‘Emily in Paris’ Star Bruno Gouery on Playing ‘Crazy Guy’ Luc
When people recognize Bruno Gouery on the street he usually gets one of two reactions. Some fans are delighted to see the eccentric Frenchman Luc from Emily in Paris. Others are moved to (genially) scold him as one of those gay men who murdered Jennifer Coolidge on The White Lotus.
“When they know me as Luc, people come up to me with a lot of joy and with a smile,” Gouery says, speaking over Zoom from Paris. “But when it’s from White Lotus they say, ‘You killed Jennifer!’ But either way, it’s fantastic.”
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Since being cast on Emily in Paris, which premiered on Netflix in 2020, Gouery, 49, has transitioned from a niche actor in his native France to a crossover star, working in Italian and English as well as his native French. He won a SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series for The White Lotus Season Two, on which he played Didier in five episodes. But it’s been his performance as Luc, a sweetly blunt colleague of Emily Cooper (Lily Collins), that has won hearts. In Season Four – Part One, which debuted on Aug. 15, viewers get an even deeper understanding of Luc, someone who is always ready with an off-kilter quip.
“I liked from the beginning the possibility to do a character very similar to a child,” Gouery says. “The things that come in his head go in his mouth right after and there is no filter — like a child. It’s a fantastic thing for a comedian, with a real comic specificity. Luc is very funny. It’s interesting to me to make all those things that seem so strange [about him] seem true.”
Here Gouery talks about being part of the Emily in Paris cultural zeitgeist, how French people really feel about Americans, and why he decided to work with Johnny Depp.
Thinking back on Season One, what made you want to be part of Emily in Paris?
When I knew that Darren Star would be the showrunner I immediately knew that it could be a big success. He’s always doing a masterpiece. So I decided to try this wonderful opportunity because it was the first time I was playing in English and it was an opportunity to connect with people all around the world. It was an amazing proposition for me. I obviously had to say yes. And it’s an honor and privilege to be part of that.
What were you excited to explore with Luc for Season Four?
In the previous season, we discovered that he lives on a boat, but now we get to know his personal life better. And his life with [his girlfriend] Marianne. For me, it was a great opportunity to be able to share with the audience the passions and private life of Luc.
Of course Luc lives on a boat.
Yes, of course. Darren had to find something special for Luc and he found it very well. In France we call [this kind of houseboat a] péniche and it’s so particular. There are people who are living on the Seine. Not very many people, but a few people. There is a very famous comedian in France named Pierre Richard. A very strange man and a bit like Luc. And he lives on the péniche. I don’t know if Darren knows that, but in France we know that Pierre Richard lives on that kind of boat and it’s fantastic for Luc. It’s perfect. It was a real boat in the Bastille neighborhood.
Luc gets a lot more responsibility at work, but he seems to struggle with it. Why is he so unprepared to do his job?
I think Luc is a character who is ill-prepared with the work and with the responsibilities. So, for me, it was important to know in my mind why Luc is at this agency. Why is he still working for Sylvie? She’s a great boss. She’s a very responsible woman. Why did she call and ask Luc to work for her? In my mind it’s because Luc is a crazy guy. And sometimes with a crazy man [you] get genius. Sometimes, but not often. But there can be one time where he has a fantastic idea, a crazy idea, kind of like Dali. He speaks a lot and says so many things that are very strange and very weird, but sometimes genius. I think that’s the reason Luc is still there.
Does he respect Emily as a colleague at this point?
Oh yes, definitely. At the beginning, Luc was like a French colleague, but not so rude as many French [people]. Because he is very sensitive and he is an old-fashioned guy with so many skills on the culture of Paris, he wanted to share with Emily all those things. After Seasons Two and Three, I feel like he’s more like a brother. It’s not a colleague, it’s not a friend, it’s not obviously a boyfriend, but it’s something like a brother. He wants to to help her. He feels close with foreigners and people from outside [and] wants to bring the French culture to them. He wants to share all the things of Paris — Cimetière du Père-Lachaise, Balzac, the cinema of Fran?ois Truffaut. And I was very happy to do that, because I feel the same now that I’m popular and so many tourists come up to me and ask to have a selfie. I speak with them and I feel the same feeling Luc has with Emily with those [fans].
Do a lot of people approach you on the street?
