What a Carrie on

Published on Friday 22 February 2008 12:55

It has been years in the planning, almost derailed by egos and endlessly leaked by the fans, but the Sex and the City movie is almost in the can. Sarah Jessica Parker gives us the inside story on the struggle to serve up one last slice of the Big Apple...

WE'VE seen the dresses and the shoes, and some fans even swear they've seen the ending, but no matter how much information leaks out about the film, millions of us will still be queuing to see Sex and the City when it hits the big screen. The final release is a date that can't come quickly enough for fans – or for the film's star. "I can't wait!" says Sarah Jessica Parker.

It's fantastic – if a little surprising – to see such a big star as excited as the rest of us about an upcoming movie. What's more surprising is the hint of insecurity that lies just beneath the surface of the woman who has become a style icon who is known worldwide just by her initials.

"Throughout my entire career I have feared that I might be fired because I was not good enough," admits Parker. "You know what actors are like – most of us operate from a point of fear. I quite like being nervous. So for me, it was great to get to play a daring role like Carrie Bradshaw. But not daring in the sense of taking off my top – I've never done nudity in any of my films and it's in my contract that I never will, no matter what my character gets up to."

This modesty is all the more remarkable when you consider the subject matter of the hit programme, and Carrie's occupation as a journalist writing about sex and the single girl.

"You'll notice as Carrie in Sex and the City I am always very well dressed in bed! I've made a career not stripping and I'm not going to start at this age," she says defiantly. "I like this idea that you can be a lady and be slightly titillating and you don't have to take your clothes off.

For Parker it seems not to have been a make-or-break issue, although she rolls her astonishingly vivid blue eyes in recollection of the movie where the discovery she wouldn't do a nude scene at the 11th hour caused a bit of a fuss. Slight and neat, she may look a bit fragile and impetuous but clearly Ms Parker is strong and savvy.

"I am definitely not fragile," she says. "I've been an independent person for so long. I think of fragile people as damaged, or as objects."

As well as being an award-winning actor, SJP has many other talents. She has created two perfumes, Lovely and Covet, is a major fashionista, has been the face of Garnier and Gap and has her own line of quirky but elegant clothing called Bitten, which sells in the States for under 20 an item.

A 43-year-old who is fizzing with energy (but in a cool, New York way), there's a certain effervescent, demure quality about Parker. Petite but for the forehead a critic once described as "domed like a cathedral", she says she keeps in trim thanks to Pilates and a good deal of walking the length and breadth of Manhattan. Well liked in the industry for being professional and non-egotistical yet hard-nosed enough to get a producer credit on Sex and the City, she comes across as grounded, quick-witted and funny. She's also got plenty to say for herself.

Parker met husband and fellow actor Matthew Broderick when two of her brothers who work in the theatre in New York introduced them. The pair married in 1997 in a deconsecrated synagogue in New York, the ceremony presided over by Matthew's sister, who is an Episcopal priest.

"I always considered myself a Jew," says Parker. "My original family name was Bar-Kahn, and both Matthew and I have Jewish mothers, so I'd say we are culturally Jewish."

Broderick, 46, had wooed his share of stars before he met SJP, dating Jennifer Grey and living with Helen Hunt for three years. Parker was with Robert Downey Jr for seven years and, briefly, Nicolas Cage (her co-star in Honeymoon in Vegas) and John Kennedy Jr.

The couple live in a townhouse in Greenwich Village, just round the corner from the brownstone building that was used as the exterior of Carrie's apartment in Sex and the City ("I walk by it literally every single day") along with their five-year-old son James and dog Sally. They love going to baseball games, ride a '63 Vespa, and have a family holiday house in Donegal. They are also both active in public life and SJP is a goodwill ambassador for Unicef. She has been a participant in the crusade against Aids and has lent her support to various other causes, such as Rock the Vote (youth voter registration) and the environment. In 1995 she was given the American Civil Liberties Union Award and has fought proposed cuts to benefits – a legacy of a childhood that saw her family having spells on welfare when she qualified for free school lunches.

