“I was in the mountain with this shepherd making goat cheese.”

Lucas Bravo, who plays a pivotal role as Emily’s ‘will-they-won’t-they’ love interest in Netflix’s Emily In Paris, has revealed he very nearly wasn’t cast as Gabriel.

The French actor, who prior to the show had only been in independent projects, said in conversation with People that even after five auditions Paramount didn’t want to take a “chance” on him as he “didn’t have enough background”.

In an attempt to escape the rejection Lucas said he fled to the French island of Corsica, adding: “I wanted to be in a place where there’s no service, and I could just talk to birds, so to speak.”

But while he was trying to run away from anything Emily In Paris, Lucas said something “very weird” happened to him.

“A hiker came by and he was like, ‘Can I borrow your phone? I really need to call my daughter,” he said explaining that the only way to get service was about a 40-minute walk away from where they were, but alas, Lucas gave the hiker his phone.

His story continued: “He told me, ‘Your phone was vibrating left and right when I got service, so you should check it out.’ And I was like, ‘No, no, no. I’m here to forget this Emily Paris thing’. ”

The following morning he decided to take a look at who had been trying to contact him and he found 40 messages and 30 missed calls. “It was the casting director telling me, ‘Where are you?’” he said.

Lucas returned to Paris confused as “the official Gabriel had signed his contract, did a table read, [and] was about to start”. But he soon learnt he was there to read for another of Emily’s love interests.

Although he wasn’t officially being auditioned for Gabriel anymore he was made to read some of his lines and undergo a chemistry read with Lily Collins, who plays Emily.

He described this “a bit harsh” because it was “still an open wound” for him.

However the following day he received a call saying he had got the role as Gabriel and was starting in two days. He says this is because the show’s creator Darren Starr fought for him to be cast as Gabriel despite the studio’s reservations.

“He thought I was the part from the beginning,” the actor said.

After Lucas’ chemistry read with Lily they had questioned where he was when they had been trying to get hold of him. “I was like, ‘I was in the mountain with this shepherd making goat cheese,’ and I was so uncomfortable I talked about goat cheese for 10 minutes,” he said.

“When I left the room, and I closed the door, I was like, ‘I can’t believe I just talked about goat cheese. You’re never going to get that part.’ “