It sounds like Lucas Bravo, who plays Emily In Paris love interest Gabriel, really wants to break up with his character. His recent comments about how fed up he is with the show that "started everything for me"—a show he is, mind you, still allegedly cast in—sound exactly like he yanked them out of a "it's not me, it's you" speech from the show itself.
"The ‘sexy chef’ was very much part of me in Season one and we grew apart season after season because of the choices he makes and because of the direction they make him take. I’ve never been so far away from him," the actor recently told IndieWire. "In season one, there was a lot of me in him. But as they made him kind of unaware of his surroundings, of the dynamic, always victimizing and always being completely lost in translation and oblivious to anything that is happening around him and being manipulated by everyone, it kind of became not fun for me to shoot or to see a character I love so much and brought me so much, being slowly turned into guacamole."
It's clear that this man just wants to cook both on- and off-screen. (He also somewhat bafflingly compared the stagnancy of the show to "a lot of souffles.") But he says the creators won't let him. "I tried for seasons to bring nuances but we don’t have much liberty on set. We cannot change a word or an emotion. They know what they want and we just have to comply," he said, explaining that he's considering not renewing his contract for season five.
At this rate, it feels unlikely he'll be asked back regardless. Bravo has really been on a tear lately, telling French outlet Le Figaro (via New York Post) last week that the show "does not stimulate me" and he doesn't "want to be a part of a cog that does not tend to take the intelligence of viewers into consideration." Somehow, the actor seems to have missed the fact that this is Emily In Paris and not The Sopranos, but this writer can't fault him for shooting for the stars.
Not even an endorsement (and vague threat to "fight hard" to keep Emily away from Rome) from French president Emmanuel Macron could raise the show's esteem in Bravo's mind. In fact, it only seemed to lower his opinion of his colleagues. "I think we have to place things into context," he said (incredibly missing his own inability to do the same with the show itself). "The president also does videos with Instagrammers and YouTubers… I am being very analytical about it when the whole team of Emily In Paris was like ‘wow!’... but I think we shouldn’t read too much into it other than what it just brought to the table."
Like any good soon-to-be ex, Bravo ended his speech with a promise that if the show could just change everything about itself, the relationship might be okay. "I love the show… I love the show and the people in it. With saying that, I feel like I am not being nice or grateful, but when you love something you want it to be… you want the best version of it," he said. "I’m not going to lie, I’ve been frustrated with the direction my character is taking. But we’ll see where it goes. The show is not over."
