The second Sex and the City movie is being filmed in NYC right now, so I thought it would be fun to revisit the first one. The movie brought Carrie, Miranda, Samantha, and Charlotte back together four years after the HBO television series went off the air. Whether you loved the movie or found it lacking (reviews were mixed), I think we all agreed that the clothes and the sets made for some pretty fabulous eye candy.
When we meet up with them again, Carrie is planning her wedding to Mr. Big; Miranda finds out husband Steve is cheating; Samantha lives in LA with her boyfriend Smith; and Charlotte is happily married to Harry.
The interior sets were mostly filmed in Queens at the Silvercup Studios, where the HBO series was. Before we get to Carrie Bradshaw�s apartment, let�s take a look at where the other girls�and Mr. Big�live.
Miranda�s House in Brooklyn
Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) lives here with her husband Steve (David Eigenberg) and son Brady. We don�t see much of her place, but I love this corner of their kitchen.
Samantha�s Malibu Beach House:
Samantha�s boyfriend, Jerry �Smith� Jerrod, coming in the front door:
Samantha (Kim Cattrall) works on a special sushi dinner for Valentine�s Day. Things don�t go quite as she planned, however (I�ll spare you photos of that)�
Remember the flower ring that Smith buys for Samantha? It was worth about $50,000. Yowza.
The house almost looks like a commercial space more than a home to me (a fabulous commercial space!).
Her balcony:
Charlotte�s Place:
The night before the wedding, the girls gather at Charlotte�s house. Charlotte bought them all matching robes, of course!
Carrie emerges from the bedroom in her wedding gown:
After the wedding doesn�t happen, Carrie returns to Charlotte�s house. She has given up her apartment and has nowhere else to go.
Charlotte tells Carrie she�s pregnant (made me teary!):
Lily�s sweet pink room:
Mr. Big�s Apartment:
Producer Michael Patrick King says, �Big�s apartment had to be chic enough that you�d want to be there, but small enough that they couldn�t live there together.� He adds that they referred to it as �Big�s sublet apartment� because it was a temporary space. �His heart wasn�t there.�
In the series� finale, we learned that Mr. Big�s real name is John James Preston.
Big and Carrie�s New Penthouse Apartment (�Real Estate Heaven�)
When they step into the lobby of the apartment building, Carrie is holding an Eiffel-Tower purse (according to the special features commentary on the DVD, this is a reference to Paris, where we last saw her and Big on the TV show).
When Carrie walks into the penthouse apartment, she says:
�I think I died and went to real estate heaven!�
Producer Michael Patrick King says that Carrie knows the apartment isn�t her style, but she gets addicted to the idea of who they can be together as a couple living there.
The master closet is so tiny that Big builds her a new one:
�The closet is the ultimate expression of love Big has for Carrie,� Michael Patrick King says. �He understands her well enough to know how important it is to her. It�s his way of saying I love you.�
A pair of electric-blue Manolos are the first things to go in it:
It seems fitting that Big and Carrie reunite in this closet at the end of the film and this is where he asks her (again) to marry him:
Carrie�s Apartment:
Her official address: 245 E. 73rd Street. The exterior shots were actually filmed in the Village, however, on Perry Street.
They had to rebuild all of the sets from scratch because they�d been destroyed when the TV series ended.
The girls come to help Carrie pack up her apartment, bearing champagne.
Carrie�s closet as it looked in the TV series (via HBO.com):
The closet as it appeared in the movie, with her Vivienne Westwood wedding gown hanging in it:
Carrie�s bathroom (via HBO.com):
The kitchen that we rarely saw:
Her bedroom:
The front door:
Carrie leaves her long-time apartment:
When she moves back into her apartment, Carrie gives it a makeover. King says, �She decides to try to make her life better by changing her environment.�
A photo of her new bedroom that appeared in Traditional Home magazine:
From the movie:
The movie-makeover of Carrie�s apartment was hotly debated in the blogospherewhen the movie came out. Some design bloggers felt like it no longer reflected her personality. It looked too slick and �decorated� for her character. What do you think? Did you like the �after�?
The wall color is similar to Benjamin Moore�s Electric Blue (but was custom mixed for the set). In this shot you can see how she uses the wall unit for storage:
The LOVE wall hanging (by Paul Smith) next to the front door was interesting, especially in light of the fact that she was just dumped at the altar. Seems like she�d be more likely to hang a picture of a heart with an �x� through it or something.
Here�s a closeup:
2/11 UPDATE: The Malibu Beach House that Samantha lived in is on the market. Get the details and see the photos here.
