When I hopped on camera with Lily Collins, the Emily in Paris star was sitting in front of her laptop in a plain casual sweatshirt – the opposite of what we see at Savoir or Agence Grateau. But similar to her character Emily Cooper, Collins is a woman who is comfortable in her own skin, excited about the future and ready to get to work. However, she’s a bit distracted.
“Sorry, my dog Redford really only put half his body under the couch to get a toy, but he squashed himself,” she says amusingly. “I’ve never seen him do that before. I was looking at, ‘How is he going to do this?'”
Redford is the rescue pup Collins shares with her husband, filmmaker Charlie McDowell, and when you ask the Emily in Paris star what brings her joy every day, Redford and McDowell are at the top of the list. But Collins also has little pleasures, like the cappuccino her husband makes for her every morning. “And the way he looks at me and makes me laugh,” she says. “In addition to the home we’ve created together, there’s the journey we’ve embarked on together. I find something new every day that I didn’t realize made me happy, but when you’re in a clearer, more open-minded place, I think you’re more open to it.”
In addition to starring and producing in the Emmy-nominated Paris film “Emily,” she recently co-founded a production company, Case Study Films, with McDowell. “It makes us really happy now to be able to tell stories and give other people a chance to have a voice,” she says.
Then there are her partnerships with brands like Cartier, Living Proof and Lancôme, the latter of which began a decade ago. The luxury skincare and makeup giant is the specific reason we’re talking today, as Collins appeared alongside brand ambassadors Julia Roberts and Zendaya at Lancôme’s new La Vie est Belle event.
Collins said of the event, which is centered on happiness and inclusion, “It’s a wonderful celebration of love, mentoring, friendship, camaraderie, femininity, sisterhood and more.” In addition, it was a chance to work again with Roberts, with whom she previously collaborated on “The Magic Mirror” in 2012. I worked with her husband, Danny Moder, and I know her kids. It just felt so organic, so real, so grounded.”