Parker was born in Nelsonville, Ohio, one of eight from her teacher mother's two marriages. They weren't trailer trash, she says, but life was definitely "humble". Her father was a truck driver, but there were too many mouths to feed and not enough money to go round. So, whenever film crews came to Cincinnati looking for kids for bit parts, the young Sarah and her siblings were sent along to audition. Not that they minded – "We loved the attention, the money and the endless ice-cream and candy." They were encouraged to take ballet lessons and singing classes and study theatre and music. By the age of eight Sarah was playing the lead role in The Little Match Girl on TV. "I quickly discovered that I enjoyed pretending to be someone else," she says.

Her mother saw the delight in her little girl's bright blue eyes and was determined to nurture her talent. When Sarah was 11, she won a role in the Broadway production of The Innocents (under Harold Pinter's direction) with Claire Bloom. It was a major breakthrough and the family moved east to New Jersey so she could accept the job. It was worth it. Within a couple of years the girl with the cheeky wink and chestnut hair was a regular on the Broadway stage, landing the lead in Annie when she was scarcely out of her teens.

She went on to dance with Mikhail Baryshnikov in La Sylphide (admittedly not as La Sylphide), sing at the Met for several seasons in grand operas such as Pagliacci and perform in a number of other plays. With preparation like that, high-profile jobs like hosting the MTV Movie Awards with 15 changes of outfit become just another show.

Parker's Hollywood career started when she won the role of a misfit teenager in a CBS series called Square Pegs. At 14 she made her first feature film (Rich Kids), and since then there have been 25 movies, including Mars Attacks!, The First Wives' Club, Ed Wood (as Dolores, Johnny Depp's girlfriend), LA Story (as Steve Martin's airhead girlfriend), and the recent comedy The Family Stone. Smart People, in which she stars with Dennis Quaid, premiered at the Sundance Festival earlier this year. None of her films have come close to matching her small-screen success, but that could change with the release of the Sex and the City movie.

Like his wife, Broderick has been acting since he was a child (his mother is a screenwriter and his late father was an actor). Before they married, back in 1995, he and Parker starred opposite each other nightly in the Broadway revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

Was it difficult working with someone with whom she was romantically involved? "Matthew is so charming that if he ran one of those gambling games on the street and you lost 40 bucks at it, you'd walk away laughing," she says. "Like any marriage in which both partners work, you have disappointments and thrilling moments. And we are both delighted by the good things that happen to each other. We've made our peace with all that actors' ego stuff but the real problem is, with our schedules, we don't get to see much of each other a lot of the time.

"Luckily, we don't have that LA celebrity thing to deal with. We don't go out much.

She laughs when I ask if there's much of Carrie in her. "Most of my friends think it's hilarious that the public look to me for fashion inspiration. I have a certain beloved pair of sweatpants that I've owned for many years and some old T-shirts that the greatest couture gown can't compete with.

"I have a team of style experts for being Carrie, but I am not Carrie. I'm not even much of a shopper – I don't feel I need a lot of clothes. But I work in an industry where appearance is everything and sometimes I have to work hard at looking good."

Not everything Carrie wore was a winner in the fashion stakes (that pink tutu from the opening titles springs to mind) – did she ever refuse to wear the wardrobe departments suggestions? "As I've gotten older I have become more confident at saying when something doesn't feel right and I feel I have found my style after quite a few faux pas," she says. "My theory is that women should feel comfortable and confident regardless of their age, size, colour or shape.

"The idea that skinny is beautiful is nuts, for example. It doesn't suit everybody and it's just not realistic for everyone. Not everyone can afford a trainer, nutritionist and yoga teacher." Does she work out? "No! I don't have time any more. My workout is walking up all the flights of stairs at home carrying my son – though even that I find I am doing a little slower nowadays.

"Whoever said that 40 is the new 30?" she wonders. "It just isn't true. Things begin to slow down and ache when you pass 40. The older body just doesn't snap back into shape and nor does the face."

