USA: Fun, friendship and fashion are back in the highly-anticipated film, "Sex and the City 2"

Record ID: 335006

  • Title: USA: Fun, friendship and fashion are back in the highly-anticipated film, "Sex and the City 2"
  • Date: 17th May 2010
  • Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (MAY 15, 2010) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) MICHAEL PATRICK KING, WRITER AND DIRECTOR, SAYING: "We did a lot of things. Like, the script was printed on paper that if you tried to Xerox it, the paper would go black. It's very Harry Potter, just black, very Carrie Potter, just black, magically. And then of course ev
  • Embargoed: 1st June 2010 13:00
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  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVA5GYEU0S3A4TDP4O73G8PI0RNP
  • Story Text: Grab a Cosmo, and strap on those Monolo Blahniks - the girls are back! 'Sex and the City 2' is about to hit cinemas and the stars are hitting the publicity circuit to promote the highly-anticipated sequel.
    The film sees a return of the fabulous foursome -- Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Samantha (Kim Cattrall), Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) -- as they carry on with their busy lives.
    After spending most of her adult life pursuing Big (Chris Noth), two years into their marriage, Carrie appears to be struggling with her transition from the 'eternal single gal' to married life.
    "She's not blue, she's not unhappy, she's where she wants to be but she's starting to ask questions about what this particular tradition means, and tradition in general and that's kind of the big theme of the movie, is tradition and why do we run toward it and why do we run away from it and why do we want to commit to a convention like marriage -- the institution -- and what about it doesn't feel right and how can we redefine it and so there she is asking all these wonderful questions and what better place to continue asking them than the Middle East?," said Sarah Jessica Parker during an interview at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York City.
    In a break from tradition, filmmakers abandoned the television series' traditional setting of New York City, and took the women to Abu Dhabi, where the group secures an all-expenses paid trip, courtesy of Samantha. Away from the mundane of everyday New York life, the women reflect on who they are, where they've been, and who they want to be.
    Cracks begin to emerge in the 'ever perfect' Charlotte as she strives to be the ideal mother and wife. Miranda, on the other hand, is facing her own battles in her role as a high-flying, successful lawyer.
    Cynthia Nixon, who plays Miranda, said she believed many women will be able to relate to the film which tackles the traditional role of women as they try to balance motherhood with their own personal needs.
    "I think, you know, being a mother is one of the most wonderful things that can happen to you as a woman but it's difficult and it matters so much to you that you want so much to know that you're doing a good job and you're always afraid that maybe you're not," Nixon said.
    Actress Kim Cattrall reprises her role as the outrageous and outspoken Samantha Jones, who is fighting menopause and aging. Her voracious sexual appetite follows her to the Middle East - resulting in a controversial clash of cultures.
    Chaos ensues when a scantily clad Samantha is caught in a compromising position with a man, in the conservative city of Abu Dhabi. Cattrall played down suggestions the scenes may prove controversial among audiences in the Middle East.
    "This is a road picture, it's not a political thriller, so we're there to have fun and we're there to sort of poke fun at some of the ideas that the rest of the world has about women in general, not just, Arab women or American women, just that women, we're all the same, we're going through the same kind of things. We're all battling what it is to be alive at this point in history and trying to make the best of it," Cattrall told Reuters.
    The film, which was shot in the Moroccan desert, at one point sees the girls riding camels through the sand dunes. Davis admitted her camel proved a challenge.
    "He had some stress because when I fall off, I fall off, it's a stunt and they're very high, camels are very high off the ground, higher than horses, so it's a long way to fall, so I fall onto a mattress held by like eight men who don't speak English who would run at the camel when it was time and he did not like that because he doesn't know what they're doing so he would shout in their camel way and that would create problems with the sound department so it was kind of challenging but in a lot of ways it was really, really fun," Davis said.
    The first big-screen adaptation of the HBO television series proved to be a powerful magnet for female theatergoers, grossing more than 415 million U.S. dollars at the worldwide box office.
    Chris Noth admitted he still grappled with the all the attention, and that the reaction to his character from women on the street varied.
    "Everything from 'he's not as big as I thought he was' to 'you brute to', you know, a smile. I like it if they smile. Maybe a squeal here and there," Noth said with a laugh.
    Director and writer Michael Patrick King said the cast and crew went to great lengths to ensure the plot line remained a heavily guarded secret.
    "We did a lot of things. Like, the script was printed on paper that if you tried to Xerox it, the paper would go black. It's very Harry Potter, just black, very Carrie Potter, just black, magically. And then of course everything was marked - everyone who had a script, their name was on it. We changed Aidan's name. No-one, the name Aidan never appeared in the movie, it was Wyatt. Wyatt's son, Wyatt's call time, the scene with Wyatt. We even staged fake scenes. Kim Cattrall in a wedding gown. It's like, oh you want to think you're figuring out the plot? Here it is. When I read that Carrie and Big broke up and she moved to England, I was like, that's an interesting movie," King said.
    'Sex and the City 2' opens nationally across North America on May 27.
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