Issue Number 1008 | Short Answers: Michael Patrick King

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Short Answers: Michael Patrick King

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.

From The Advocate May 20, 2008

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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