Is Parker anxious about ageing? "I buy wrinkle creams and worry about it like every other woman," she says. "I might be getting older but I still want to feel sexy or attractive. When I go to a premiere I like to borrow lovely clothes and shoes from designers. It's like the library: if you return them in good condition, you get to borrow more. I'm very lucky."

Parker is still astonished at the huge popularity of Sex and the City – and the fact that it won over both critics and audiences alike. There are countless fan websites dedicated to SATC, and both she and the show have won numerous awards.

"I simply can't believe how well it has done. I have to admit I was more than slightly nervous before the show started," she laughs. "In fact, I said no to it at first. I had my doubts about being cast in a possibly long-term TV series. You simply couldn't know that people would find it saucy and smart or if they'd say, 'Well, this is just completely inappropriate. Who are these dirty, awful people who pollute our airwaves?'

"Now I find that middle-aged gentlemen in suits hurry past and whisper, 'Love your show,' and total strangers tell me their intimate bedroom secrets because they think I'm Carrie. I've got used to it, but it's very awkward for my husband." r

• Sex and the City is released in the USA this spring

Unforgettable Sex and the city moments

• The first ever episode

It screened in the US on June 6, 1998, and saw Carrie, Samantha and Miranda deciding to start having sex like men ("without feeling"). Charlotte didn't buy into it.

• Carrie's bus poster

Seen during the opening credits, the photoshoot for this poster actually featured in the series one episode, 'Secret Sex'. The warning signs flashed about Big when he didn't turn up to see the poster's maiden voyage.

• The Rabbit

Thanks to Sex and the City, this vibrator became a best-seller. It was Miranda who introduced her friends to the Rampant Rabbit, and Charlotte quickly became addicted to it.

• Big proposes to someone else

Carrie discovered Big had got over his commitment issues when he married Natasha. Of course it was only a matter of time before Carrie and Big began an affair.

• The up-the-butt girl

In an episode titled 'Valley of the Twenty-Something Guys', Charlotte decided not to have anal sex with her boyfriend because she didn't want to be known as "the up-the-butt girl".

• Samantha takes Viagra

It had to happen, and the results were on a par with Meg Ryan's orgasm scene in When Harry Met Sally.

• Charlotte meets Trey McDougall

When Charlotte met a rich, handsome doctor, she seemed to have found the perfect man. Viewers, however, still thought of him as Special Agent Cooper from Twin Peaks.

• Aidan proposes to Carrie

Girls everywhere swooned over Aidan, but we all knew Carrie would never stop pining for Big.

• Miranda decides to keep her baby

Miranda was transformed from career girl to struggling mother, and baby Brady added a new dimension to the show.

• Samantha's chemical peel

She kept her very red chin up and went to Carrie's party nonetheless, but it was enough to put most of us off ever trying the procedure.

• Carrie's shoes are stolen

SATC put Manolo Blahnik shoes on the map, so it was inevitable they'd get a starring role when Carrie was mugged – she handed over her cash without complaint but was enraged when the cheeky thief demanded her Manolos too.

• Charlotte and Harry's wedding

Just about everything went wrong – the groom saw the bride before the wedding, Charlotte spilled wine on herself, Harry failed to smash the ceremonial glass and Miranda started a fire. But even all that couldn't spoil the big day.

• Samantha fights breast cancer

Boyfriend Smith showed his love by shaving his head before shaving Samantha's, and she received a standing ovation after giving a speech at a cancer benefit where she took off her wig and admitted to having hot flushes.

• An American Girl in Paris (part deux)

The final episode, and when Petrovsky left Carrie alone in Paris, Big turned up on cue to sweep her off her feet. Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda got their happy endings too.

• The film

Back in 2004 it looked like it was never going to happen, with rumours that Kim Cattrall wouldn't sign up because of a pay deal considerably less than SJP's. But fans everywhere can breathe a sigh of relief that it all worked out in the end.