Celebrity Dog

[Fat Guy]

The following summarizes the events of Thursday, August 23, 2001, regarding the Sex & the City filming on our block.

The show filmed for approximately 13 hours, beginning around noon and ending around 1:00am. Sarah Jessica Parker and Cynthia Nixon were present, Kim Cattral was not. They filmed three scenes as far as I could tell: The two of them walking out front of the Corner Bookstore on 93rd & Madison; the two of them doing something inside one of the stores on Madison Avenue near 93rd;

and the two of them sitting and talking on a stoop directly across the street from us.

Around midday, I carried Momo over to watch the filming at the Corner Bookstore. One of the guys who handles crowd control saw Momo and we struck up a conversation. He asked if the "AD" (Assistant Director) could come over and meet Momo. This AD was acting as director for these scenes -- the actual director ("D"?) was not present. The AD, a nice blonde lady in a baseball cap, came over and played with Momo a little, then was called away to manage a rehearsal.

Later, in the early evening, when the filming moved to the building across the street from us, we brought Momo down to watch on a couple of occasions. It was my secret hope that one of the actresses would eventually see Momo and want to visit him, not because I like them or the show, but because I wanted to be able to report the incident to our celebrity-interested friends. Unfortunately, despite a series of half-hour-long stakeouts, it appeared that there was no way to get close enough to attract any attention of the actual stars. We did, however, have excellent contact with all the caterers, grips, security guys, and other ancillary personnel, as well as all the people in the neighborhood.

At around 11:30pm they announced they were breaking down the set, and the actresses were ushered off back to their trailers. Sarah Jessica Parker at that point saw Momo in my arms, and she took a good look at him, but she did not break her stride or make any other indication of interest.

At around 12:00am, Momo needed to pee, so I took him back down to the recycling area in front of the building. It appeared they were dismantling the equipment nearby, which was a little distracting for Momo so he didn't pee. There was a lot of equipment on the block, maybe six tractor-trailers full of lights, cameras, reflectors, etc., and probably a crew of 40. So, since Momo wouldn't pee, I took him to watch the breakdown of the set.

It was at this point that the AD, who was talking to a couple of the sound guys, came back over to play with Momo. She said she had been thinking about Momo all day and asked if she could hold him. She played with him a little, and at that point without warning the two actresses came back from their trailers in order to re-shoot one scene in which there had apparently been a sound problem. Cynthia Nixon went to a chair to have makeup applied, andSarah Jessica Parker (who everybody on the crew calls "SJ") just walked right over to me, Momo, and the AD.

I wish I could report a more interesting encounter at this point, but SJ seemed pretty aloof and uninteresting. She wasn't even all that great looking, and it's amazing just how small she is -- it's almost freakish, really, because she looks a little like a teenage prostitute in person with all that makeup on. Her outfit, some sort of baby doll dress in an earth tone, was completely hideous. Anyway, she made a few basic inquiries about what kind of dog Momo was, etc., barely making eye contact with me. She then took Momo from the AD and cuddled him, and turned to take him over to show Cynthia Nixon. I was, however, holding Momo's leash -- which was now also SJ's leash in effect -- and this sort of stopped her short. She chuckled that she hadn't noticed the leash and I draped the leash over her shoulders so that she could carry Momo across the street without dragging it. However, the camera crew was ready to shoot at that point and the Momo session had to be interrupted. I took him back, the AD said goodbye and thanked me and Momo, whereas SJ just sort of walked off.

Then Momo went to sleep.

[Rosie]

Great story! I was expecting to hear that Momo was in a scene.

[Fat Guy]

They didn't want him to overshadow the actresses.

[Andy Lynes]

Steven, not only do I love SITC, but by amazing coincidence, my wife and rented an apartment at 1 East 93rd Street for a week about 10 years ago. I bought a copy of Silence of the Lambs from that very bookshop. Spooky.

[robert brown]

FG, did your wife take a laptop to Bhutan?

[mikeyrad]

I was waiting for you to report that Momo peed on SJ.

[Fat Guy]

Mikeyrad, though he has peed on the floor a few times (usually because I was too witless to interpret his signals properly) Momo has never peed on a person!

Robert, no, the electricity situation there isn't conducive to laptop use -- nor is it easy to carry one on a trek in the Himalayas. Her camera equipment is about all she can handle. For communication she uses the occasional Internet cafe -- but it's a sporadic thing.

[robert brown]

Steven, did I guess right about Ellen going to Bhutan? I received your subscriber e-mail today. You know, I may have met Chef Matt ten years ago at the sushi bar at the 3rd Ave. Lenghe (when Chef Morimoto was the sushi chef) I think so because it is difficult to forget an American who told me he was living in Paris and working at Arpege.

Did you get an answer about Chef Paul from James at Atlas, or did he shrug you off?

All the best,

Robert