Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis Say They Both Initially Auditioned for Carrie Role in ‘Sex and the City’
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Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis are recalling how their infamous Sex and the City characters came to be.
During the recent SATC 25th anniversary special of the And Just Like That… The Writers Room podcast with sequel creator Michael Patrick King, the trio opens up about the audition process before the show’s 1998 debut.
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Davis, who ended up taking on the role of gallerist Charlotte York, revealed that SATC creator Darren Star initially asked her to read for Carrie Bradshaw, telling her at the time, “We really wanted Sarah Jessica…[but] we don’t know if Sarah’s going to do it, so will you read for Carrie?”
But Davis said in “the original script, Carrie was much more like Candice and she smoked and she swore…and I was like, I can’t possibly [play that character.] And I remember one line in the script it said, ‘Carrie has the body of Heather Locklear and the mind of Dorothy Parker.’ And I was like, ‘That is adorable, but I can’t play that part. Like, what [are] you thinking?'”
The actress knew she was meant to play Charlotte and just had to convince Star. She told him, “I can’t even read for Carrie. I am this other girl who’s like underwritten but I understand her, OK. I need to be her.”
But Davis wasn’t the only SATC star to be brought in to read for the role of Carrie at first. Nixon said, “I auditioned and they were like, ‘Yeah, not so much.'”
After being rejected, she recalled thinking, “It’s a show that shoots in New York. This never happens. There’s got to be one of those women I could play. Couldn’t they see me for somebody else?”
Nixon ended up going back in to read for Miranda Hobbes and proceeded to do several auditions for the role. But she said several weeks went by after and she never heard anything else.
While she waited, she auditioned for three other projects because she “kind of needed money,” but didn’t land any of those roles. That’s when her agent at the time started to push show producers, but they would always say the same thing: “We like her. She’s the top of the list. We haven’t found anyone we like better, but we’re just not ready to pull the trigger.”
After months went by, Nixon said she was close to accepting a part in another project, but that her agent kept “badgering” SATC executives, even crying on the phone at one point, telling them, “You’re about to lose her.” And that’s when Nixon finally landed the role of what would become the iconic lawyer Miranda.
Parker added that before she accepted the role of Carrie, she recalled executive producers calling her to tell her, “You know we have Cynthia Nixon,” to help try and convince her.
The HBO series, which followed four women as they navigate the dating scene in New York City and maintain their close friendship, ran for six seasons, with Kim Cattrall portraying Samantha Jones. The show’s success also led to two films and two spinoffs, including The Carrie Diaries and And Just Like That…, which will premiere its second season on June 22.
Last week, the stars also took to social media to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Sex and the City, which premiered June 6, 1998.
“The randomness, yet specific journey that you’re each on before you got these parts that then became, I would have to say, the essence for the world, you are these characters,” King added during the conversation. “It’s undeniable that it was you Kristin, you Sarah Jessica, you Cynthia.”
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