A film crew was in Southampton Village on Friday, September 25, to shoot footage for the upcoming cinema sequel to the big-screen “Sex and the City.”
Based on the big white tent and flatbed truck stacked with Mercedes-Benzes in the Coopers Beach parking lot Friday afternoon, it looked like at least a portion of “Sex and the City 2” would be set in the Hamptons. But a crewman said Warner Brothers was filming at a private residence near Coopers Beach for a scene that will be played out in the film supposedly at an inn in Connecticut.
The crewman said none of the film’s stars—Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon or Kim Cattrall—were present. Ms. Parker, who plays writer Carrie Bradshaw in the movie, owns a home in Amagansett, and Ms. Cattrall, who plays public relations executive Samantha Jones, has a house in East Hampton.
Crews from Warner Brothers, the Los Angeles film studio making the movie, planned to set up shop at the Coopers Beach parking lot from Wednesday, September 23, through Saturday, September 26, according to Southampton Village Deputy Clerk Eileen Musarra.
Instead of the stars, there were about 100 people, 70 of whom were background extras, at the scene, Ms. Musarra said, explaining that production companies have to receive approval from the village before filming on public property. She said that the company told the village there would be 20 trucks and 75 cars in the Coopers Beach parking lot as well.
According to Ms. Musarra, Warner Brothers will pay the village $2,500 for use of the parking lot for three days. She explained that the film studio also hired several off-duty Southampton Village police officers at their overtime rate, at an additional expense of $2,400, for the duration of filming.
“Sex and the City 2” is scheduled to be released in late May 2010, according to the website www.imbd.com. The six seasons of the “Sex and the City” television series aired on HBO from 1998 to 2004, and HBO Films released the first feature film in the franchise last year.
Warner Brothers spokesman Eric Myers said he could not discuss any details of the upcoming film, nor what exactly brings the women to Connecticut. An episode in the first season of “Sex and the City” titled “The Baby Shower” takes place in Connecticut, with the four stars of the show going to a baby shower at the house of an old friend there.
“We hate spoilers,” Mr. Myers said when questioned about the footage being shot here on the East End. “We’re keeping everything as close to the vest as possible.”
Charlotte York, the character played by Ms. Davis, hails from Connecticut, and the mother of her first husband, Park Avenue cardiologist Trey MacDougal, owns a country house in that state. Mr. MacDougal is played by actor Kyle MacLachlan.
A few episodes of the “Sex and the City” series were set in the Hamptons. In one, titled “Bay of Married Pigs,” Ms. Bradshaw visits a friend on the East End, only to be flashed by her friend’s husband. In another, “Twenty-Something Girls vs. Thirty-Something Women,” the four main characters rent a share house on the East End, and Ms. York catches a sexually transmitted disease from a 20-something man she meets.