Actress Sarah Jessica Parker

DATE August 1, 2001 ACCOUNT NUMBER N/A
TIME 12:00 Noon-1:00 PM AUDIENCE N/A
NETWORK NPR
PROGRAM Fresh Air

Interview: Sarah Jessica Parker talks about her life, acting
career and role on HBO's "Sex and the City"
TERRY GROSS, host:

This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross.

(Soundbite from "Sex and the City" episode)

Ms. SARAH JESSICA PARKER (As Carrie Bradshaw): There are thousands, maybe
tens of thousands of women like this in the city. We all know them and we all
agree they're great. They travel. They pay taxes. They'll spend $400 on
a pair of Manolo Blahnik strappy sandals. And they're alone.

It's like the riddle of the Sphinx. Why are there so many great unmarried
women and no great unmarried men? I explored these sorts of issues in my
column and I have terrific sources: my friends.

GROSS: In her starring role on HBO's "Sex and the City," Sarah Jessica
Parker plays Carrie Bradshaw, a newspaper columnist chronicling the singles
scene in New York. Carrie has one of the most interesting sex lives and one
of the most fashionable wardrobes on TV, as well as some of the best dialogue.

Sarah Jessica Parker is nominated for an Emmy in the category of outstanding
lead actress in a comedy series. It's one of several Emmy nominations the
show has received. Last month in the Sunday New York Times, Steve Vineberg
wrote, `"Sex and the City" has the most consistently witty and insightful
writing of any comedy show on television. It's also the most daring comedy on
TV, not just in its embrace of taboo subjects, but in its exploration of the
emotional recklessness women and men bring to relationships. Sarah Jessica
Parker does some of the most complex acting you're ever likely to see on a
comedy series.'

Well, here's the opening scene from the first episode of this season, written
and directed by Michael Patrick King. Carrie and her three girlfriends are
walking to an engagement party.

(Soundbite from "Sex and the City" episode)

Ms. PARKER (As Carrie Bradshaw): If you are single, there is one thing you
should always take with you when you go out on a Saturday night: your
friends.

Unidentified Woman #1: Why are we walking so fast?

Unidentified Woman #2: Really. Are we in that big of a hurry to get to an
engagement party?

Ms. PARKER (As Carrie Bradshaw): What? Don't you guys want to go?

Unidentified Woman #3: I did until I saw this invitation.

Ms. PARKER (As Carrie Bradshaw): Yeah. Let me see that again.

Unidentified Woman #3: Oh!

Ms. PARKER (As Carrie Bradshaw): `Two souls, one thought.' Wow, that is
sappy. That is totally not like Danny.

Unidentified Woman #3: Must have been her idea. `Two souls, one pushy
fiancee.'

Ms. PARKER (As Carrie Bradshaw): Oh, come on. It's beautiful! It's a big
romantic gesture to express how they feel about each other.

Unidentified Woman #1: If two people have only one thought between them,
something is very wrong. Whoo, cab!

Unidentified Woman #3: I remember when Danny had more than one thought. And
they all involved going up my (censored).

Unidentified Woman #1: You had sex with Danny?

Unidentified Woman #3: Sure. He's cute, straight and we've known him for 10
years. Haven't we all had sex with Danny?

Ms. PARKER (As Carrie Bradshaw): Oh, yeah, that one weekend that I was bored.

Unidentified Woman #1: Just a New Year's Eve kiss.

Unidentified Woman #2: I showed him a boob in a coat check room.

Unidentified Woman #1: Just one?

Unidentified Woman #2: I sensed he couldn't commit.

GROSS: I spoke with Sarah Jessica Parker a couple of weeks ago at the Old
Wailing Church in Martha's Vineyard at a benefit for public radio station
WBUR.

Let me start with something that I think people really do want to know.
Could you ever imagine living the kind of social life that Carrie Bradshaw
does?

Ms. PARKER: No. No. I would be exhausted and I'm far too old. I am a New
Yorker at this point in my life. I've lived in New York City about 25 years,
so I know of these people. I know they exist. I've read about them in the
style section. I've seen them on lower Broadway hailing cabs at unseemly
hours of the night in tiny skirts. And my single life was not nearly as
colorful as that, which is perhaps why, as a married person, I enjoy playing
this part so much. You see, I have to and I--and it's sort of like legalized
illegal behavior. But I think at this point in the show, four years into the
run of the show, it's become, I think, more specific. I think it's about four
very specific women in a very specific city at a very specific time and
there's a sort of heightened reality to it, which may not really be consistent
with single women anywhere. But I think it is the emotional journey that
people seem to have responded to.

GROSS: Did you have any reservations when you were offered the part about
taking a part in a series that would have so much about sex and be so, for
television, explicit about it?

