Lily Collins: “I’m not a method actress, but I keep Emily’s passion”


    Lily Collins (Guildford, United Kingdom, 1989) is an ordinary girl at first glance. She waits for me sitting down and, as soon as she sees me, before offering me her hand to say hello, she notices that we have the same bag. She spontaneously points it out like any girl her age would. “What a coincidence!”. Lily Collins is an ordinary girl at first glance if it weren’t for the fact that her father is the well-known musician Phil Collins and she is the star of one of the most popular Netflix series on the planet, Emily in Paris.

    But we can’t talk about his father or his recent wedding, which has been global news. That’s what her representative warned us before entering the ballroom of the Soho House hotel in Berlin, although she repeats several times how happy she is for her recent marriage, inevitably drawing attention to it. “I just got married and that makes me feel very optimistic,” she says at first, before a routine ‘how are you’. “I am very excited,” she concludes.

    We are in the German city next to Cartier to discover the capsule [Un]Limited from his Clash collection, of which Collins is the image. He confesses to having to pinch himself every time he remembers his lucky position: “My mother always wore vintage watches from the brand. Then, on my 18th birthday, she gave me a Panthère watch that today is my most valuable treasure. So being the image of the house 15 years later is an honor.”

    The Clash collection is one of the most recent in the house. Launched for the first time in 2019, her recognizable pieces with pointed studs (which they call ‘picots’) evoke the classic and the groundbreaking at the same time, a contrast with which the actress identifies: “I love its duality and that represents being able to be more than one thing at the same time. Oxymorons have always caught my attention, how opposites complement each other: chic, punk; hot, cold; hard, soft… Berlin is the perfect city to exhibit something like this,” he explains.

    That duality has been present in her since her origins: half British (because of her father), half American (because of her mother, the American Jill Tavelman). “Like Clash, I’m the mixture of two worlds! -she says laughing-. But I feel more European, it’s always been that way. Even sounding like I do -she refers to her accent-. But there is a feeling in me of comfort and home when I land in Europe. I feel like I belong. There is a culture, a tradition, something timeless and historical that I connect with as soon as I arrive,” he says.

    Collins wears rose gold earrings, and a bracelet and ring, both in rose gold and onyx set with diamonds, all from the Clash de CARTIER collection.

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    Collins is an actress because it could not be otherwise. If she had to boil down her childhood to one memory of hers, it would be her parents telling her stories every night before she went to sleep. “I kept thinking about those books, where they would take me, how I would turn them into movies and what their characters would be like. Also, I was always acting in the living room, dressed up and doing plays or small musicals,” she reveals.

    She defines herself with the word “communicator”, that is why, before dedicating herself to acting professionally, she studied Journalism and wrote columns for different fashion magazines. “I am curious and inquisitive by nature. I enjoy asking a thousand questions and meeting new people. I am a journalist at heart, and that has also helped me a lot as an actress,” she says.

    Collins finally made his film debut with The Blind Side (A possible dream) (2009), but his name became more relevant when he starred in Snow White (Mirror, Mirror) in 2012, an adaptation of the story with Julia Roberts. her role in The exception to the rule (2016) earned him his first nomination for the Golden Globes, and after other protagonists, in 2020 he got Emily Cooper, from Emily in Paristhe series that has shot her to ultimate stardom.

    “I’m not a method actress, I don’t breathe and live the character, as they say; but I do take things from them, and Emily is a gift and a joy for her way of being. She is optimistic, resolute, passionate, fun … It has qualities that I like,” he confesses. The series has two seasons, and two more are scheduled. The second was shot in the midst of a pandemic, with a very different Paris from the one they had known before: “I was excited to return after confinement. There was fear and anxiety about the situation, but we discovered the city in a different way and ended up having a great time” , remember.

    The third season has just started filming in the French capital, one of the favorite places on the planet not only for Emily, but also for Lily: “I love exploring and getting lost in its streets, losing track of time. It doesn’t matter where you get lost in Paris, because it will always be beautiful. It seems that time stops there, “he concedes. They also both love fashion, “although I wouldn’t dare to say that as much as Emily…!”, qualifies the actress. “But I admit that she has taught me not to be afraid to try. Prints, silhouettes, colors, new designers. You name it. To know that I can be as flashy as I want and not think about how others will judge me for it. To be myself unconditionally through what I wear.”

    Collins began his journey with Cartier with the collection [Un]Limited (‘without limits’), but their collaboration has been extended this season to the entire Clash collection. These pieces make it very clear that they have no limits, neither creative nor of attitude. “I have them because I put them on myself, and I have to make an effort to get rid of them. But I have learned a lot in the last two years not to want to control what is not in my power. The easy thing is to limit yourself, but the The challenge is to overcome those barriers that we put up. That’s where the magic happens.”

    Your representative interrupts letting us know that time is running out. When he finishes his press morning, Collins will officially begin his honeymoon in Europe. We wondered what Emily Cooper would say to seeing her as a Cartier ambassador. She bursts out laughing just thinking about it. “My God, I’m sure he would yell, ‘No kidding!’ wish list has a Love bracelet, or something like that. With what she likes a luxury piece!”.

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Lily Collins: “I’m not a method actress, but I keep Emily’s passion”