Brace yourself for a peek into an alternate universe: Carrie Bradshaw as we know and love her almost never existed. Well, she would have existed as a character on Sex and the City, Candace Bushnell's best-selling book, and on Darren Star's beloved TV adaptation for HBO. But, Sarah Jessica Parker really didn't want to embody our favorite single woman in NYC.
In his column for Playbill, actor and musician Seth Rudetsky recounts this bit of history that SJP shared with him during an onstage interview with her and husband Matthew Broderick in Provincetown, MA. Parker recalled that wasn't interested in doing a series at the time, because she really liked the freedom of moving from project to project, but she filmed the pilot, anyway. She'd forgotten all about it for months when HBO greenlit the series, at which time Parker actually tried to get out of doing the show. According to Rudetsky, "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!"
Parker has actually shared versions of this story before, one at a panel discussion at the 92nd Street Y in NYC last year, as reported by Bustle. At the panel, she also shared that in addition to not wanting to be tied down, she'd had reservations about possible nudity and vulgar language in the show. As we all know, HBO finally convinced her to stay, but Parker had a no-nudity clause added to her contract. Everybody wins.
If you want to imagine what might have been, picture Desperate Housewives star Dana Delany as Carrie. The actress turned down the role, she told the Los Angeles Times, because she'd just done Live Nude Girls (with Kim Cattrall) and didn't want to add more sex to her résumé.
Everything turned out as it was meant to be, in our humble, fangirl opinion. Parker has loved playing Carrie, she told Rudetsky. As an aside in Rudetsky's column, the actress renewed hints that another SATC movie is in the works: "She told us that there may be a project coming up involving all the ladies!"
Just, please, let it be better than the second one.
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