SQUARE PEG NO MORE
Talking with ‘Sex And The City’ star Sarah Jessica Parker
interview by Fred Topel
Sex and the City: The Movie has had millions of fans metaphorically lining up for tickets since the TV series ended. Still, filmmakers want more than just their core fans to enjoy the film. Star and producer Sarah Jessica Parker has been pleased that viewers from all walks of life have complimented her during her promotional tour for the film.
“I’ve spoken to a number of people over the last 48 hours who confessed that they really weren’t fans of the show, or just didn’t really spend their time watching it, and that they were surprised that they could be drawn in and feel certain things,” said Parker. “These were straight men, straight women, gay men, and all sorts of people in-between.”
The film does include many high fashion Easter eggs for the loyal fans. When Carrie Bradshaw goes through her closet, the filmmakers had to secure all the archived ensembles from the show’s six year run. Other items were harder to secure.
“I had to call The Smithsonian and beg for my desk back and for my laptop back. I had to beg. They said no repeatedly. I’m a decent enough liar, but I could not have made up that story. What happened was there was a time in the screenplay where the desk figured very prominently in the story. I know it’s hard to imagine a desk being that important, but The Smithsonian had asked for the desk and the laptop when the show ended. We went to them way early in prep and said, ’Can we borrow it back for three or four months?’ and they said, ’No.’ Then John Melfi’s office called again and spoke to the same gentleman and they said, ’No. That is the understanding with the museum.’ They called again and they said ’No,’ so then I called the gentleman, and I said, ’Is there anyway I can make you feel comfortable loaning this to us one more time?’ He was very kind and thoughtful and said he would get back to me. He did, and I said, ’I will pay for the shipping, we’ll take super good care of it, and we will deed it to you for life.’ So, he allowed us to have it.”
A “Sex and the City” movie was almost a no-go. When first approached, Kim Cattrall declined to return and Parker would not proceed without the entire cast in place. When Cattrall reconsidered, Parker welcomed her back with no hard feelings.
“It wasn’t my business, and I don’t think that you would ask your colleagues the same questions, actually. I don’t really think that I would want to deconstruct to Kim, ’Why was this right?’ It was just important to me that it was right, that’s all I cared about. I wanted her to be there and be happy. Let me tell the men’s contracts, by the way, let this go down in the history books, were far more complicated than the women’s. Just so you know. I think I’ve said far too much.”
Once reunited on the set of the movie, it was not business as usual. So much time had passed and anticipation was so high, that the actors entered a different world from their comfortable TV habitat.
“The first scene was in chronological order. It was the scene of the four of us on Park Avenue. Kim is in the red, I’m in the white Ralph Lauren, and it was one of the most unforgettable days of my life. Just getting to the point of making the movie, what it took to put it all back together again, everything about it was kind of set up for this buoyant feeling. It was this perfect September day and the streets were lined with hundreds and hundreds of people watching. We had three cameras set up that day. The paparazzi were surrounding us. Kim had yet to be on the set and Cynthia [Nixon] had yet to work. Neither of them had walked on the set yet. It’s just kind of unforgettable. They had no dialogue that day, I had shot in the morning and continued to shoot afterwards, but it was like being in an alternate universe for about two hours.”
Even with fans stalking the set, nobody has managed to uncover the ultra-secret storyline. Parker only hinted that it may be more dramatic than even some of the episodes of the show.
“I was so proud that we got to tell that story, in that way, and that we were allowed to have something be very bleak and real and see Carrie filled with real despair and sadness. The movie was allowed to have pathos. I know that those people who like the show will expect the joy, the good times, the whimsy, the clothes, the cocktails, and the salty language. What they might not expect is that the shank of the movie is pretty sad. It’s sad because if you invest ten years in a relationship at 40, and you lose it, there is that kind of loss, it has to have value, and it has to have meaning. To have played it any other way would have been a great disservice. I couldn’t have pictured the story I wanted to tell, but I’m sure glad it was this one.”
Of course it would not be “Sex and the City” without high fashion, and costume designer Patricia Field lined up wardrobe that would speak to the charactErs.
“Yeah, the women are older,” said Parker. “They are not on the market in the same way, romantically speaking. I think there is definitely connective tissue between where they had left and who they are now, but I think she is a great storyteller with clothes. She also understands the desire for eye candy. She has the ability to balance those things. She and I started talking in June of 2007. We started talking just about the wedding gowns, because we knew it was going to be a complicated process to get them all. We really wanted to have a wide variety. We pulled from Harlem, we pulled from the East Village, Mexico, all over Western Europe, parts of Eastern Europe, American designers, vintage pieces. It was a long process and that is just the way she works. You just can’t do it without her. She has such an integral part now in this whole process.”
In real life, Parker has her own fashion line, but it is not the sort of wardrobe Carrie Bradshaw would model. “These are basics. This is the stuff that is the foundation of Carrie’s wardrobe, but not fashion. This is very specific American sportswear. When I left the show I found myself with these crazy opportunities to design clothes, which I have no skill doing. I can’t drape, sew, stitch, draw, or sketch, none of it. I have all these friends who are really gifted designers who struggle with finances and are begging for financial backing and they get none. I was being offered this money to do this and I just thought it was wrong. I thought if I did it, I was doing it for money and it never seemed right. I was brought this opportunity to work with Steve & Barry’s. To tell the story quickly, this isn’t about fashion. It’s about giving women in this country what they need. It’s about necessity. It’s about creating affordable clothing for women across this country whether they are teachers or single mothers or medical students or a 14-year-old girl who have a very, very limited income. Everything is under $20, every single thing.”
In this business, Parker leaves the creative part to the experts. “I have two other people on the design team like most places. Some people have bigger teams than that. Most people do. It’s necessary that those people come from the world of mass, which is what this is, and fashion. So one can sketch, for instance, and one understands about mass. You produce a lot of stuff outside the country so it’s a business you have to learn. So I have two people, Mikeel, Irene, and myself. We do it together and they bring me ideas and I bring them ideas. We are working on fall right now, next season.”
Perhaps Carrie would relate to the philosophy of Parker’s clothes, if not the actual ensembles. “We have focused, with the clothing line, on really starting with people need first, because so many people in this country do not have what they need. Having what you want is just a luxury, but starting with what you need is the most important thing. What I learned from Pat is just do what makes you feel comfortable. There shouldn’t be any rules. You shouldn’t have to wear what I wear. Wear what feels good when you walk out the door, and anyone else’s ideas have no business.”•••
Fred Topel is a regular contributor to EDGE Boston.