Ms. PARKER: I did. I had a lot of reservations, most of them being about
the sort of time commitment that I understood television to be and the fact
that I really wanted very much to continue to work in the theater and also to
be able to do films. And then I thought that that was not a possibility.
Once we figured all that out, it was the content of the show. I never thought
that Carrie was going to find herself in an environment that I objected to,
for whatever personal reasons. I think it was more about the way we chose to
illustrate. Theoretically, the way we were going to choose to illustrate the
situations and environment that her specific character--that there was an
issue of language that I wanted to address. We spoke of earlier that I--that
Carrie is a writer and I wanted her to be thoughtful about her choice of words
and I didn't want--just because we were on HBO, just because our boundaries
were extremely large, especially for television standards, that I didn't want
to take advantage like a child that has a really late curfew and then stays
out 20 minutes past the curfew because you know your parents are lenient. And
I didn't know how we would address that weekly. And those were the things
that we talked about early; why Carrie would use language; if, in fact, there
would be nudity, which I don't do and haven't done and still won't do.

GROSS: Well, I'm almost surprised that they gave you the role when they found
out that you wouldn't do nudity because HBO is kind of famous for breasts.

Ms. PARKER: Yeah, you know, and we have some very good ones on the show, but
they're not mine.

GROSS: They'll find a way to...

Ms. PARKER: Sure.

GROSS: ...uncover breasts even in shows that aren't about "Sex and the City."

Ms. PARKER: Yes.

GROSS: So when they found out that you weren't going to do that, did they
think, `Well, how can Carrie be the character that doesn't do that on the
show?'

Ms. PARKER: You know, it's funny. When Darren first--Darren Star, who
created the show--when he first came to me and we spoke about the show, I said
right away, `Look, this is something that I'm not comfortable with. And as
the years progress, there's less and less of a reason for me to be taking off
my clothes at this late stage.' And he didn't even blink an eye. He said,
`That's fine. It's not necessary. It's never necessary with your character.
It's only, in fact, if you feel comfortable.' And that's the way all the
women on the show have dealt with nudity. Kim Cutrell feels comfortable. She
looks beautiful. It seems appropriate for her character. Cynthia Nixon's
character, who uses more salty language--it rolls off her tongue. It feels
right. It doesn't sound vulgar. When Kristen feels comfortable enough to
take off her top or a bra, it's because she feels that the scene is
appropriate. And so we found a way that, at all times, Carrie is wearing a
bra, even when she sleeps; `like Marilyn Monroe,' I tell everybody. So it's
not really even an issue.

GROSS: What are some of the plot twists that you thought, `Well, is this
going too far or is this OK?' For example, there was one about skid marks on
underwear. There was another where...

Ms. PARKER: Not having to do anything with my character.

GROSS: Right. Can you still have a relationship with a guy if he is in the
bathroom with the door open?

Ms. PARKER: Yeah. It's all Miranda's stuff.

GROSS: Or is it too much to take? That's right. That's right. But you're a
producer, so you have to sign off on this stuff, I would imagine--and then,
you know, back door sex, as you described it on the show, and...

Ms. PARKER: Once again, not my character.

GROSS: And that's true. That's true, but...

Ms. PARKER: I think it's a--you take temperatures a lot, for lack of a
better phrase. You see how actors feel about doing it and you--what I've
learned a lot from Michael Patrick King is we get the scripts--I get the
scripts pretty early. His thing is don't sabotage the read-through. If you
have strong feelings--and he means this for all of the actors on the show, the
men and women--do the read-through 100 percent. Do the table reads that we do
generally between--we do it at lunch time, like, once every two weeks. Give
it your all so we can hear where it isn't right, because if we're halfway
there with one foot out in the door and one foot out and we're trying to see
if the scene works or if it is going too far or if it's vulgar or unnecessary,
we can't hear it if we're not completely committed to the idea of any of those
things you've just mentioned.

And, generally, we try to err on the side of taste and humor. And we have to
remember it's a comedy and that the deeper the show goes with the women, the
more important it is to remember it's a comedy and that there should be helium
at all times. And if an actor isn't comfortable with something, then that is
absolutely taken into account, because it simply won't be good or funny if
someone's not able to do it.

GROSS: Two of the lead writers on the show are gay men, and some people have
speculated that some of what happens on the show, particularly what happens to
Samantha, who's the person who's really deep into sex, has more to do with,
like, the gay male experience than the experience most women have. And I
wonder what your thoughts are about that?

Ms. PARKER: Well, I guess I disagree with that because we have more female
writers than male, nd we always have. And I think that they're
obviously--people's sensibilities on this show are primarily driven by the
emotional search. And if that--if the show were only that sensibility of an
idea, a cliched idea about homosexual lifestyles, then they wouldn't be able
to write Carrie with soul. And I think the beauty of a writer like Michael
Patrick King and Darren Star, who's no longer with us, is that there
obviously is a point of view and a perspective that they have because of
their chosen lifestyle, but that is not what drives the show. And I think
it's fun to sort of project on to Samantha, in a general way, that she's sort
of this--a gay man.

But I think there is things--there are things about her that aren't
specifically about gender or lifestyle, but that it's--there--listen, the
other three women on the show are absolute archotypes and they are
intentionally so. You have Charlotte, who is hopefully romantic and
Miranda--and these are bad, you know, two word choices, but who is perhaps
cynical and not trusting of love and what it might bring. And then there's
Samantha, who is so comfortable with her sexuality. But they have to remain
those for Carrie to write, for Carrie to be able to have this column.

And the other thing is I'm not even sure those people exist. I wonder if it's
Carrie's imagination; that she has this vivid imagination.

GROSS: That's interesting.

