To paraphrase a traditional episode of the unique HBO collection, “New York Metropolis is a superb place to be engaged. It’s additionally an important place to movie in — for those who’re ‘Intercourse and the Metropolis.’” As Michael Patrick King, the showrunner of Max’s “SATC” sequel “And Just Like That” informed IndieWire, “Anytime you go to Carrie’s house, exterior-wise, it’s an occasion for everybody. They see Carrie Bradshaw in entrance of Carrie Bradshaw’s house. It’s like seeing a lion within the jungle on a safari: ‘I noticed the true factor!’”
Town was at all times on equal footing with intercourse on the original series, and perhaps barely edged it out within the first season of “And Just Like That” However Season 2 places them neck and neck, with way more intercourse and hi-jinks for Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte, and their new mates and lovers. Working example: Miranda would possibly don a strap-on with new accomplice Che, however “And Simply Like That” grew to become the primary mission to movie in an Apple retailer — a call that King mentioned went all the best way to Apple CEO Tim Prepare dinner.
“They work a lot with the present, the contact there form of helped kick it up the flagpole to make it occur,” places supervisor Julie Sage informed IndieWire. “That was one of many simpler ones for me on my finish.”
That eagerness to be a part of the “Intercourse and the Metropolis” universe continues unabated from the times when Magnolia needed to rent “cupcake bouncers” after the collection popularized its choices. And in Season 2, these women who lunch actually lunch. And get together. And attend the Met Gala. And go to Javits Middle. Carrie’s house is likely to be an iconic set, but when there’s a likelihood for her to get out into the town she as soon as dated, she’s taking it.
“If it’s a model that has historical past and just a little clout, it’s simpler for locations that will by no means confide in a movie crew for days on days,” King mentioned. “And probably the most extravagant filming this 12 months, we principally took over The Tin Constructing,” the vacation spot restaurant and market positioned in downtown Manhattan’s Seaport. “Jean-Georges and Lois [Freedman, President/CEO of Jean-Georges Management] allow us to are available in. It’s a bit of New York lots of people outdoors of New York haven’t seen.”
Within the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s paying homage to the “Intercourse and the Metropolis” season that filmed after the occasions of 9/11: Right here is our metropolis, we’re nonetheless right here, we’re nonetheless fabulous. “The beauty of “Intercourse and the Metropolis” and the [aftermath] of 9/11 was the spirit and the way the town springs again to life. And the town being alive now after the pandemic, that’s the fact. It’s now very full and alive and, for our story, Carrie’s come again to life — why wouldn’t she be out?”
Which means giving the viewers as a lot of the town as attainable. If the characters are in a restaurant, higher imagine that it has monumental home windows providing a glimpse of Manhattan even within the background. “We now have a whole lot of eating places the place you’ll be able to see the entire area,” Sage mentioned. “Plenty of New York, it’s like jigsaw form of eating places. [We need] extra of an open panorama within the scale. “There’s a whole lot of small, intimate, lovely eating places that aren’t at all times gonna present up on movie as a result of you’ll be able to’t match sufficient individuals in them. It’s so much about lighting and home windows. It’s the view they wanna present.”
On the identical time, “And Simply Like That” works to floor itself within the actuality of Manhattan circa 2023 (as a lot as this present can with out sacrificing the glam, in fact). A part of that was the shock of seeing one of many core 4 enter the subway final season — solely to be attacked by somebody dressed as Chucky. However we additionally noticed way more of Carrie’s house constructing than “Intercourse and the Metropolis” ever revealed as she turns into mates along with her downstairs neighbor, Lisette.
“Once you write one thing, you at all times think about the fact of it,” King mentioned. “If I do know Carrie lives above somebody, then if I’m very fortunate and get sufficient episodes, you’ll be able to say, ‘What does that house appear to be? And what does that staircase appear to be?’” And no, you’re not imagining issues: Carrie’s house has been tweaked from the unique “Intercourse and the Metropolis” set. “We redesigned it so it felt like a jewel field the place she needed to be.”
But when “And Simply Like That” and its characters are unabashedly in love with the town, the sensation is solely mutual. For the primary time ever, the Empire State Constructing — together with Javits Middle, One Bryant Park, One World Commerce Middle, and Pier 17 — went pink in honor of the unique’s twenty fifth anniversary and the premiere of Season 2 on Max. “Town and ‘And Simply Like That’ are very celebratory of the truth that we’re all nonetheless right here,” King mentioned. “It’s actually vital.”
