Nicole Kidman, Hugh Grant film HBO limited series ‘The Undoing’ in East Marion
As trailers with the names “Lucy” and “Desi” popped up outside the East Marion firehouse Monday, the community buzzed with anticipation of a Hollywood set taking shape in the small neighborhood. After all, what sort of A-list actors command such esteemed leading lady and man monikers?
By Tuesday afternoon, as Golden Globe-winning actor Hugh Grant arrived at the Rocky Point Road set, followed a short time later by Oscar winner Nicole Kidman, curious onlookers had their answer.
The famous stars were in town to film scenes for the upcoming HBO limited series “The Undoing,” based on the 2014 novel “You Should Have Known” by Jean Hanff Korelitz.
The six-part series was created by legendary television producer David E. Kelley with a pilot helmed by filmmaker Susanne Bier, who recently directed the Netflix smash hit “Bird Box.” The series, which is set to hit the cable channel in 2020, also stars Golden Globe winner Donald Sutherland.
A film permit application filed with Southold Town shows the production was scheduled to shoot locally for three days, including a helicopter scene that required Federal Aviation Administration approval. Crew members said that scene was filmed Monday.
On Tuesday, Rocky Point Road was lined with trucks as film crews set up for the day’s shoot at a home on the dead-end street. A neighboring house served as a craft services area. More than 125 crew members were working the shoot.
Since the scene was supposed to take place in winter, crew members said they were picking flowers off the set. A prop Suffolk County police car was also spotted on the property where filming took place.
Like the novel it is based on, “The Undoing” reportedly tells the story of the unraveling of a successful Manhattan therapist as she learns things she never knew about her life on the eve of her first book being published. In the novel, the main character, Grace (played in the series by Ms. Kidman) and her husband Jonathan (Mr. Grant) have a summer house in Connecticut.
This is not the first time Ms. Kidman has filmed on The North Fork. In 2007, she filmed a scene for the Noah Baumbach indie “Margot at the Wedding” at the Greenport Long Island Rail Road station. In that movie, the North Fork set served as a stand-in for the Hamptons.
“The Undoing” is the second major production to set up shop on the North Fork in recent months. Last October, the Netflix film “Lost Girls,” about Gilgo Beach mom Mary Gilbert’s search for her daughter Shannan, filmed in Southold and Mattituck. That movie is expected to hit the streaming service later this year, though no official release date has been announced.
Previous HBO productions to film on the North Fork include “The Sopranos,” “Boardwalk Empire,” “Crashing” and “Girls,” which also shot on Rocky Point Road. Those productions brought the likes of Golden Globe winners James Gandolfini, Lena Dunham and Steve Buscemi to the area.
Top Caption: Actor Hugh Grant on the set of “The Undoing” in East Marion Tuesday. (Credit: Cyndi Zaweski)