Ms. PARKER: And that I don't even know that those women exist because they're
so beautifully archotypal and because she's given them depth as the seasons
progress; that she might just be a good writer.

GROSS: Well, that leads me to wonder--and if anything I ask is too
personal, you just let me know. But leads me to wonder if you ever had the
kind of relationship with women friends that these women on the show have
with each other, where they're always there for each other and they can talk
about anything and they spend a lot of time talking about their sexual
relationships, the details of it?

Ms. PARKER: I absolutely have never had that kind of relationship with any
of my female friends, ever. I have very, very close relationships with my
female friends and I'm reliant upon them and I value them. And it's one of
the things that I like best about Carrie is that she loves her female friends
so much, and that that is the standard by which she judges men; that she wants
a relationship with a man that is as fulfilling as her relationship with her
female friends. But I've never been that forthcoming or confrontational or
honest about that part of my life because I just have never felt comfortable
and I don't think that it's anyone else's business.

And, in fact, one time I was on a three-way conversation with my two best
girlfriends in Los Angeles, and they started talking about something that
embarrassed me. And they were talking for quite a while. And then they
remembered that I was on the line. And they said, `Oh, we're sorry. We're
sorry. Don't ask her about that. She won't bother answering.' But it
doesn't mean that I'm not curious and that I don't enjoy--and it's
provocative. I mean, we end up, especially in the coffee shop scenes, because
those are always sort of the topic of the week. It is a--they're provocative
in that we all talk about it in the crew, but I'm able, like Carrie, to
maintain some distance and get things out of the people and reveal nothing.

GROSS: We're listening to an onstage interview with Sarah Jessica Parker
recorded a couple of weeks ago. We'll hear more after a break. This is
FRESH AIR.

(Soundbite of music)

GROSS: Let's get back to the onstage interview I recorded a couple of weeks
ago with Sarah Jessica Parker, the star of HBO's "Sex and the City."

Can I ask you how you first learned about the facts of life. Not--I don't
mean about you having sex, but just did your mother set you down and tell you
about it and what your first reaction was when you found out.

Ms. PARKER: My mother is a very progressive person, politically, but she
never discussed any of that with us to this day. And as far as she knows, I
still don't know. I think there was one boy in fourth grade, his name was
David--and my mother was always pregnant. There is--I have eight--there's
eight kids in my family. So my mother was always pregnant and he said
something about it on the school bus and I think my head, like, morphed into
a question mark. And I think I sort of understood what he was trying to
suggest, and that was all I needed to know. And I've never asked a question
since. But because of the show I've learned a great deal. I think of it as
a PSA, a public service announcement. And I--you know, I don't know, it's
odd. It's sort of inconsistent with my childhood that none of us ever spoke
of it, ever.

I also recall one time in 1976 when my mother was pregnant again, and she was
walking up Seventh Avenue. We were in New York City doing a play and staying
at a hotel and then--she was walking quite slowly and we got to the hotel room
and my father told me my mother was pregnant. And I was so embarrassed,
because I think I understood, you know, how. And I couldn't look at her. I
was like, `I don't even want to think about it.' Just tell me when the baby
gets here.

GROSS: What impact did the women's movement have on you, you know, if any?

Ms. PARKER: I think it has had more impact now than even sort of--my mother,
cleverly, I think, walked both sides of the fence. My mother is a very
strong and assertive person, and it certainly took that for her to raise all
of us with the little that she had. But she's also very old fashioned. And
I think only in my adult independence did I understand what it meant to have
control; what I think I reaped from the women's movement, which is about
choice, more than about needing to prove anything, but more about the fact
that I had the choice to go as far as I want; to want all the things. As
Wendy Wasserstein says, `to have love and literature'; to have everything
and to not feel guilty and to not feel badly about only wanting to be a
mother, if that's what I wanted. And, to me, it's more about choice. And
I'm lucky that I work, I think, in an industry that allows that for women;
more so even in television, I think, than in film. And so that's what it's
meant is that I get choice and I can assert myself and I can be aggressive
and ambitious in the way that I know how, because I'm not particularly
ambitious--but that it's--I don't have to worry how people respond or to be
afraid to have a voice and that I am completely reliant upon myself.

GROSS: Because when people watch "Sex and the City," they feel like they know
you or they want to get to know you and they want to--you know, they want to
know you above and beyond the character. But I think they probably make a lot
of false assumptions about you and they're assuming that your character was
like you. Being in such a high visibility role and being such a strong
character on that, do people nowadays project things onto you which are just
really untrue of who you are, and does that ever cause really awkward moments?

Ms. PARKER: Yeah, I think people say--the first thing that happened, I
noticed, was because I didn't really--I had forgotten what--how many people
have televisions in their homes and even have HBO, which is far fewer than
have, you know, general network television stations in their homes. So they
would--the first thing I noticed is that they would just say very intimate
things to me about themselves. They would share very intimate details
without provocation. And some of it was, you know, very funny and it would
be good anecdotes, you know, for Letterman or something. But after a while I
felt that I had deceived. It made me uncomfortable because I felt like I
wasn't really deserving of it and it wasn't my place to know it because there
wasn't a lot I could do with the information except thank them, you know.

