Sex and the City viewing guide
New York, N.Y., April 28, 2008
One Web site is promising a survival guide for boyfriends and
husbands, "chock full of tips to help make the experience as
painless as possible." A Chicago columnist - do we need to tell
you he's a guy? - is offering "Get Out of Watching the 'Sex and
the City' Movie" cards, to help fellow males avoid "the agony of
this film."
Oh, please. Relax, men! You should feel free to stay home and
drink beers, build shelves, or mess around in the garage while your
female companions bond over the chance to revisit Carrie, Miranda,
Charlotte and Samantha, and check out their closets, too.
And just what have these four long-lost pals been doing the last
four years? The actresses who play them sat down with The
Associated Press in separate interviews and shared some thoughts on
where we left their characters, where we find them now, and what
the actresses share, or don't, with their fictional alter egos.
Herewith, your viewing guide:
CARRIE BRADSHAW (Sarah Jessica Parker) - The stiletto-clad
epicenter of the now decade-long "Sex and the City" story. A sex
columnist who dated her way across Manhattan (well, there was also
that night in Staten Island) and then mused about her findings on
love and lust to her friends, and of course to us.
Where We Left Her: At the end of the series, Carrie had just
been rescued, fairy-tale style, from a grim relationship with that
narcissistic Russian artist in Paris. Her knight in shining armor:
Mr. Big, her once commitment-phobic boyfriend who appears to have
seen the light, in the City of Light. "Carrie, you're the one" he
says, and whisks her back to New York.
Where We Find Her Now: Cozy and happy, in a long-term
relationship with Big. "She's content, and totally in love," says
Parker. And older, of course: "This movie is in many ways about
being an adult," says the 43-year-old actress. And richer, too,
thanks to a succession of best-selling books. Now a contributing
editor for Vogue, Carrie's still in her one-bedroom apartment. And
still a buddy to Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte.
Is Carrie Anything Like Sarah? "No, totally different! She's a
much more modern woman than I am. She's chosen not to have children
at this point," says Parker, who has a 5-year-old son with husband
Matthew Broderick. "She has a more colorful dating past. She gets
to spend a lot more time with her friends. And her indulgence in
fashion, I can't compete," says the actress, downplaying her role
as a fashion icon. "In love, her moral compass has at times been
questionable. We're just very, very different, but I love her. I
don't always like her, but I love her."
MIRANDA HOBBES (Cynthia Nixon) - Fortyish lawyer, hard-driving,
career-focused. Lots of romantic adventures, too. Has a hard time
relaxing.
Where We Left Her: The one character to have made the foray to
an outer borough - in this case Brooklyn - Miranda was living there
contentedly, to her great surprise, with her down-to-earth
bartender husband, Steve, and their baby son, Brady.
Where We Find Her Now: Contentment has gone out the window.
"She's at a real low point," says Nixon, 42. "She's just
stretched way too thin between her work and her home life, trying
to do it all and feeling like she's failing miserably in each of
these realms. She's very angry when the film starts. Well, Miranda
is frequently angry."
Is Miranda Anything Like Cynthia? "Oh yeah, there are a bunch
of things. I'm very much a career person. I feel like we both work
from our head and our emotions catch up with us later. But she's a
lot more aggressive than I am. She's likely to put someone on the
spot, whereas my impulse is always to let the person off the hook.
But I'm more comfortable in the domestic realm than she is," says
Nixon, who lives with her partner, Christine Marinoni, and has two
children from a previous relationship. "And I wasn't conflicted
about motherhood - I always knew I was having at least one kid."
SAMANTHA JONES (Kim Cattrall) - PR executive, late (very late)
40s, with a healthy sexual appetite to say the least. Willing to
try anything and anyone, in that area, including wealthy seniors,
delivery men, some guy in a yoga class, and, once, a woman. Not a
believer in monogamy, or even spending the whole night.
Where We Left Her: In a somber turn for her character, Samantha
had undergone treatment for breast cancer, which entailed losing
her hair, and, for a while, her sex drive. But hunky actor Smith
Jerrod stayed by her side and the sex drive returned at the very
end.
Where We Find Her Now: "Living monogamy," says Cattrall. "As
they say, 'Good luck with that!"' Samantha has left her beloved
New York to move to California with Smith, her first real settled
relationship. "She has no safety net," the actress says. "She
packs up, leaves, closes down her office. That's how much she wants
to make this work."
Is Samantha Anything Like Kim? "Well, we're both women of a
certain age, with a passion for life," says the 51-year-old
actress, laughing. The same, ahem, type of passion? She sidesteps
that question. "I'm much more connected to food than she is,"
Cattrall allows. "She's not a very good cook." Like Samantha,
Cattrall has gone through a few tough years. "I was exhausted when
the series ended," she says. (Reports said original plans for the
movie, right after the series ended in 2004, were scuttled in part
by Cattrall's demands for more money.) "A lot of things have
happened in the last four years and they haven't all been great,"
she says, referring to her divorce and her father's diagnosis of
dementia.
CHARLOTTE YORK (Kristin Davis) - Park Avenue socialite, formerly
worked in an art gallery, pretty and a little prim, a believer in
true love. Had one bad marriage (first her husband couldn't
perform, then they couldn't conceive). On the bright side, she did
get the apartment.
Where We Left Her: How's this for convenient? Charlotte ended up
with her divorce lawyer, the devoted Harry, for whom she converted
to Judaism. After a thwarted attempt to adopt, they learned they'd
be getting a baby girl from China.
Where We Find Her Now: "She's got her daughter. She's in a much
more settled place," says Davis. "She's been dealing with
infertility and adoption. Her house is no longer all white! It's
real love with Harry. They have three dogs, a little brood. She's
the most settled of her friends, in a good way. And she's there for
her friends more than she was ever before."
Is Charlotte anything like Kristin? "No! My life looks a lot
different," says Davis, 43, who is single. "We're not driven in
the same way, and we don't have the same goals."
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)