SHE is about to reprise her role in one of the sexiest shows on TV – but Sarah Jessica Parker won’t be flashing too much flesh because she refuses to go naked on camera.
Her character Carrie Bradshaw will still have a racy love life in the new Sex And The City, although 55-year-old “SJP” has even refused to let bosses use a body double for raunchy scenes.
Sarah said: “Some people have a perks list and they are legendary. They have to have white candles in their room. I don’t have a crazy list like that. I’ve just always had a no-nudity clause.
“I’m a modest person. You couldn’t pay me enough to have someone pretend they were me doing a nude scene. No body doubles — that’s part of my contract.”
Producers tried to force her into stripping off when she first started out in Hollywood, leaving her sobbing until her agent stepped in.
She said: “There was so much pressure for me to take my clothes off. They were like, ‘Sarah’s going to be nude tomorrow’, and I was like, ‘I’m not going to be nude’.
“My agent sent a car and a plane ticket to the film set and said, ‘If anybody makes you do anything that you are not comfortable doing, you don’t’.
“I know how lucky I am that there was someone — in this case, a man — who stepped in.”
‘I’m excited about being back on NY streets’
After decades in showbusiness, Sarah can now demand exactly what she wants — and does not want — from a TV or film role.
Her first big acting jobs were 1984’s Footloose alongside Kevin Bacon and then The First Wives Club in 1996 with Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn and Diane Keaton. But it was landing the role of Carrie that made Sarah a household name and helped her win two Emmys and four Golden Globes.
When Sex And The City first aired in 1998, before ending in 2004, it told the story of four female thirtysomething New Yorkers — Carrie, Miranda (Cynthia Nixon), Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and Samantha (Kim Cattrall). They had high-flying careers, designer wardrobes and complicated sex lives.
The new ten-part series, called And Just Like That, is due to be screened this year.
Changes include a new all-female writing team and more onscreen diversity.
But the biggest difference is the absence of Kim, 64, who ruled out a reprisal four years ago.
She said at the time: “This is about an empowered decision in my life to end one chapter and start another. It’s a great part. I played it past the finish line and then some, and I loved it.”
But in 2019, following years of rumours of a rift with Sarah, Kim revealed: “I don’t want to be in a situation for even an hour where I’m not enjoying myself.”
In an exclusive interview, the ever-dignified Sarah said: “I’m excited about being back with Cynthia and Kristin and on the streets of New York.
“It’s very possible that a great actress will join us, and she will have a huge impact and we’ll want to be with her more, the audience will want to see her more. I’m just very excited.”
And fashion-loving Sarah cannot wait to dive back into Carrie’s amazing wardrobe. She told The Sun on Sunday: “Some of the happiest memories I have are fittings for the show. I worked 18 to 20-hour days for years.
“After filming, I would go into fitting at 1am or 2am for three to five hours because you’d be doing two episodes back to back. At points, I was wearing 20 to 30 costumes per two episodes. But they were so much fun and I did whatever I was told. I would try on anything. No matter how ridiculous.
“We’d double over laughing sometimes because so much of the stuff was from thrift stores and vintage shops and pulled from the most peculiar and outrageous spots.
“Sometimes Michael Patrick, the director, would be like, ‘What are you wearing?’ And I would be like, ‘Just trust me on this’. Like the bird in the veil or the dress in Paris, from a thrift store. We had no reason to put that dress on, we could not rationalise it but it was beautiful and knew the audience will love it.”
The new series will have designers battling to get their clothes on screen. But it was a different ball game when Sex And The City launched.
Sarah said: “In the beginning we had a very tiny budget. Nobody would loan us anything. I mean, nothing. We couldn’t get a bag, we couldn’t get a flip-flop.”
Before she signed up for the new series, Sarah cleared it with her husband, actor Matthew Broderick, 58, their son James, 18, and 11-year-old twin daughters Marion and Tabitha.
The couple, who married in 1997, have been in lockdown with the kids at their New York home. Just like other families, they whiled away the hours “watching Columbo at night, playing a lot of games, doing a lot of cooking and doing a lot of laundry”.
She has also been hand-delivering shoes from one of her many successful business ventures.
Sarah said: “Customers know I’m coming and they’re all very nice. We socially distance. We all have our masks on. It’s a highlight of my day, I just love it. That’s why I love being on the floor because I meet people from literally all over the world. I learn about people’s lives, their children, their illnesses, their family losses — it’s a really nice relationship. For years, being an actor, you don’t get to have those conversations and now I do and it’s really nice.”
On the back of Sex And The City, Sarah has also launched fragrances, jewellery, bridalwear and wine, of which, she cheerily adds: “Now and then I’ll get some free bottles.”
And she has worked with British publishing company Hogarth to curate a line of fiction books. Sarah said: “I’m a voracious reader. I grew up without a television. I’m one of eight children and books were just a huge part of our growing-up life.
“My mother had a rule in our home that you could not leave the house without a book in your hands. Even for those of us who were too young to even know how to read, that didn’t matter. You can take a book and make a story up from the images. Books were companions that in some ways were forced upon us.
“Books became our choice, the companions we wanted. I just loved where books took me.”
Sarah believes the key to her success is curiosity.
She told us: “I’ve always been curious. I’ve always listened to everybody else’s conversation. I’ve always stared on the subway at everybody. I’ve always said, ‘What are you guys talking about?’ I was always that person.
“My dad used to say to me on the subway, ‘You’re staring at everybody, you have to stop staring, you’re making a spectacle of yourself’. And I was like, ‘I can’t help it. I’m interested’. Curiosity has been a gateway for me. So much can be gained from being excited and curious and interested and unfamiliar. It’s OK to feel unfamiliar — it’s the card.
“It’s curiosity that has allowed me to have surprising experiences professionally and therefore personally.”
She even loves chatting to strangers on social media.
Sarah said: “I don’t think I come naturally to social media at all. I don’t check it a lot.
“But when I post something, I kind of like answering comments and I like when I can learn something from somebody else or convey my gratitude.
“I never post selfies or pictures though, I don’t like to do that stuff. I’ll do it for work or whatever. I’m not good at it.”
But Sarah is good at acting and we can’t wait for her return as Carrie.
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