But what I've--now I think is that I had an interesting thing happen. I went
to see a play and I walked into the man's dressing room, who I don't know
well. And he said to me, `Oh, I didn't recognize you with your clothes on.'
And this is like a real theater--this is like, you know, a big-time actor.
And I thought, `You are--you have made'--you know, it's a thing that I
struggle with the show, for those people who haven't seen it, that they
assume that it's four women running around New York City searching for the
ultimate orgasm. And it's not about that. And I struggle very hard to
convince people that, without forcing them to watch the show, which I'm not,
you know, disaligned to do. I'd be happy to do that, too, but that
you're--that I don't run around naked on the show. I've never been naked on
the show. You should recognize me with clothes on because I'm, first of all,
not Carrie. And second of all, she wears clothing; less so than more. You
know, sometimes it's just a tea bag, but you could call it an outfit.

GROSS: Well, speaking of clothing, she wears, like, incredible clothes. I
mean, she has incredible outfits and how do you dress compared to how she
dresses?

Ms. PARKER: I just wear more. I'm far less colorful. I'm far less daring;
far less daring. And, really, I don't think my husband would be comfortable
if I dressed like that and I sort of honor his more...

GROSS: You mean in a very provocative way.

Ms. PARKER: Yes, provocative or, you know--yes; a lot of diaphanous things
and...

GROSS: A lot of navels.

Ms. PARKER: ...smaller--yes, exactly. And I sort of honor that about
Matthew because it's one of the qualities I like about him. And she's just a
much more daring person and a much more eccentric dresser than I'll ever be.
But I love wearing those clothes and I think Pat Fields and Rebecca Fields
have made fashion. Fashion, along with New York City, in my opinion, are the
fifth and six ladies on the show. You know, the show--that New York is as
important a character as any one of us. And that certainly, at this point,
the choice of clothing and the aesthetic of the show is equally as important.

GROSS: Sarah Jessica Parker recorded last month at the Old Wailing Church on
Martha's Vineyard at a benefit for Boston Public Radio station WBUR. We'll
continue the interview in the second half of the show.

I'm Terry Gross and this is FRESH AIR.

(Soundbite of music)

(Credits)

(Soundbite of music)

GROSS: Coming up, growing up on Broadway. We continue our onstage interview
with actress Sarah Jessica Parker. She played Annie from the age of 13 to
15, when she got too big for the role.

(Soundbite of music)

GROSS: This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross.

Let's get back to our interview with Sarah Jessica Parker, the star of HBO's
"Sex and the City." Our interview was recorded last month, at the Old Whaling
Church on Martha's Vineyard, off Cape Cod. The interview was a benefit for
Boston Public Radio station WBUR.

Now, you've been acting virtually all your life. You were on Broadway when
you were 10. Did you want to start acting or did your mother nudge you into
that?

Ms. PARKER: Actually, my brother Toby was the first person in our house that
was an actor. And I think what happened was there was a supplement in our
local paper, in The Cincinnati Enquirer, it's called the Mini-Page, it was for
children. I don't know if any of the papers here have it. They had a little
ad for an audition for "The Little Match Girl," which was NBC use to do their
Young People's Specials out of Cincinnati. It was their version of
after-school specials and they were on, I don't know, twice a year at 7:30 at
night.

And we were taking creative dramatics classes, but everybody in the
neighborhood did. You know, it's something you did on Saturday mornings. At
the University of Cincinnati, they had this program for kids. I was also a
dancer at the time. I was dancing with the Cincinnati Ballet Company as a
student.

And I just saw it and I showed it to my mother and I don't know what made me
think that I even had a reason to go and stand in line and audition, but I
just said, `Can we go?' And she said, `Yes,' and she took me and I auditioned
and I got the part of "The Little Match Girl."

And at the time, what I loved about it was they paid me $500 cash. And they
gave me $5 after shooting every day--they would drop me off in time to get to
my ballet lessons, with $5. And this was 1973. And at the time an ice cream
cone at Baskin Robbins was a quarter. And two hamburgers, french fries, and a
Coke at McDonald's--which I wasn't allowed to have any of these things, if my
parents knew about it--was less than a dollar. So I had, basically, about $4
left every day. And I thought, you know, have--coming from no money, I
thought, `Well this is it! This is the life!' You know?

GROSS: You're not suppose to eat McDonald's on the way to the ballet lessons.

Ms. PARKER: Of course not. Of course not. But I was fast, so I could eat
when I was a da--I would eat so fast. I would take a bag of M&Ms, and just
open my gullet, and just pour it in. 'Cause I--you had to get it in you
before my mom caught me.

GROSS: What was her problem with it? What was her problem--that it wasn't
healthy? Or that it was too expensive?

Ms. PARKER: It was both a combination of not good for you and too expensive,
and also, my mother always knew which company was building bombs for the war
or, you know, which company shut down a nursing home in order put up a burger
chef. Or Hostess was involved with IT&T--I mean, and they were involved in
the war in Vietnam. Or the lettuce we couldn't have because of Cesar Chavez.
And they only used iceberg lettuce at McDonald's. I mean, there was a whole,
you know, heap of things. I'm surprised we didn't starve to death, with all
the rules. And all of the other kids in the neighborhood would be going to,
you know, whatever the local burger, you know, king--chef--I don't want to
indict anybody--but we weren't allowed. We had to have homemade hamburgers.
And who wants those?