Immediately, with a smile! And that’s fantastic because they think I’m Luc — I’m not, but [I am] a little bit. So immediately the contact is very joyful. You cannot imagine how many people say to me, “We are here because of Emily in Paris. We see the show and we want to know where Emily lives and want to discover these places.” It’s a wonderful opportunity for my city and my country.
Do the French really find American as loud and stupid as some of the characters on the show have found Emily to be?
Stupid, no. Honestly, I don’t think that the French think that American people are stupid. We all have clichés, obviously, around different populations. I think the French think that the Americans are too much. There is a lot of, “Amazing! Fantastic! Great!” Many French cannot understand that American people actually are like that. It’s cultural. It’s not pretending. It’s just that the French are more shy and more introverted. So when they see the Americans obviously they think, “Oh, they’re like that because they want something.”
A lot of people love Emily in Paris, but other people love to hate it. Do you ever feel like you have to defend the show?
I don’t know if I have to defend the show, but I have to explain it a lot. I have to explain that the vision of Paris is Darren Star’s vision and he has his universe. He has his own feeling. It’s like Fellini’s Rome. Fellini made a picture, a cliché, a feeling of Rome. Darren is the same It’s his feeling of Paris. When you see Ratatouille, the cartoon, it’s not Paris, but it’s a Paris for the children. It’s a vision of Paris. I think Parisians and French are not the most able to define our city because we live in this city and many times foreigners teach us a lot of things that we think are normal, but are not normal because it’s Paris. It’s very interesting to get the point [of view] of a foreigner on our city. So obviously with Emily in Paris, it’s not Paris, but it’s a piece of Paris. It’s a part of Paris.
At the end of Season Four — Part One, we discover that Luc’s girlfriend Marianne is not actually a Michelin inspector and she’s just been pretending. Why do you think Luc is able to forgive her for that?
Because Luc makes a lot of mistakes in his life! So he cannot pretend that other people are not like him, you know what I mean? I think he can forgive something that he [might have] done worse.
Has being part of the show brought you a lot of new opportunities as an actor?
Yes, I have to say that the show gave me the opportunity to be obviously popular and known and famous outside France. I had an Italian casting director, Francesco Vedovati, who saw me in Emily in Paris and he asked me to do an audition for The White Lotus. And after that I started to have propositions from the Italians, the English, the Americans.
What was it like being part of something like The White Lotus?
It was really fun. The locations were amazing, obviously. I know Italy very well, but that part of Italy in Sicily, in Taormina, I was there for the first time in my life. One day I went to a small village in the mountains to have gelato with other friends from the show and a very old Sicilian man in this small village in the mountains said, “You know you have someone who looks like you on [a] French show called Emily in Paris.” I said, “That’s me!” He said, “Come on.” He didn’t want to believe that it was me in that very little town in Sicily. I had a great time with the actors and all of the crew of The White Lotus.
Have you worked on anything else since shooting Emily in Paris Season Four?
Recently, I shot a movie with Johnny Depp called Modì that we filmed in Budapest for three months. I also did a movie for Netflix called Loups-Garous, which means werewolf. I play a very famous character from the Renaissance, but I can’t say more about it. You’ll discover it in October.
Did you have any hesitation about working with Johnny Depp?
Yes, at the beginning I had a hesitation. And after the trial [I felt] that it was OK. I cannot pretend to know whether [someone is] guilty or not guilty — the trial said it. I have to trust the justice.
What was he like as a director?
Oh, it was fantastic. I knew the great actor he is and I discovered the great director he is. He gave me so many skills. He gives you a lot of fantasy. He is a man who wants to share his experiences, so he could talked to me about Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Terry Gilliam, all those people, and it’s fantastic for an actor to [hear] advice and stories from another actor. For me, it was fantastic to work with him. He is a very funny man. I had a great time with him.
Generally, have you enjoyed working in English?
Yes, I enjoy a lot. Because when we act we don’t have to play the words. You have to put in the feelings — the words alone are nothing. So when you act in a language which is not yours, you have to do even better because the words don’t mean a lot for you. There are sentences that I say [on the show] that I’ve never spoken before in my life. I never see that word or that word. So I have to learn the sentence and I have to put the right feeling behind it because the word doesn’t mean anything to me.
What’s next for you?
I don’t know right now! I have some propositions, but I have to think about them and to decide. Right now I’m free. I do have one project, but I can’t talk about it.
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