together a few reals, to to have a demo to send to agents and and and try to maybe find find auditions to this. And so when I arrived on said I was I was familiar with Darren's work, a big fan of Sex in the City, familiar with Lily's work, a big fan of the movie to the Bone, and just so many things were you know, topic into that imposter syndrome that I was never allowed myself to truly be myself. I was just I was just trying to be as serious and polite and professional as human can be. And so within that process, I was never It's hard to know someone where all you have in front of you is just like the pure perfect, you know, professional products. So in season one, I was just trying not to if I may fuck things up in season two and three, I was going through my own changes and my own accepting and so I was a lot in my head, I feel like, and in season four, I write with the will to give back to all the people I met along the way that went out of their way to salute me, to send me love, to be kind, to tell me how much they connected with my character. And I was like, I those people deserve, you know, to be treated with my best work and my best abilities and my full focus. Lily, being the professional that she is, she guides us through the set with her. She's so professional. There's never a line that goes out of the script, there's never a she's never laid, she's never complaining, she's so being that I feel like I opened up the door for her to connect more with me, and so, I mean, we're already friends, but we connected on a deeper level within our professional skills. And I allowed myself as well, knowing her more, to dive deeper into our Emily and Gabrielle bubble. And you know, in season one, I couldn't really touch her. I didn't want to undo her hair. I didn't want to her go to squeeze her, and it was weird. I had so much respect and admiration for her that it was hard for me to be the lover and to kiss her and to everything. So in season four, I reconnected with the fact that this is my job. And also I was closer to Lily, So Gabrielle came more you know, present, and touchy and and and human because it's been four years that we've been playing this this this this romantic couple. So it definitely brought us to closer. And and I'm so grateful for Lilly. She She's always been so supportive and she gave me so much space to go through everything I've been through since season one. She she understood from the get good that I was a bit sensitive or vulnerabolso to speak, and and she let me do my things and I was. I was. I was happy to to be on the perfect perfectly aligned in season four. And I think I think you could feel it when you watch season four. There's there's something, there's some type of chemistry that that that you cannot fake.
You know, the chemistry is unbelievable, and and you don't you don't always get that. I mean, look, it's I watched a lot of entertainment, movies, a lot of television, and the chemistry is always what is aimed for in order to strive for. But you know, some couples on screens just to have more of that intense bond than others. And the two of you, I mean, it felt like you at that chemistry from day one? Was it pretty easy to just pick up on that and fall into your groove together? How does one do that? You like, sit down at Starbucks and have coffee and say, like, let's get to know each other, Like what do you do?
Honestly, it's all Lily. As I said when I arrived in season one, I was, I was a little puppy trying to find my ground, and and Lily was so inviting and generous, and she always went on of a way to make me comfortable, to put me into the light to and within that process she would shine on our own. But it was always selfless about about helping me finding my groove, and so I was mostly projecting my insecurities based on her. Then she was hard to access. So it's mostly or Season one is mostly Lily. She's every reaction she had, everything I just fed into. I just connected to and I just tuned my instrument to her, to her music, and and she was the first note to that the melody we've been building for four years.
That's beautifully said.
And I love on when you can kind of credit your your work partner, your scene partner, with bringing out the best in you. I think that shows there's a level of trust, and that's so important in any profession that people work, and so really.
Cool to hear that.
Now, the million dollar question for you, my man, do you think Gabrielle and Emily are endgame? Are they meant to be together?
If I listen to my instinct, I'm going to answer this as Gabrielle, because honestly, when I'm in character, I feel so much love for Emily. I feel so much passion and I want to the world and I want to be here for her. I want to protect her, I want to surprise her. I want to be the best version of myself. So so as Gabrielle, I he will never he will never stop hoping, he will never give up on her, and I think she's his person, so in his mind, I feel I definitely think their endgame, even though entering that puts me in a position where I'm outside of the narrative. I definitely think they should. I'm rooting. I'm rooting for them. You know, there there's so much tricks for and they've had so little space to do it.
How you just spoke about your partner in character, like I'm over here taking notes on how I need to speak to my partner. That was beautiful. Everybody listening take notes. That's awesome. I'm very well said. I know the second half of the season drops a little bit later in September, and without I guess revealing too much, do you think we'll get close or towards finding out if there kind of will they want their relationship turns into something? Will there be an answer either way?
Well, you know, I'm going to give you a very logistical answer now that we tackle the romantic side. I'm going to say it's it's always it's always harder to write about a couple that is doing well, especially in those shows that are like chaotic and dramatic and keeps us on edge. So it's not for me to say, but I believe that if we want to go further into that, into that Emily impairs journey, Darren will always do everything he can to divert us from the truth and from having any certainties and any answers about the final result. So at best we will feel like nothing good will happen from this relationship. And at words, I don't know. I don't want to give any answers. But if they end up together, Darren will always make you think otherwise until they do. Mm hmm.
And that's that's good writing, a good storytelling. So I feel you on that. That's that's a very well said answer to not give anything away. I appreciate that. Have you heard anything about a season five yet?
No? No, no, I believe we're waiting to be green lit and we need to see how the season four does and and uh and we'll see my published My publicist is laughing on the side when I said, how the season four does?
You know what I'm like too.
It's almost arrogant, you know, we're trying to be humble here.