GROSS: You family was also on and off welfare for a while. What the problem
that caused the lack of income?

Ms. PARKER: I think, just simply not being able to make enough money. My
father--my stepfather was a truck driver. My real father was a writer at the
time, and they just simply couldn't make ends meet. And my mother was
living--was not working at the time. She stopped--she was a school teacher
and she stopped when I was about two years old. And they simply couldn't make
enough money to do everything that was required, you know. There were many
times that we didn't have Christmas, or our phones were turned off. But the
thing I want to say about that is that, I didn't really know the degree to
which it was different than anybody else in our neighborhood. I knew we were
a little different when we didn't have Christmas presents. But I know that
this is not an uncommon story.

And I think the reason I didn't realize how different it was, especially
because I grew up in a affluent neighborhood was, my parents were very smart
about scholarships and free programs, especially in the arts. We could go to
the theater and the ballet and the symphony for free. As long as we
maintained a B average, we could take ballet lesson for free. We were given
free membership to a swim club that my grandmother had been a member of for
years. So we got to swim all summer and take tennis lessons. And so it was
a, sort of, contradictory life compared to what our financial means were. But
they were smart and we listened to NPR so we were educated.

GROSS: How did you end up in a wealthy neighborhood if you didn't have money?

Ms. PARKER: Because there was one house on the block, we always found it,
where a crazy man lived and it was in disarray and in terrible neglect. And I
think it was some tiny, tiny amount of money to buy. And so my stepfather's
mother gave them the down payment and they bought it for nothing. And it was
on a beautiful street. And it was just a wreck of a house. And we somehow
managed to make it more of a wreck of a house. So that's just another example
of my parents' sort of industrious nature, you know.

GROSS: So when you were 10 and were on Broadway, in a family that didn't have
a lot of money, what happened with the money? Did it go into the family pot?
Did you get to keep it for your college education?

Ms. PARKER: No. Luckily I didn't pursue higher education so I couldn't be
too resentful later on. But, no, there was an understanding that we were
contributing now to the family and the Jackie Coogan laws that apply to
children that work in the movie industry, in Hollywood, and television in
Hollywood, don't apply to children that work in the theater. So you could
work seven jobs in New York as a child performer or probably even in retail
for all I know. And there was no laws to protect your money or your time. So
the money went--I think there was a desire when we were making more money to
put some away. And, in fact, my mom and dad did. But it went into the family
pot and allowed my brothers and sisters to have things that they couldn't
normally have. And I think, for us, at the time, it was the right thing to
do. And I think it benefited us in ways that I couldn't even articulate. And
I would do it again. And I think of it as an investment in my brothers and
sisters who--we are very close and deeply devoted, and so that was the thing
to do, and I think it was right at the time for us.

GROSS: It must give you a sense of power, when you're 10 and you're earning
the money in the family, or at least some of it.

Ms. PARKER: Well, I think it probably does. And I think that my parents were
very aware of that. And I think that that was one of the things that they
were most concerned about, especially why they didn't want me to work in
television and film, was that there would be an attachment--there would be
value to me as a commodity, rather than somebody who enjoyed working on stage,
where, first of all, you had to get your own water. You were responsible to
show up on time. People weren't doing things for you, and giving you obscene
amounts of money and you see things, you know, these child actors who have
these terrible things happen to them and make terrible choices. And I think
those were the things that were--my parents thought of as land mines to avoid.

GROSS: We're listening to an onstage interview with Sarah Jessica Parker,
recorded a couple of weeks ago. We'll hear more after a break. This is FRESH
AIR.

(Soundbite of music)

GROSS: Let's get back to our on-stage interview with Sarah Jessica Parker,
the star of HBO's "Sex and the City."

You know, we were talking about "Sex and the City." You basically went
through puberty on stage. I mean, age 10 you were in a Harold Pinter play,
age 13--I think it was--you started "Annie" for two years on Broadway. Did
you replace Andrea McArdle, or were you next in line?

Ms. PARKER: I came in when Andrea was an orphan--I mean, when she was Annie,
I came in as an orphan.

GROSS: Oh.

Ms. PARKER: And then I matriculated into the role of Annie. After her
replacement left the show, I was the third Annie.

GROSS: So, you know, if you are doing Annie ages 13 to 15, you're pretty much
kind of developing onstage and going through those sometimes really
embarrassing changes or at least puzzling changes on stage in front of
people--plus, you're doing it playing a child.

Ms. PARKER: Yeah.

GROSS: So what was that like? Did it make it more difficult to go through
those changes?

Ms. PARKER: I matured late. So those changes were more radical when I was
doing "Square Pegs," which were more appropriate to that show. However, there
was a conversation about two months after I took over the role of Annie. The
stage manager took me aside, and he said to me--naturally the year I took over
the role of Annie, I grew six inches in a year--naturally. So he said to me,
they were putting out a road company and this little tiny thing came
backstage--she was going to play Annie on the road, and she was easily a foot
and a half shorter than I was. And he said, `See that little girl?' And I
said, `Yeah.' He said, `You're getting too big. Put that on the back
burner,' he said, `but just put it on your back burner,' he said to me. And I
thought, `Well, what are we going to do about this?'

