If a fifth member
were ever to be added to Sex and the
City’s seminal quartet, it’d have to be
Michael Patrick King. Head writer for most of the
show’s run, he penned and directed the
big-screen spin-off due May 30. We talked to this out talent
to make sure the film -- already the subject of heavy
press and paparazzi scrutiny -- would be the cinematic
equivalent of good Sex.
I don’t think there’s a woman or gay man
alive who doesn’t know this film is coming
out. Do you feel a lot of pressure, or have you
been able to keep yourself in a bubble?
It was hard to keep myself in a bubble when we were
shooting, because there were 300 people on the street
watching us -- it was like a celebrity petting zoo.
But I also want to add that I don’t think
there’s a straight man alive who doesn’t
know about the movie, because their girlfriends or
wives have already told them they’re going!
[Laughs]
You’ve directed episodes of the series before.
How is it to revisit those same elements on a huge scale?
Well, first of all, the script is huge. Our TV series,
by the sixth season…they were movies. We were
shooting 37 scenes for a 30-minute show. But to go
storywise to another level, to have this epic feel to
it...the script is big, the costumes are big, the sets
are big, it’s gorgeous. It’s gor-geous.
There’s even a whole Vogue photo shoot in it
that’s a wink and a nod to the Vincente Minnelli
movies of the ’50s and ’60s. It’s
still the girls, but they’ve gone to another level.
Are we going to see Stanford and Anthony?
Of course! You will see the girls, you will see their
significant men, and you will see their significant
gay men.
I have to confess: I thought that since Stanford
and Anthony hated each other during the series, it meant
they were inevitably going to get together. Was
that ever part of your plan?
No, it wasn’t -- I just thought it was a funny
comedy vibe, because people always assume that two gay
people are going to like each other because
they’re both part of that same “club.”
The reality of it, though, is that in the movie,
they’re the last two gays standing. It’s
funny: Just the fact that they’re in the movie
together makes them feel closer, and I think a lot of
the hatred has gone by the wayside because they’ve
been in each other’s lives for so long through the
girls. There is even kind of a feeling that they might
be together, in a weird way, in the future.
If the movie does well, is this the beginning of a
TV-to-film franchise à la Star Trek?
Well, I think the word “star” is right! I
don’t know about the word “trek.”
[Laughs]
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