It's not like the shows doesn't hit number one every time a new season drops. It's not like it takes over social media. But sure, we'll we'll play that game and say we'll see if a new season comes.
But I said, I said more in the along the lines of if it, if it people connects with it, as as as on the same levels at the previous season, because obviously people watch Netflix and people new thing. But if I think, I think Netflix wants to see if people are still you know, if it's a gutty attachment to to to know the truth and to know what's going what's going to happen after.
Yeah, fair enough, fair enough, But I have no doubt that we'll be getting more and I hope we do. There's more storytelling to to share. I'm sure, Lucas you mentioned earlier something and I picked up on it and I wanted to circle back to it. Or you said that you've dealt with impostor syndrome, And I think that's so interesting because people look at someone like you and you're on the successful show, you have an amazing career, you seemingly have a life, very well put together. But here you are saying that you've dealt with imposter syndrome. So is that something you still deal with and how do you kind of work your way through that? Because it's so relatable.
Yeah, I mean, I mean you said it. It is relatable. We all go through the same stuff, you know. I mean, it's it's it's funny to me that we can still wonder or ask these kind of questions, not because you asked it, but that we can still find this weird when we had the Robin Williams example. You know, I think most of the happiest people, or actually people are make you happy and make you feel good, do so because they want you to never feel the way they do. So, you know, there's a lot of personas and masks, and confidence is also an act, you know, and it's who plays it better. As I said, we're complex human beings who are vulnerable and at the end of the day, everything we do we do to be loved and accepted and validated. That's it. So, and we've been given tools and we try our best. So I'm trying as I'm trying my best. But nothing you see is what I am, and nothing I am is what you see. I don't know. It's everything is way more complex than that. So I can go through many emotions even though on paper I'm doing great, and it can be the opposite. But it's it's just life. It goes, comes and goes, and and it's it's what's so beautiful about it. It's never set in stone.
I couldn't agree more.
And I think it's really powerful when someone like you, at your level of success share something like that, because, especially as a man, I think more men need to be more open and vulnerable and in touch with their emotions, because we all go through real shit and it's like, let's just talk about it, and I pretend that everything's perfect all the damn time.
You know, But I appreciate that you you you you meet me on that level because it is important to show people that there are nuances and intricacies to to fame or success or it's not all black and white, and it's important to show that you know, everything is complex, everything is in motion and and and you know, my my acting teacher, I remember one of the first lessons we got was if one day you come to school and you feel angry, or you feel like disregarding, or you don't want to interact with people, bring it. Bring it with you and live it to the fullest and let it pass through you and move away so you can experience another emotion, but never repress it, never swallow it. Never you know, you never have layers of and dealt with emotions that you keep inside and and and then don't allow your instinct to capture what's what's around you. So so I'm trying to be as real as possible, and sometimes you know, it's I think it's important to be real. We need we need we need truth, we need a bit of of reality.
I call the name of the show.
I've never said this before because at the end of every interview I like to ask my guests, what is one thing that you've never shared before? I know you've done a million interviews up to this point, and you've been not so open and vulnerable today already. But I'm wondering, is there anything that you can think of that comes to mind that maybe you haven't had the chance to share that you want to share today.
Oh, it's never shared. I thought it was never said, Well it is.
I've never said this before. I kind of intertwined the words, yes, what is something? Look at you calling me out on the title of my own show, am are you coming from my job? And yes, you're absolutely right? What is on my sid said? And I was like, how do I know what I've never said before? And and and and who cares?
By the way, And I was I was joking about this, but share, share, share, I think I can find something. What is something I've never shared before? It's I like to think about those things, But I'm going to try to find something on the spot. I've never shared the fact that being an introvert, I like to recharge alone, secluded or in nature. And and I found out I found out a few years back that the one thing that instantly recharges me and and brings me back and then connects me back to Earth and everything is just laying under a tree and staring at the leaves and listening to like the wind, you know, playing the leaves and the like thousands of little shh going together and with like if you'l lucky, a little ray of sun like kind of dancing and between the leaves. Is can I feel like, in five to ten minutes, bring me bring me back to one hundred percent? And this is this is my happy place. I don't think I've shared that with anyone.
Well, I love that so much because I'm a huge advocate for getting out in nature and putting the down devices as much as we can. And I love that you're promoting that and that really brings you that kind of grounding sense of peace.
So somewhere that's sorry.
I read somewhere that after having found out about this, that this little saying that trees wind is the what is it? Wind? Is an instrument that only that that only trees know how to play, and and it resonated with that feeling, and it's it's true, it's it's kind of that experience. It's it is music.
Well, now you're leaving me feeling all zen. As we wrap the past conversation, I'm going to go find a tree in New York City and lay under.
It in Central Park or something.
Lucas, thank you so much for hanging out and joining I've never said this before. It's been such a pleasure talking to you and and picking your brain and hearing how you kind of walk through life as the human and not just your character.
And it's it's really been a pleasure.
Man.
Congratulations on season four.
Thank you likewise, thank you for your questions, and thank you for for dancing with me.
I've never said this before. It is hosted by Me Tommy, You did It. This podcast is executive produced by Andrew Publisi at iHeartRadio and by Me Tommy, with editing by Joshua Colaudney I've never said this before is part of the Elvis Duran podcast Network on iHeart Podcasts for more, rate, review and subscribe to our show and if you liked this episode, tell your friends. Until next time, I'm Tommy Diderio.