From their shoe-box-sized apartments to their skyscraper heels, Sex and the City's Carrie Bradshaw and friends are quintessential New Yorkers. However, it looks like the new Sex and the City film will have a more European flavour after film-makers announced they are holding open auditions next week and are desperate for people to play Brits.

The Brits, it seems, are equally desperate to bag a role in the much-hyped sequel, with UK hopefuls heading over to New York in droves. Theatrical agent Rossmoore Management, which is affiliated with the famous Sylvia Young theatre school, admitted it had already sent several actors over to audition for the film.

While the thousands expected to queue outside New York's Metropolitan Pavilion on Tuesday for their chance to impress casting agent Grant Wilfey may have little chance of securing a role, the fanfare surrounding the auditions has kickstarted a publicity juggernaut which will trumpet the film until it is screened in May 2010.

Casting agents are looking for actors to play "fashion models, celebrity types, upscale socialites, urban club goers, gays and lesbians, international types (Middle Eastern, Arabic, Asian, European, British) and professional soccer players", and several high-profile Brits have already let it be known that they are keen.

Victoria Beckham is rumoured to be making a cameo appearance, and glamour model Katie Price told reporters she has already auditioned for a part. "I recently went to LA where I was doing my acting lessons for Sex and the City 2. They want a big-breasted English glamour girl and I have had the audition," said Price.

The first Sex and the City film, which was released in May 2008, was a massive success, grossing more than €280m around the world. The storyline for the new film is being kept strictly under wraps, but it is thought that part of the action will be set in London, with film crews expected to descend on the UK in December.

"I had heard that they are going to be shooting part of the film in London, so it would make sense that they would be looking for British cast members," said Helen O'Hara, of film magazine Empire. "They do like to globetrot in Sex and the City , especially for the big emotional moments – like when Carrie went to Paris at the end of the TV series."

Some believe the decision to cast Brits is less to do with the locations for filming and more to do with the nation's innate sense of style.

"It is a film where fashion is so intrinsic it's virtually a supporting role, and Brits are huge style setters," said James Williams, associate editor of Glamour magazine. "We have a distinctive style which is a real mixture and marriage of designer, high-street and vintage. An average British woman would never wear one label top-to-toe for example – she likes to mix it up: a fashion characteristic that echoes Carrie's, and indeed SATC stylist, Patricia Field's way of dressing."

O'Hara added: "They often have open casting calls for big films, which can sometimes be a used as a publicity stunt. The classic example of this is Gone with the Wind, in which the director made a big fuss about the fact he couldn't find anyone to play Scarlett , when rumour has it he actually found Vivienne Leigh early on."