I mean, what can I--and I knew that he was suggesting that there was going to
come a point that, if I sat on Daddy Warbuck's lap that it would look--Daddy
Warbuck's agenda--it would switch. It would no longer be about his charitable
nature--his like mercy--his like desire to be a parent.

And I was very, very worried. And then I told somebody and they said, `Well,
you know, there's simply nothing you can do.' And I did exactly that. I
thought, `Well, you know, I don't want to be short.' I really wanted to be
taller. And then I wanted to go to high school. And I wanted my brown hair
back. Oops. And I thought, well, you know, he's kind of right to have told
me. It was like this harsh life lesson and for a second I was just like, `I'm
just like Judy Garland, with the pills and Louis B. Mayer. And this'll be
chapter 14 of my book,' you know?

GROSS: Well, it must have been very difficult to make the transition from
like child star to woman and to, you know, adult actress. I guess it was like
you had a transition, in a way, through "Square Pegs," which is a TV series--a
very good one, about high school. And about a couple of misfits in high
school. So that even if you were feeling a little misfitish yourself that...

Ms. PARKER: Yes.

GROSS: ...would have been perfect for your character.

Ms. PARKER: It was exactly. And I thought a lot about that, because my
mother use to talk about this transition from child performer to adult actor,
and that there was a really big difference. And expectations were different.
And that she thought what I should do is only work in the theater during that
period where the number--the way you were scrutinized was so much less.
Although, not--I'm not talking about the New York theater critics, but the
amount of numbers of people that you're exposed to--that you should just--she
always said to me `Just make smart choices now. Try to do good plays in New
York where you just work on being an actor.'

And then "Square Pegs" came along and she was very reluctant to let me work in
television, very nervous about it. But she felt--my parents felt like it was
a show about real girls, and real feelings, and what it's like to be, in fact,
what I felt at the time, which was a misfit. I had been away from students
for a long time. The minute I left "Annie," I dyed my hair back to brown. I
went right to public high school, and I tried to fit in. And, in fact, I
really didn't. I mean, I got a couple of good friends, but it felt very
right. It was a fortuitous moment, a short-lived moment. But just the sort
of right amount of time to get through, in fact, what easily could've been a
rough period if I wanted to pursue it as an actor.

GROSS: Did you ever have a real high school life?

Ms. PARKER: Not that was particularly satisfying, no. I tried and I have my
two friends from high school still. But I was so wanting to work and to be in
New York City, and I needed to get out for unemployment, and they never liked
that. I had to get out every Tuesday to go to unemployment, and they did not
like that. Even though they said they were a school about, like, training,
you know, they were all about, like, jobs and work. And I was like, `Well
this is about jobs and work.' But I never really felt--it was a very, once
again, a very affluent community. And I just didn't feel like them. I felt
different.

GROSS: I don't know what you think about this. But it strikes me--I think of
you as being a very bright actress...

Ms. PARKER: Thank you.

GROSS: And a couple of your roles in movies were about people who weren't
bright at all. Like in "LA Story"...

Ms. PARKER: Yeah.

GROSS: ...with Steve Martin. And even in the David Mamet film, I mean, you
were the actress who was perceived as like the bimbo...

Ms. PARKER: Right.

GROSS: ...and you want to do a serious part. You don't want take off your
clothes and--so, I'm wondering, like, what did they--how did you end up--I
guess it's 'cause you're a good actress--but it seems like playing against
type to me.

Ms. PARKER: Well, that's nice of you. This is the extent of my vocabulary.
When I leave here today there's a little--I always think of those two parts as
very smart parts in a way. I think the woman in "LA Story" was Steve Martin's
bimbo, which elevates her immediately.

GROSS: Right.

Ms. PARKER: You know, that she's very clever, you know, I think--once before
before when we talked, I thought--I said she operates in the point of her
sexuality, and isn't she smart for recognizing that--and for being sort of
intentionally cavalier about who she is. And wanting to be with Steve Martin,
who is this very smart man. He's a weather man and he's complicated, and
interesting, and here is what we would normally call a bimbo who has this
interest in this man, not for any particular obvious reason. So I always sort
of thought that she wasn't--that she enjoyed being kind of dumb, that it was
fun for her. Clearly she wasn't particularly bright. She wasn't well read or
anything. But there was something cagey and savvy about her. And, not unlike
the David Mamet--the part of Claire where she was a crisp, smart
businesswoman, and manipulative, and had very weird thoughts, and ended up
getting, sort of, exactly what she wanted in the face of all those terrifying
men. And so, you know, those are sort of exceptionally written bimbos.

GROSS: Did you feel like you learned new things from working with David
Mamet...

Ms. PARKER: Without question.

GROSS: ...when he both wrote and directed "State and Main?"

