Yahoo Lifestyle Kristin Davis Has Lifted The Lid On The Early Days Of “Sex And The City,” And It’s Seriously Insightful
Sex and the City star Kristin Davis is lifting the lid on what it was really like to work on the hit HBO show in her new podcast, Are You a Charlotte?, and the first episode doesn’t disappoint.
For reference, the 59-year-old star shot to global fame when she landed the role of Charlotte York in the series; one of Carrie Bradshaw’s three best friends.
Sarah Jessica Parker famously plays Carrie in SATC, with Cynthia Nixon and Kim Cattrall completing the foursome as Miranda and Samantha, respectively.
The show first premiered in 1998 and ran until 2004. After the season finale, all of the stars reprised their roles in two movies, which were released in 2008 and 2010. Then, in 2021, all but Kim returned for a SATC sequel series called And Just Like That..., which is heading into its third season.
Are You a Charlotte? officially launched on Monday, and in the first episode, Kristin reflected on being cast in the show back in the ‘90s as well as her memories of filming the pilot.
She also dropped the bombshell that Charlotte's role was very nearly reduced to a “recurring character” rather than a core part of the leading ladies, and heaped praise on the support and guidance that Sarah Jessica gave her as the show’s star.
Speaking on the podcast, Kristin said that ahead of filming for the pilot, she was told that she needed to cut her long hair because they wanted her to look like Jill Hennessy in Law & Order. For context, Jill had a chin-length bob at the time.
“I was like: ‘But Jill Hennessy is really tall and extremely beautiful, and she’s got this long neck; how am I ever going to look like Jill Hennessy?!’” Kristin recalled. “Also, my hair is wavy. She had a short bob at this time, right? I’m just gonna have, like, a poof. I’m going to be like a poodle.”
Kristin ended up reluctantly going to a hair salon to get the cut after being told that if she didn’t, the show’s hairdresser would cut it for her on her first day at work. She later realized that she should have gone to her costar for help.
“At this point, I don’t really know Sarah Jessica well enough to go to her; now I know I should have gone to her ASAP,” Kristin said, also noting that she didn’t approach executive producer Darren Star either, who she’d worked with previously. “I don’t know if Darren was aware they were trying to chop my hair off.”
“So I get this haircut, and I remember Sarah Jessica being like: ‘What happened to your hair?’” Kristin went on. “And I was like: ‘The dude made me cut it!’ She was like: ‘What?!’ Then I realized this was who I need to talk to about things.”
Once on set, Kristin said that the hairdresser still didn’t like the cut and wanted her to put on a “massive velvet scrunchie” that was “as big as” her face.
“And I’m like: ‘Uh, Sarah Jessica…’” Kristin whispered. “Because at that point, I realized you need to run things by her; she’s going to help you. So I’m like: ‘He wants to put this scrunchie on my head!’ She was like: ‘No! No scrunchies! No banana clips; we are in Manhattan!’ And I’m like: ‘OK, thank god!’”
Later in the podcast, Kristin revealed that Sarah Jessica invited her to her trailer on her very first day on set, and Kristin was thrilled to see her costar tucking into a “huge thing of Krispy Kreme donuts.”
“I grew up in South Carolina where Krispy Kremes are from,” Kristin explained, adding that actors would never eat donuts at her last job on Melrose Place. “I was like: ‘We’re going to eat donuts, oh my god!’ And we chatted, and she asked me questions about myself, and she’s so incredibly sweet.”
Kristin also recalled feeling inspired by Sarah Jessica’s approach to collaborating with showrunners during filming.
She revealed that at the time, her costar was not comfortable with the characters breaking the fourth wall to speak directly to the camera, a technique that is only seen in the show's first season.
“I remember watching [Sarah Jessica] talking to Darren about it and thinking: ‘This woman is so strong in herself, and knows herself so well, and is talking to him in such a great way of an equal footing in terms of the creative process,’ and I hadn’t really seen that, I hadn’t really been around that,” Kristin told listeners.
“She was really just trying to navigate her own way to make it organic because it’s a really odd thing, like, you’re in a scene doing your regular acting, and then you have to turn and be like: ‘Blah blah,' it was a strange, strange thing,” she explained.
Kristin then revealed how her character, Charlotte, was almost downgraded during filming, which she initially didn’t find too surprising considering how “powerful” the other three characters were in comparison.
“I had this big, big deal, it was like a seven-year deal, and we’re doing the pilot, and this producer — I think she was maybe a line producer, not an executive producer — comes into my trailer,” Kristin began. “She says: ‘Oh, we have this paperwork we need you to fill out.’”
“I take the paperwork and look at it, and it seems to be a new contract, but it’s only two pages long,” she goes on. “And it says: ‘You will be a recurring character, and you will be paid $5,000.’”
Kristin immediately called her lawyer, who advised her not to sign it; he also told her that he knew the Sex and the City pilot was costing a lot of money and people were “stressed at HBO.” Kristin added that the pilot episode alone apparently ended up costing “$2.5 million roughly” due to the location costs of filming in Manhattan.
Admitting that she was “scared” about her future on the show, Kristin said: “It was also very clear from the book and from the script and from the pilot that Charlotte’s point of view was a different point of view than the other girls.”
“It’s very clear that I’m on a different trajectory, and you do kind of think: ‘How did Charlotte get to be friends with these girls?’ It’s interesting, right? [But] that is how friend groups are,” she pointed out. “You’re going to have a variety of friend groups. I always thought that was weird, through the years when people would bring that up to me. Like: ‘Why are you friends with them?’ I’m like: ‘Why wouldn’t I be friends with them? They’re fascinating, they’re interesting.'”
“Honestly, when I looked back on it, I do think they were trying to save money, but I also think they were like: ‘Well, she’s so different, and the other three are kind of powerful,'” Kristin continued. “I knew she was different; it’s definitely different, but in my gut, I felt like it was really important to have this other character.”
“So even though I was super stressed about this weird paperwork thing, I did feel like: ‘No, no, they need me,’” she added. “I felt inside that they needed me, and I’m so happy that I did because, obviously, it could have really gone wrong. Anyone can get recast or cut at any time in our business, but in my gut, I didn’t feel like that would happen.”
“And I’m so thankful that I didn’t and that I had faith in myself,” Kristin concluded. “I really am unsure why in some ways; I wasn't the most super confident person or whatever, but I do feel like when things come to you, and you have something that connects with that, and you have something that you want to be able to express or create or whatever, and something that you want to be a part of… I knew I desperately wanted to be a part of it.”
“I thought it was the most incredible job ever,” she continued. “And when I watched that group scene [in the pilot], all I see is how much I want to connect with them, how much I want to be with them and fit in, which is kind of heartbreaking in a certain way but also that is kind of Charlotte. She wants to be loved, she wants to find love, she wants to have love with her girlfriends. She wants to connect, you know?”
Kristin did not detail how Charlotte’s role ended up being bumped back up again, but I think I speak for everyone when I say thank goodness that it was.
You can listen to the first episode of Are You a Charlotte? here — let me know what you make of it in the comments below!
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