Exclusive: Lena Olin Loves the Hamptons Off-Season

“I looooove the Hamptons,” coos actress Lena Olin. “I’ve loved it from the first time I went there years ago. We’ve rented in the Hamptons. Unfortunately, I don’t own anything there. I wish I did. It’s such an extraordinary place.”

The star of iconic films like The Unbearable Lightness of Being was here two years ago—in the off-season—shooting The Artist’s Wife with Bruce Dern. It premiered at the Hamptons International Film Festival last year. The struggling-with-dementia drama was filmed in an East Hampton estate and features a lot of Hampton’s exteriors (even a few Citarella bags) for local flavor. The Olins like it here after Labor Day, she says. “I’ve been there in the summer a lot, obviously, we have a lot of friends there. But I think that whole experience of spending so much time off-season when we did the film was really great.” Lena and husband, writer/director, Lasse Hallström, have been spending the pandemic indoors. Creativity ensued.

“We’re writing a script that I’m going to be involved in,” says Olin. “We’ve had a creative, fun space in our life where we can devote a lot of time to that. It’s about a Swedish painter who died in 1946.  It’s called Hilma because her name was Hilma af Klint.” Sadly, no Hamptons locations are called for this time. And besides writing a new script, safely tucked away in their Bedford, NY home, Olin is happy about one thing these days: “We’ve been lucky because we’re healthy and our family is healthy.” The Artist’s Wife began streaming on September 25. Order in from Citarella and put your bag next to the screen.