Ms. PARKER: I did. I learned. And I was very nervous when I came up to do
the movie. They'd already been shooting for about 10 days and, you know, I
knew that Bill Macy was doing it and that he is sort of the definitive, I
thought, Mamet actor. And, in fact, he is so wonderful. He's a great
interpreter of Mamet. But what I learned, not only from Mamet, but from
watching all the other actors is that there is not a wrong or right way to do
Mamet. And Philip Seymour Hoffman, who'd never worked with him, who's so
effective in that movie, has a completely different approach than, you know,
William--than Macy does. And the same could be said fro Alec Baldwin or David
Paymer, or Rebecca Pidgeon. And that it's about listening, and that, with
Mamet, it's about a seduction or a negotiation, and it's about being smart and
on your toes. And he never once talked about lines. He talked about your
body. As a director, I mean, he talked about how you used your body and where
you placed your head. I mean, literally, he was that specific, and he doesn't
love--he doesn't, in fact, which is very good for me--he doesn't like
gesticulation. It's about the thoughts. And I learned--it's been a long time
since I learned that much about acting and listening.

GROSS: There was a terrific article about you that was written in the
business section of The New York Times. And it was part of like, how--it was
a series, I think, on how people spend their money.

Ms. PARKER: Yes.

GROSS: And so it was about you and money, but in talking about you and money,
it talked about all kinds of--it had all kinds of insights into your life,
your career, your personal development. It was a wonderful piece. One of the
things that it mentioned, that I notice, and a lot of friends came up to me
and said, `Did you read that article, you know? Did you see she and Matthew
Broderick--they keep their money separate." And this was of enormous interest
to people and I think it's an interesting decision, and it's a decision I
think a lot of other people have made, too. And I think it's a complicated
one. I don't know if you're comfortable talking about it or not.

Ms. PARKER: Yeah, well, you know, it's kind of a little about--you know, it's
a little bit related to the question you asked earlier about not just the
women's movement, but how my family life worked and that I always feel that I
am responsible for myself. That Matthew, because I am married him, that
doesn't mean Matthew wouldn't take care of me and my family and my extended
family, and my friends if need be. He's an extraordinarily generous person
and I would do the same for him. But I don't want him to ever have to take a
bad movie or do a bad job that makes him unhappy because he has to support me.
And as long as I have any earning potential, and as an actress, that window
closes more and more every day--as an actress of my age. I want to try to do
work, obviously, that I can make a living and take care of myself--but that is
meaningful to me, but I also don't want my husband to have to do the kind of
work that he doesn't want to do. And...

GROSS: Of course, you both have a lot of money, so it's unlikely either of
you is going to be starving.

Ms. PARKER: Well, you never know, there's going to be a lot of people we
have to take care of, you know--happily, and you know, we have no children of
our own yet and we have to take care of them and provide for them and I want
for them to not have to worry in the same way that I had to. I mean, I want
them to go to public school and do all that. But money is a very complicated
thing. And I don't ever want--I want my brothers and sisters to know that
they can come to me anytime. And I want to try to save for that reason. But
I also want to know that I can take care of myself, if my situation calls for
that. And I think Matthew feels the same way. You know, it's very vague.
Whoever pays for dinner, pays for dinner. Whoever pays for groceries--pays
for groceries, you know, it's a little bit--it's pretty loose that way.

GROSS: Do you think you want to have children?

Ms. PARKER: Yes. Very much--very much, despite Michael Patrick King's desire
to have me in little skirts all the time, I would like to, yeah. Definitely.

GROSS: And do you know how long "Sex and the City" is going to last? I mean,
is there any--is it just like, `We'll do it as long as we can'? or...

Ms. PARKER: I think that we feel--well, you know, everybody always say this
but it really is true, you don't want to be around longer than people want
you, and I only want to do it as long as we have really, really, really good
writers 'cause that's what the whole show is about, in my opinion, is great,
great writing. And as long as Michael Patrick King is there I will stay, and
my suspicions are that he and I will be there through--we will do two more
seasons. How specific is that?

GROSS: We're listening to an on-stage interview with Sarah Jessica Parker,
recorded a couple of weeks ago. We'll hear more after a break. This is FRESH
AIR.

(Soundbite of music)

GROSS: Our guest today is Sarah Jessica Parker. She stars as Carrie Bradshaw
in HBO's "Sex and the City." Here's a scene from an episode earlier this
season. Carrie has just told her girlfriends that she's been invited to model
in a high-profile charity fashion show.

(Soundbite of "Sex and the City" episode)

Unidentified Woman #1: New York Style?

Ms. PARKER: (As Carrie) Yeah.

Unidentified Woman #1: You were asked to be part of that? That's huge! All
the top designers are doing it.

Unidentified Woman #2: Wait. They want you to be a model?

Ms. PARKER: (As Carrie) No, no, no, it's a mix of real people and models. I
know the producer.

Unidentified Woman #1: Carrie, you have to do it. You live for fashion.

Ms. PARKER: (As Carrie) I do not live for fashion.

Unidentified Woman #1: How many fashion shows did you drag me to during
fashion week?

Ms. PARKER: (As Carrie) Eight. What's your point?

Unidentified Woman #1: Why are you turning down the chance to actually be in
one?

Ms. PARKER: (As Carrie) I do not belong on a runway. Runways are for
models, not writers.

Unidentified Woman #1: What's the difference between strutting down a runway
and the way you strut down Fifth Avenue?

Ms. PARKER: (As Carrie) Strut? Do I strut? Am I a strutter?

Unidentified Woman #1: I think it'd be fun. I was a teen model when the
Ralph Lauren store opened in Newhaven.

