Dan's Papers - October 6, 2006 - Nancy Grigor Of Hamptons Locations

To walk onto the back deck of Nancy Grigor's home is to understand why art directors covet the Hamptons to sell movies and tablecloths alike. Dune grass gracefully sweeps from the deck to the beach below. Atlantic waves pound the shore before washing back to where a blue horizon blends into blue sky. The perfect backdrop for a Martha Stewart table setting. Or a poignantly stark scene from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Grigor's home has been location to both.

But Grigor has opened more East End homes than just her own to film and photo crews. The former model and actress, and current resident of Amagansett, is the owner and president of Hamptons Locations, an East End location scouting and production company. With roughly 500 locations on the North and South Forks, Grigor can find an art director, photographer, or filmmaker the perfect setting in which to shoot his movie, TV commercial, catalogue, or magazine cover. She even found Robert Downey Jr. a venue when the frantic groom-to-be called her with just four days to find a new wedding location. Ironic, considering Grigor never intended to do weddings. "When I started I said 'no weddings' the way cleaning women say 'no windows.'" Yet, years later, Grigor fouand herself taking Downey Jr. on a tour around the Amagansett house that would be the site of his nuptials and the Billy Joel and Sting concert that followed. "In the end, it's all about finding a good location," said Grigor.

The locations, mainly houses, are arranged on her website in categories such as "modern," "barn," and even "southwest," which came in handy when Martha Stewart magazine needed pickup shots after an Arizona photo shoot.

The website, in addition to listing hundreds of photos of hundreds of houses, also includes a place for homeowners to volunteer their houses as possible locations. There is no shortage of volunteers. There are two reasons. The first is that owners can earn, on average, between $2,500 and $3,500 per day, depending on the number of crewmembers involved in the shoot. The second is that they get a chance to watch movie stars being photographed on their living room sofa.

Celebrities are often on set at Grigor's locations. Around Memorial Day, Grigor met Scarlett Johansson, Paul Giamatti, and Laura Linney while they shot exterior scenes for the upcoming Nanny Diaries at the Kennedy House in East Hampton, a late 1880s house and one of Grigor's favorite locations.

Most recently, Grigor hung out with Nicole Kidman and Jack Black during filming for Noah Baumbach's The Squid and the Whale, a project in Hampton Bays and Quogue. Grigor and Black were already acquainted from the Premiere magazine shoot done on the beach behind Grigor's house. Grigor showed photos of Black wearing an old-fashion, one-piece swimsuit on the sand below her deck.

While Black was funny, Grigor says, Jim Carrey was funnier. Grigor took pity on Carrey who was filming on the 20-degree beach behind her house, inviting him inside to do his hair and make-up. Grigor showed off a photo of the two of them standing in front of the large mermaid statue in her living room.

Yet, the photo Grigor loves the most is the one of her and her "favorite of all time," Richard Gere, outside one of her "barn" locations. "I made all my girlfriends jealous," laughs Grigor.

In addition to movie stars, Grigor also runs into many of the photographers and models she knew from her own modeling days. She now finds locations for local photographer Tony Lattari, who once shot her for the cover of Butternick Patterns, and for Patrick Demarchelier, who shot Christie Brinkley in a health bar ad at a Grigor location. Coming full circle, Grigor has done 4 to 5 jobs with Brinkley, whose bathing suit line she once modeled.

It is her modeling past that makes Grigor a skilled location scout. "Being in front of the camera made me know what to look for behind it," explains Grigor as she displays a series of Maximillian Furs ads she did. She points past the smoldering images of herself in massive furs to classic movie themed backgrounds. She notes how the windows, furniture, and room tell a story. "I paid attention to all that. It was the equivalent of a college education, and I took all that and applied it to my business," says Grigor. Knowing the importance of lighting from her photo shoot days, Grigor is careful to photograph her locations from every angle. She photographs east and west sides of a house so the photographer can see what the light is like at sunrise and sunset, popular times to shoot. For each house, she has dozens of photos documenting every detail that could inform a director, even which way the doors open.

This understanding of setting's role in film or photo shot developed during an extensive modeling career both here and abroad. Under the Ford Agency, Grigor modeled for Bill Blass, Versace, and others. She was even a "Halstonette" for American design Halston. Modeling eventually sent her to Paris, then on to Germany where Grigor's desire to explore blossomed. Wanting to experience the country as deeply as she could, Grigor rented an Opal and traveled the country before eventually following the collection shows south to Milan.

After living in Milan for some time, she returned to New York City. Then, in 1979, her accountant urged her to buy her first home in Southampton. Waking up on her first morning of visiting the Little Fresh Pond property she was touring, she was struck by a sunset that reminded her of those from her Pennsylvania childhood. She bought the house with money she earned from seven national TV commercials she did with director Steve Horn, who was responsible for the first Virginia Slims print ads.

Seven years later, and eager for an ocean view, Grigor moved to her current home in Amagansett. Her photo editor friends were also eager for ocean views. They began using Grigor's home for shoots with such frequency that Grigor decided to make a business out of it. Ever since then she has been finding directors, photographers, and, yes, even brides, a picture perfect piece of the East End to make their film, their magazine, their wedding that much more "Hamptons."