Why Sarah Jessica Parker didn’t want to do Sex and the City

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IT’S her most iconic role to date, but Sarah Jessica Parker needed some convincing to play Carrie Bradshaw in the hit show Sex and the City.

The 51-year-old star made the admission in a new interview with Jimmy Kimmel to promote her new HBO show, Divorce, saying she filmed the pilot for the show and then promptly forgot about it.

“I thought it was an interesting role and I loved the script,” she said.

“Then I completely forgot about it because I went on to do a play or whatever ... and I ran into someone on the street and they said, ‘Hey I saw your show’ and I said ‘what show?’ and they said ‘you did a show called Sex and the City and I was like ‘oh right.’”

When the pilot for the show was successful, leading to a full series, Parker got cold feet.

“When they said we’re finally going to do it I was like ‘I don’t know ... I don’t know. I feel like the moment passed. Maybe I’m not so keen to commit.’” she admitted.

“But I was foolish and people wisely talked me out of it. I went to set the first day and never looked back.”

We couldn’t help but wonder what SATC would be like without her. Picture: Craig BlankenhornSource:Supplied

In an excerpt from James Andrew Miller’s new book Powerhouse: The Untold Story of Hollywood’s Creative Artists, SJP revealed she didn’t want to sign on to a television series, but was convinced to take the role by her agent Kevin Huvane.

“He called me up and said, ‘Darren Star (SATC creator) reached out to me. He’s written this pilot and tells me he wrote it with you in mind — you were in his head when he was writing it. I’m going to send it to you. I’ve read it. I think it’s really good. You should meet with him’,” Parker reveals in the excerpt published by The Hollywood Reporter.

“And I said, ‘Really? I feel like I’ve got it all right now. I can do a play, then do a movie, then do a play, then do a movie. There’s a lot of flexibility. What could be better? Do I really want to go back to making a television series when I’m maybe held hostage signing a long-term contract?’”

‘Haha remember how I didn’t want to do this?’ Picture: Craig Blankenhorn/New LineSource:Supplied

After meeting Star to talk about the role, Parker was still hesitant. As well as the time involved in a series, she was also concerned about the nudity and language in the script.

“I met with Darren, and there were a couple of concerns that I had — like I really wasn’t keen on doing nudity and language issues — but Kevin continued to say to me, ‘This is different. You have never done anything like this before. No one’s ever done a part like this. Do this’,” she continued.

So she signed on. But, as former Broadway co-star Seth Rudetsky revealed last year, she tried getting out of the contract afterwards.

“She tried various ways to get out of it including telling HBO that she would film three projects for free if they’d release her from her contract!” he told Playbill in December.