Unidentified Woman #2: OK. It's amazing I was able to keep my lunch down
just now.

Ms. PARKER: (As Carrie) I just--I cannot imagine walking down a runway while
people sit there and judge me.

Unidentified Woman #1: No one would judge you.

Ms. PARKER: (As Carrie) Oh, we judge models all the time.

Unidentified Woman #2: But you're not a model. You're one of the real
people.

Ms. PARKER: (As Carrie) Exactly! And I don't want people to think that I
can't see the difference between a model and me.

Unidentified Woman #2: Who gives a (censored) what people think? This is a
fabulous opportunity. Honey, you'll probably get to keep the clothes.

Unidentified Woman #1: I thought of that.

Unidentified Woman #2: I'd do it in a New York minute.

Unidentified Woman #1: So would I.

GROSS: Let's continue our on-stage interview with Sarah Jessica Parker.

You know what, I think it's great that just as you're in "Sex and the City,"
and your career is really taking off, like Matthew Broderick your husband is
now in "The Producers," and that's a huge hit. It's just wonderful that good
things are happening to you both simultaneously.

Ms. PARKER: It's very nice.

GROSS: Isn't the opportunity--I'm standing on the outside saying this--but I
imagine there isn't the opportunity for any kind of unevenness or resentment
or one career's moving forward and another's stuck.

Ms. PARKER: Yes. It's glaringly obvious to us that this is a good time,
because there are a lot of unpredictable, you know, jobs, but this is
certainly one of the most unpredictable ones. The odds of not finding
satisfying work, or not getting the satisfying work that you want, are very
high and there are times that both of us, you know, have been looking at the
one saying, `Oh I wish I was doing what you were doing,' or feeling good about
what I was doing or what you were doing. So this is--we feel extraordinarily
lucky and know it's, you know, just a moment and it'll be different. But it's
a wonderful--I'm so proud of him. I love his show. I've seen it 14 times.

GROSS: You mentioned that your concern about what happens, you know, in a few
years, 'cause for actresses it's much more difficult than for actors, in terms
of getting roles. What are, specifically, some of your concerns?

Ms. PARKER: That I will be, you know, relegated to roles that aren't, you
know, really fleshed out and interesting. That I will be--I just don't want
to be sad about choices. I don't want to feel disappointed about the quality
of opportunities and so I try to be very realistic about what the future
holds. I mean, I look at really wonderful actresses--some of the greatest
actresses in my time, who struggle, who I've spoken to, who put their hands on
their head and say, `Who would have thought I would feel this way? Who would
have thought some young actress would be standing, clutching a statuette,
saying `And you! I can't believe you're in the same category as me!' You
know? And it's just like, you know, `I can't either.' You know? You
just--that's the truth--men seem to be more beloved and more revered and the
lines are more interesting and sexier, and it's simply not the case with
women.

The parts for women get younger and younger and younger. It's not a judgement
thing, it's just a keen observation--or even not that keen. And so you just
try to be realistic and you try to remember that that's why the theater--not
to use it as a salvation, but that's one of the beauties, is that, you know
Blythe Danner can come work in the theater in New York and do wonderful parts
all the time and Maria Tucci and Marian Seldes and a whole class of wonderful
actresses--and Meryl Streep, because there are great roles in the theater for
women and they simply aren't completely, always there in film and more so in
television, though, they are.

GROSS: One last question. Did you already know how to walk in really high
heels for "Sex and the City," or is that something you had to learn for the
part?

Ms. PARKER: Well, I do love high heels. I love them. And I thought I walked
in them pretty well, but looking back now I realize that I have achieved a
skill--a level of not only walking, but running in high heels. I could run a
marathon and I love the way it makes me feel and I love that my character gets
to wear those great shoes. I love them.

GROSS: Do you get to keep the wardrobe?

Ms. PARKER: I get to keep all of it. All if it. We give a lot of it away,
and we use a lot of it for auctions and stuff. Like, I finally have something
that someone might actually want.

GROSS: But you said you don't like to wear those clothes in your life.

Ms. PARKER: No, but I love having them. I have archives.

GROSS: What do you do with them?

Ms. PARKER: I just look at them and remember when Mr. Big was really nice to
me one day or when Aiden sanded my floor. So, you know, but the shoes and the
purses I always use. Always.

GROSS: And do you know what's happening to your character in the next season?

Ms. PARKER: Now, or in season five?

GROSS: 'Cause your shooting right now...

Ms. PARKER: We're shooting right now season four.

GROSS: You're shooting the current season.

Ms. PARKER: Yeah.

GROSS: Whoa. That's ...(unintelligible).

Ms. PARKER: And I know exactly what's happening. There is a lot of
unexpected, wonderful, sad, moving, triumphant surprises ahead.

GROSS: I look forward to seeing them. Thank you so much for being with us.

Ms. PARKER: Oh, my God. This was a joy. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Thank you.

(Soundbite of applause)

GROSS: Sarah Jessica Parker, recorded last month at the Old Whaling Church on
Martha's Vineyard at a benefit for Boston Public Radio station WBUR.

(Credits)

GROSS: I'm Terry Gross.
Transcripts are created on a rush deadline, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of Fresh Air interviews and reviews are the audio recordings of each segment.