First Glimpse Of ‘The Perfect Couple’ - Netflix Series Filmed In Chatham To Debut Sept. 5

CHATHAM – In a scene in the new trailer for “The Perfect Couple,” the Netflix series filmed in town last year, Liev Schreiber, alone and apparently abandoned, calls out from an interrogation room into dark, empty space.

“Hello?” he says, followed by silence.

That scene was filmed in the basement of what is now Elwood’s Raw Bar in the Northport Plaza, where the production company built sets to stand in for the Nantucket Police Department. Unfortunately, neither the interrogation room nor a jail cell built for the show remain.

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“They took everything,” said Elwood’s co-owner David Eldredge. “We wanted to keep the jail cell,” with the idea of making it an exclusive dining spot, he said. However, the producers cited liability in gutting the entire space down to the walls. All that remained were a couple of interior doors and the ghostly imprint of the Nantucket town seal on the glass door, visible when the air gets steamy.

“The Perfect Couple,” based on Elin Hilderbrand’s 2018 book, will be released on Sept. 5. Netflix released a teaser trailer for the show Thursday that features many recognizable local scenes.

The story of a wedding gone horribly wrong takes place on Nantucket but was shot largely in Chatham, with a waterfront estate in the private Eastward Point neighborhood serving as the main set. Other local scenes recognizable in the trailer include the Chatham Beach and Tennis Club, the Eastward Point beach (where a body is discovered just before the wedding, setting up the central mystery) and the faux “Nantucket Police Department” created at the Northport Plaza.

The series features a number of top Hollywood stars, including Nicole Kidman (also a producer, along with Nantucket-based Hilderbrand), Schreiber, Dakota Fanning and Eve Hewson. Also appearing are Jack Raynor, Billy Howle, and Isabelle Adjani.

The production elicited quite a bit of interest last spring and summer and pumped a considerable amount of money into the Cape economy with its multimillion-dollar budget. Most of the filming occurred in the gated Eastward Point neighborhood, with the North Chatham site the most visible location. The sight of Nantucket Police cars parked along the front of the building caused many double takes.

Toward the end of the shoot in June, filming was disrupted by members of the Writers Guild of America, who were on strike at the time. Picketers marched along the entrance to the private road as well as at the former Stagg Chevrolet dealership in East Harwich, which was being used as a base of operations for the production. The strike began weeks earlier and most union productions were shut down, but “The Perfect Couple” filming had apparently escaped striking writers’ notice. Filming reportedly concluded later on Nantucket and other eastern Massachusetts locations.

Filming was supposed to wrap last May, but as it dragged on into June it became clear Elwood’s would not be able to open in time for the summer season, said co-owner Tanya Khalil. They were finally able to gain access to the space in mid July and worked over the winter and spring to open this season.

The set had a very authentic look but up close was clearly just a facade, Eldredge said. One anecdote confirmed its veracity: before the set was completely disassembled, someone stopped by and asked when Nantucket had moved its police department to Chatham, he recalled.