Bringing Marcello Muratori to life &mdash; the Italian who captures Emily Cooper&rsquo;s heart in the fifth season of Emily in Paris &mdash; is Eugenio Franceschini. In an interview with L&rsquo;OFFICIEL Italia, the actor talks about the series shot between Paris, Rome, and Venice, his career, and how becoming a father has changed him.

Charismatic and marked by a distinctly Italian elegance, Marcello Muratori enters the new episodes of Emily in Paris as a presence capable of shifting the show&rsquo;s emotional balance. He comes from a highly influential family in Italian fashion, yet instead of flaunting wealth and power, he chooses discretion. He is the man who unsettles &mdash; perhaps irreversibly &mdash; Emily Cooper&rsquo;s emotional certainties.
The role is played by Eugenio Franceschini, born in 1991, who encountered acting from a very young age. He is the son of two actors and the founders of a traveling theater company. After an early role in White as Milk, Red as Blood by Giacomo Campiotti, followed by key appearances in Fango e gloria &ndash; La Grande Guerra, I Medici, Una vita spericolata, Gloria, and Makari, he eventually auditioned for Emily in Paris.
&ldquo;I was shooting another series, in the Dolomites,&rdquo; he recalls. &ldquo;I arrived at the call completely soaked with snow and thought it hadn&rsquo;t gone very well. Then they called me back to fly to Paris, and that&rsquo;s how this adventure began.&rdquo;

You grew up within your parents&rsquo; theater company, Viva Opera Circus. How did this environment, a kind of natural apprenticeship for you, shape your relationship with acting?
Growing up with them inside the company was a fundamental imprint. Living that way, so deeply involved&hellip; it was like living inside a film. A traveling company, street theater, sets with puppets, marionettes, masks. I lived in this caravan outside of time and space, like a perpetual fairy tale. It&rsquo;s an experience that stays with you forever. And yes, it influenced me tremendously.
Until what age did you live with your parents?
After elementary school, I stayed in the province of Verona with my grandparents, while my parents continued touring. In the summers I would join them. After finishing scientific high school, I told my father I wanted to join his company. He told me, &ldquo;Leave it alone, it&rsquo;s a dying art. If you want to be an actor, go to Rome and study.&rdquo; I followed his advice.
Where did you study?
At the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, where I went through countless disciplines. I remember having a favorite teacher, Vito Mancusi, who still teaches there, and how carefree those years were.

How do you decide whether to accept a role or not?
The way I choose projects never follows a rigid formula. It inevitably changes depending on the phase of life you&rsquo;re in. This profession is made of ups and downs, unstable phases, and personal life ends up affecting you more than you think. Having had two children very early meant that every decision became inseparably linked to what was happening off set. Today, at this stage of my career, I feel freer: more willing to take risks, even to turn down very well-paid projects, because the security I&rsquo;ve built over time allows me to do so. It wasn&rsquo;t always like this. There were periods when I would have accepted anything.
How do you approach the characters you play?
The same applies. The approach changes depending on the project. If the script &mdash; whether for a film or a series &mdash; truly engages me, then the process becomes natural: you invest more time, the research deepens, and there&rsquo;s a desire to build something that comes almost spontaneously, fueled by inspiration and curiosity. When a project doesn&rsquo;t excite me but still has to be done, the approach becomes more superficial. After many years in this profession, it can happen that with minimal effort you still manage to achieve a decent result.
So the energy of the text, of the script, remains the deciding factor&hellip;
Absolutely. A romantic story like Emily in Paris is entirely based on emotion. The chemistry with your scene partner matters. In a more pulp and violent project like the one I&rsquo;m shooting now, Cagn&agrave;z &mdash; a new Italian crime series for Rai Fiction set in Emilia-Romagna and directed by Alessandro Roia &mdash; you have to work on more extreme registers, balancing irony and violence. It&rsquo;s a more artificial emotionality, and you have to work harder on it by yourself.

Are there actors you look to for inspiration?
No. There are actors I love watching on screen, like Volont&eacute; and Marlon Brando. I admire them, but I don&rsquo;t study them to emulate them. Trying to imitate feels forced to me. I think everyone has to find their own path. Back when I was at the Centro Sperimentale, I went to the cinema and analyzed everything, every single part of a film. Today I&rsquo;m less analytical, more relaxed. I&rsquo;m not afraid of making myself look &ldquo;ridiculous,&rdquo; if you&rsquo;ll allow the term. On the contrary, I like it. I try to enjoy every moment of acting, and for me that&rsquo;s a great achievement.
What emotions does acting in front of a camera give you, compared to being on stage?
I hadn&rsquo;t done theater in ten years. The other day I auditioned, and stepping back on stage was incredible, as if only a day had passed. My command of space came back immediately. The imprint from childhood was there waiting for me, unchanged. The camera, on the other hand, always requires an adjustment period of one or two weeks. But the happiness acting gives me is the same.
Who did you bond with most on the set of Emily in Paris?
Practically every scene with Marcello was with the character played by Lily Collins, so inevitably, through working together, a strong affection developed. But I have to say that this year we also had a lot of fun off set. I&rsquo;m very fond of Bruno (Guery). He comes from an Italian family, Bergamasco immigrants, and he has a way of behaving that feels very familiar to me.

What was it like filming between Rome and Venice?
I worked more lightheartedly in France. In Rome, and especially in Venice, I felt an enormous sense of responsibility. When the crew and Lily arrived in Venice, they were completely overwhelmed, they couldn&rsquo;t believe it. And honestly, every time I return to Venice, the same thing happens to me. It gives me indescribable emotions every time, even more so this time. It&rsquo;s the most beautiful city in the world. I&rsquo;m from Veneto, and I was the only Italian on set. I felt the duty to live up to this timeless magnificence. It was emotional but also complicated, it required a lot of energy.
You mentioned your two children earlier. How has fatherhood changed you?
It changed my life completely. I moved to Milan, changed my lifestyle, and it had professional and financial repercussions. I went through very difficult moments, including a deep depression. Our profession offers no guarantees. The early stages were not easy. When you come out of it &mdash; if you come out of it &mdash; you become stronger. Today I feel alive, proud, and serene. My children have become my strength. It&rsquo;s truly a beautiful moment for me.
Is there a director you dream of working with?
I could name many big, prestigious names. But right now I&rsquo;m very drawn to the work of Francesco Sossai. With Le citt&agrave; di pianura, he managed to tell the story of the land I come from &mdash; the Veneto countryside &mdash; in a way that isn&rsquo;t obvious. For years I auditioned for roles set in other regions, never my own. Seeing someone portray that world so well makes me desperately want to work with him.

Eugenio Franceschini Is the Italian Curveball in 'Emily in Paris' Season 5

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