Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu’s performance as marketing boss Sylvie Grateau is one of the best parts of Netflix’s Emily in Paris. Now, she is bringing her skills to another hit Netflix series. The French actress confirmed she has a small part in The Crown Season 5, which will hit Netflix in November. The new season will cover the royal family during the early 1990s.
In a new interview with You Magazine, Leroy-Beaulieu said she has a “very small thing” in the show, but it “was a lot of fun and I was so, so happy to be in it.” She refused to say who she was playing, but she showered series creator Peter Morgan with plenty of praise. “Season 4 was amazing. Every episode is like a little film on its own,” Leroy-Beaulieu said. “That scene when Margaret Thatcher goes to Scotland – wow! It’s crazily well written.”
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Over the weekend, The Daily Mail reported Leroy-Beaulieu plays Monique Ritz, the widow of Charles Ritz, who sold the Ritz hotel in Paris to Mohamed Al Fayed in 1979. Princess Diana would go on to date Al Fayed’s son Dodi Fayed after her divorce from Prince Charles. Diana and Dodi Fayed died in a car crash in 1997 after leaving the hotel. Elizabeth Debicki plays Diana in The Crown Season 5. Khalid Abdalla (Assassin’s Creed) plays Dodi.
Leroy-Beaulieu, 58, began acting in French movies and television shows in the early 1980s, even starring in the original French film Three Men and a Baby is based on. Still, her role as Sylvie in Emily in Paris introduced her to a new generation of viewers worldwide. Sylvie is Emily’s no-nonsense boss, who often reminds Emily (Lily Collins) that she does not know much about French culture. Emily in Paris is often criticized for its cliched depiction of French culture, but Leroy-Beaulieu does not see its harm. “Some have and liked it, others have hated it,” she told You of her friend’s response to the series. “But it’s meant to be fun and not taken seriously.”
Leroy-Beaulieu did find it funny that the American crew acted similar to how Emily acted when she first moved to Paris. “The Americans on the show did come to Paris thinking the French didn’t know how to make TV and movies. One of the directors even told me they didn’t know if the French crew were going to work as well as the Americans,” she said. “We did invent cinema, by the way!”
Emily in Paris Season 2 ended with a big cliffhanger after Sylvie invited Emily to join the new marketing firm she is setting up. Thankfully, the show was renewed for two more seasons. Darren Starr, who also worked on Sex and the City and Younger, created the series.
