The Emily in Paris interview
Lucien Laviscount: “Paris is my soulmate”
Netflix’s favorite expat is back on our screens—to celebrate, we take a tour of the world’s most romantic city with rising star Lucien Laviscount, who plays her dashing love interest, Alfie. Ooh la la…
Lucien Laviscount is madly in love. That’s not the scoop on his love life, but instead, his adoration for the French capital. “Paris is my soulmate,” says the actor, who plays Alfie in Emily in Paris, the fourth season of which just landed on Netflix. “I’m in a relationship that is never-ending. It has captured my heart.”
Remarkably, the 32-year-old, who hails from Burnley, Lancashire, in the north of England, had never set foot in Paris until 2021, when he was cast as a love interest for Lily Collins’ Emily in season two. “I was in New York when my manager said, ‘Drop what you’re doing.’ I jumped on a call with [creator] Darren Star and Lily, and the next day, I was flying to Paris. I’d literally never been before!”
His love affair got off to a shaky start. “I had to quarantine for 10 days. The weather was beautiful and I was stuck in this apartment, looking out at everyone. I’d catch the sun from one side of the apartment in the morning, the other side in the afternoon. But eventually I was able to step out into Paris—and it was magical.”
Suffice to say, Laviscount became far more enamored of Parisian life than his French-resistant character. “Paris has got an energy to it, from the architecture to the people to the fashion. The city just lives and breathes in its own way.” It is, he says, a key character: “Paris is the lead role. It’s just so majestic how the city plays into the show—it’s the most impressive backdrop to shoot against.”
Laviscount has enjoyed the city through the lens of every season. “Usually we’ve been in summer but this year we were filming through January, so I got to see Paris in winter, which is spectacular. I’d drive up the Seine in the morning on the way to work with light mist sitting on the river. You feel the history. One of my favorite movies is Perfume, and I was teleported back to 18th-century France.”
A cultural guide to Paris
He loved watching the city take the global stage this summer. “Paris is so rich in culture and it’s got a nuance to it like nowhere else in the world. They highlighted that in an incredible way. I watched everyone and everything, and it was great to see Paris come alive—and to see people who have never been able to experience it enjoy the city.”
When filming, Lucien lives in the Marais district. “It’s an incredible part of town, my favorite place in Paris,” he says. Among his hotspots are Café Charlot for a “really good eggs Benedict—sorry, that’s not very French of me,” hipster hangout Café La Perle, and sandwich shop Paperboy. “There are DJs playing and you get cool characters there. These little corners of the Marais bring so much life to the area.”
He has other go-to destinations across the city. “My favorite place to hang out is a phenomenal restaurant called Sugaar, a Basque restaurant in Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Also, I love the steak frites at Hôtel Costes—amazing,” says Laviscount. “And I take everyone to see [cabaret show] Crazy Horse. It’s an incredible show.”
But, he says, the best thing of all is to simply lose yourself. “In Paris, you can just get lost, and that’s what the show is all about, that’s where the joy is. Everyone should have the keys to the city,” he says. “Walk down the Seine and take it all in. You see everything on that walk, there’s always something beautiful to look at.”
Of course, the difference in sauntering around the city for Laviscount, compared to us mere mortals, is that he can’t move without being recognized. “It’s pretty consistent,” he smiles. “The reach of the show is incredible and is generating even more tourism. If I can have a picture with someone and make their day a little brighter, that’s fantastic. I feel a lot of love.”
A geek-out guide to buying the best baguette in Paris
When not in Paris, Laviscount divides his time between Brooklyn, London’s Notting Hill, his father’s ancestral homeland of Antigua, and his native Lancashire. “I get itchy feet if I’m in one place too long, I like to be on the move. The more traveling I can do, the better. There’s still so much to see. But Antigua is somewhere I can call home and relax, as well as the north of England. People come to the U.K. to go to London, but get on the train and get yourself up north to places like the Ribble Valley. Just check the weather first…”
Set-jetting, Emily in Paris style
Lara Kilner is a lifestyle journalist who has contributed to The Times, The Telegraph, and more. She has traveled extensively through five continents, but her most memorable trip was the one on which she met her Malaysian husband.
Hotel deals in Paris
