Photograph: Niko Tavernise/HBO
Stunning NYC filming locations in HBO Max's The Undoing
The series does not skimp on gorgeous NYC locations.
Collier Sutter
Thursday November 12 2020
The Undoing, HBO's new limited series starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant, is a psychological thriller that follows the life of Upper East Side socialites Grace Fraser (Kidman), husband Jonathan (Grant) and their son, Henry (Noah Jupe). The Frasers are part of a glossy Upper East Side world—Grace is an elegant, renowned therapist, and Jonathan is a well-respected doctor. Their world is put on blast and falls apart in the public eye, when the violent murder of Jonathan's mistress, Elena, is revealed.
The six-part series by Big Little Lies creator David E. Kelley may have a star-studded cast, but the true star-character throughout is good 'ol New York City. The series does not skimp on gorgeous NYC locations, each one adding to the atmosphere of the thriller and offering a peek into the lavish, pre-pandemic world of the Upper East Side. The Undoing airs on HBO and is available to stream on HBO Max. (Spoiler alert: If you have yet to see the show for yourself, keep in mind the following locales may spill the beans.)
1. The Frasers' Townhouse
Photograph: Warrick Page/HBO
In The Undoing, the Frasers residence is a multilevel brick townhouse at 8 East 63rd Street between Fifth Avenue and Madison Avenue—a stone's throw from Central Park. The home is actually for sale for a cool $29.9 million. The apartment's set was made to look lived-in with cozy paint colors. The opening scene is in the kitchen, where their son Henry blends a smoothie.
2. The Reardon School
Photograph: David Giesbrecht/HBO
There are several scenes showing the outside of Reardon, the fictional private school Henry attends. While the school doesn't exist in real life, it may look familiar. Its front brick courtyard and staircase belong to the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church located at 75 E. 93rd Street. You may recognize it as a film location in Gossip Girl.
3. Grace's Father's Apartment
David Giesbrecht
Grace's father, played by Donald Sutherland, lives in an apartment at 1215 Fifth Avenue just south of The Museum of the City of New York. We see the interior of the building's lobby, and the father's pre-war, ultra-wealthy and ultra-formal apartment, which looks like a museum. The set of the apartment was created explicitly for the show.
4. The Alvarez apartment
The Alvarez family lives in a tiny apartment in East Harlem at 102 E. 103rd Street, a couple of blocks east of The Museum of the City of New York and nearby to the Metro-North line that snakes from Grand Central to 125th Street and all points north after that.
5. The Frick Collection
We see Grace's father checking out art at the Frick Collection, a museum of art on the Upper East Side, as he tells her to take Henry and get out of town.
6. The beach house
Niko Tavernise/HBO
Grace and her son flee to her father's beach house on the North Fork of Long Island, which is technically located in East Marion, just east of Greenport.
7. New York County Criminal Court
Courtesy HBO
Jonathan is brought into court at 100 Centre Street, the location of New York County Criminal Court and the Criminal Term of the New York County Supreme Court.
8. Rikers Island
In the Undoing, Jonathan is held at Rikers Island. You can spot an aerial shot of the bridge and of Rikers Island after Jonathan is arrested at the family's beach house. When the camera shows close-ups of Jonathan's arrival at the jail facilities, that shot is actually of the former Queens House of Detention in Kew Gardens located at 126-02 82nd Avenue. In The Night Of, this Queen's Detention Center was also used in place of Rikers Island.
9. Donahue's
Donohue's, a small steakhouse at 845 Lexington Ave., is where Jonathan's public defender asks Grace to vouch for Jonathan's innocence.
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