Sarah Jessica Parker jetted to England a couple of days ago for the start of an almost two-week European tour in support of Sex and the City through London, Berlin and Paris.
But before you think how Carrie Bradshaw it all sounds, you should know she doesn’t like being away from hubby Matthew Broderick and 5-year-old son James Wilkie for too long.
So she has a plan to keep in touch with her little man. "I speak to him probably three times a day, and we have a whole system of staying in touch,” Parker told me over the phone from London. "And Matthew is, I must say, brilliantly handling things. I’m so impressed!"
Sweet, no? So then let's get to the Sex, shall we? Read on for my exclusive one-on-one with SJP. We talk about Mr. Big, her favorite SATC episode and why her son won’t be watching the hit HBO series for many more years to come...
How many outfits do you bring with you for the press tour?
[Laughs.] Probably more than is necessary. But they’ve really got us busy over there, and we have a lot of work to do, so we are required to wear clothes. It’s the law. That’s how I rationalize it.
Did you watch some of the episodes to get back into your role for the movie?
Any excuse to not look at myself is preferable. And in my opinion, the script just really stood on its own. [Director and writer] Michael Patrick King has such skill in telling these women’s stories. We didn’t have any time to rehearse at all, so he said to all of us, “You all have been rehearsing for six years.” It’s strange how much muscle memory there is in a role.
The new issue of Vogue just came out with you on the cover. The shots of you and Chris Noth are amazing. The chemistry is still there.
It was incredibly easy with Chris. We stay in touch, we email, and we’re really good friends, and I just adore him. I just adore being around him.
I asked a bunch of friends what they would ask if they could ask you one question, and at least five said they wanted to know which your favorite episode was.
I’m very bad at picking favorites, because I’m one of eight kids and I always heard my mother saying, “I will never pick a favorite among the eight.” But I have particular fondness for the early episodes, because we were just figuring out how we wanted to tell these stories. One episode in particular is “Valley of the Twenty-Something Guys,” because it’s kind of dark and there’s something very fresh about the storytelling.
When did you realizeSATC would continue to be popular after the series ended? Even Miley Cyrus was recently quoted saying Sex and the City is her favorite show.
What?! Is that right?
Yeah.
Gosh, wow! When we were shooting the second season, I started seeing visual things that I realized were a connection to the show. You know, nameplate necklaces that hadn’t been worn in this generation yet.
And all those shoes.
Yes, and the shoes. I recall waiting for my luggage at a baggage carousel, and a man came up almost slightly embarrassed and whispered in my ear, “I really like your show.” I thought, Well we’ve even reached the men in some way.
You started out very young, so do you think you would have come out as normal as you are if things were like they are today with the Internet and the paparazzi?
I think it’s very hard. It’s hard enough to be 15, but to be scrutinized and followed and not being able to kind of grow up on your own and not being able to make mistakes privately, I think, is very hard on a young person.
Let’s talk about Broadway. When are we going to see you in a musical again?
It depends on schedules and my son’s life and can I be home to put him to bed? And who’s going to be home to put him to bed? I mean, I can’t be on stage if Matthew’s on stage. We can’t both be gone from the house. There’s going to come a time when our son wants us to be gone from the house, but not yet. He actually still likes us and wants us around.
So that means you may not do Broadway for another 10 years or so?
In 10 years, he’ll be old enough to babysit for himself, so yes.
Where do you keep all your awards? There are a lot!
I have them affectionately cluttered on a shelf in my office.
Does James Wilkie try to play with them?
You know, they’re not even at eye-level. I think I’m not someone who would have them in a family area or where guests come. We don’t even really put pictures of ourselves up in the house. We have lots of pictures of our son, though.
When will he be allowed to start watching Sex and the City?
When he’s 21.
I could just imagine he’s going to be like, "Mom, what am I supposed to tell my friends about this?"
I don’t think that any of them will even know who we are. I’m just the lady paying for the birthday party at that point.
Tell me about the new Sex and the City book.
You know, we haven’t talked about it with anyone else. We did this book for the movie, and what is amazing that no one realizes is that we had to go to print before the final cut of the movie. So there are scenes in the book that are cut from the movie. I just got my first copy, and it’s kind of unbelievable, because it’s like a version on paper of a director’s cut.
I have to tell you that us gay boys are going crazy for the movie. Two people have asked me today if I have a ticket for opening day. It's like a gay bar mitzvah. And you know what, it's already sold out in Hollywood. We have to go to the Valley!
Oh, that’s even better! There’s great Mexican food in the Valley. But that’s great! I hope it makes you all happy. I hope we’ve done right by our audience.