TORONTO – With issues like the rising cost of living, ongoing labour shortages and an ever-shrinking manufacturing sector in France last year, French President Emmanuel Macron found the time to publicly opine on pop culture. Namely, on losing the hit Netflix Series Emily in Paris to Rome. Not surprisingly, there was no fight.
The show’s American Creator Darren Star not only moved Emily to Rome for season 4, but is now relocating her to Venice for the next season.
The issue however, is not as goofy as Macron makes it sound. And while half-jokingly declaring to fight for a Netflix series while much of your population believes the country is burning is ill-advised, the economic implications of hosting an American hit show are not exactly negligible.
Take William Wyler’s 1953 film Roman Holiday, which starred Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn. In one scene, the so called “mouth of truth” was used to mirror the dishonesty between the film’s main characters. The mouth of truth is a 2,900 lb stone mask [of the god Oceanus], which some scholars believe may have been a drain cover in ancient times. Today however, it sits in a portico against the wall of the Basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin.
Although it’s not a ticketed site and has no turnstile or official visitor counts, it attracts long winding lineups each day. To quote a Roman cabby I rode with recently as we passed the church, “These tourists line up to touch a pagan structure when they could be worshipping inside the church attached to it. And for what, because of a movie half of them never even seen”.
Pop culture equals tourism dollars. Macron isn’t simply banging a patriotic drum when he declares war over Lilly Collin’s job site. He’s fighting a lucrative culture war. After Braveheart was released, Scotland’s Wallace Monument saw a 300% increase in tourism. Mission Impossible 2 increased tourism to Sydney’s National Park by 200%. Jurassic Park’s comeback movie in 2018 contributed over $31 million to Hawaii’s economy.
And it’s no different with the TV culture, as fans will flock to the most remote rural towns in some cases (Stranger Things, The Witcher), in pursuit of a show’s location. Local tour operators in previously unknown towns will scramble to create guided tours to accommodate the hordes of fans looking to one up each other’s fandom – with a boastful photo next to a barn, or café.
Similarly, President of the Veneto region Luca Zaia gleefully made the announcement that from August 15 to 25 Netflix will film in Venice. “This is extraordinary news, which confirms how our territory is increasingly attractive to large global audiovisual productions”, he wrote on his Instagram.
“It is a source of pride to see Veneto talents enhancing their land and bringing Veneto to millions of homes around the world. See you on set in our beautiful Venice.”
Season 5 of Emily in Paris airs Dec. 18 2025.
Images courtesy of Netflix and Cobra Team/Backgrid
Massimo Volpe is a filmmaker and freelance writer from Toronto: he writes reviews of Italian films/content on Netflix
