Lucas Bravo Retreated to the Mountains After Initial Rejection for Emily in Paris: 'I Could Just Talk to Birds' (Exclusive)

Lucas Bravo was not originally cast as one of Emily Cooper’s love interests Emily in Paris.

The actor, who plays Gabriel — one-third of the titular character’s never-ending love triangle on the Netflix series — explains exclusively during a PEOPLE 10 interview with senior film news editor Nigel Smith that he wasn’t initially cast as the French chef.

Bravo, 36, reveals to PEOPLE that after initially surrendering, he headed to the mountains on the French island of Corsica. But while he was on the run, he learned that the production had changed its mind.

Bravo went through five auditions over several months, but did not get the part. He notes that Paramount (the parent company of MTV Entertainment Studios) “didn’t want to take a chance” on him because he didn’t have “enough experience.” This prompted his short escape to a Mediterranean island. I wanted to be in a place where there was no service, and I could just talk to the birds, so to speak,” he said.

But his journey was interrupted and ended by something “very strange”.

Emily in Paris‘ Lucas Bravo Reveals Why One Season 4 Moment Left Him ‘Relieved’ (Exclusive)

“A hiker came by and said, ‘Can I borrow your phone? I really need to call my daughter,’ he says before explaining that there is only cell service about 40 minutes’ walk away and on top of a large rock. “I gave him my phone, he left, he never came back,” he continues.

“He said, ‘Your phone was vibrating left and right when I got the service, so you should check it.’ And I said, ‘No, no, no. I’m here to forget this Emily Paris thing’, he adds.

“I woke up in the morning like, ‘I should look at that,'” he recalls before revealing he had 40 texts and 30 missed calls. “It was the casting director who said, ‘Where are you?’ ”

Lucas Bravo on August 14, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.

Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty

He immediately returned to Paris, but was not sure what was going on because “Official Gabriel signed his contract, did the plate read, [and] he should have started.” Then he found out that he would be reading from Emily’s other love interests.

However, he still had to read Gabriel’s lines during auditions for other roles, which he said was “a bit rough” because “it was still an open wound.” He obeyed and proceeded to read chemistry in a room with two Paramount producers. , two writers, creator Darren Star, director and Lily Collins.

He arrived in the room alone and “it was like a domestic round table,” says Bravo. “It felt like… an interrogation.”

Once he and Collins, 35, did a reading together, he told PEOPLE it “went great.” He explains: “Lily is very generous when you look into her eyes, it’s very easy to relate to her.”

(L to R) Camille Razat as Camille, Lucas Bravo as Gabriel in “Emily in Paris” Season 4 Episode 7.

To Stephanie Branch/Netflix

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The team asked where he was when they tried to contact him.

“I thought, ‘I was in the mountains with that shepherd making goat cheese,’ and I was so embarrassed that I talked about goat cheese for 10 minutes,” says Bravo. “When I left the room and closed the door, I said, ‘I can’t believe I just talked about goat cheese. You’ll never get that part.’ ”

Despite his concerns, he was summoned the next day and promptly asked, “Are you sitting down?” before being told, “Okay, you start in two days.”

He reveals that Starr “fought” for him because he “thought [Bravo] he was a part of from the beginning,” noting that he Emily in Paris the creator “went against the studio”.

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Emily in Paris season 4 is now streaming on Netflix, along with seasons 1, 2, and 3.

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Source: HIS Education