After Kim Cattrall addressed her exit from the “Sex and the City” franchise in a recent Variety cover story, former co-star and executive producer Sarah Jessica Parker spoke out about Cattrall’s claims. “It’s very hard to talk about the situation with Kim because I’ve been so careful about not ever wanting to say anything that is unpleasant, because it’s not the way I like to conduct conversations that are as complicated as this,” Parker said on The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast. While Parker credited Cattrall for being a “huge contributor to the success” of “SATC,” she was not asked to return for the revival series “And Just Like That” because of Cattrall’s past comments. “We did not ask her to be part of this because she made it clear that that wasn’t something she wanted to pursue, and it no longer felt comfortable for us, and so it didn’t occur to us,” Parker said. “That’s not ‘slamming’ her, it’s just learning. You’ve got to listen to somebody, and if they’re publicly talking about something and it doesn’t suggest it’s some place they want to be, or a person they want to play, or an environment in which they want to be, you get to an age where you’re like, ‘Well, we hear that.’”
Parker explained that the rife with Cattrall dated back to 2017 when a third “SATC” film was being discussed. “There were things that she requested that [the studio was] not able to do,” Parker continued. “They didn’t feel comfortable meeting where she wanted to meet, and so we didn’t do the movie because we didn’t want to do it without Kim, and the studio wasn’t going to do it, so it fell apart.” Cattrall previously revealed that her sex-positive character Samantha was scripted to have a “heartbreaking” storyline involving receiving unwanted “dick pics” from Miranda’s son Brady, then 14 years old at the time of the anticipated third movie and now a high school senior in HBO Max revival series “And Just Like That.” Parker now clarified to THR, “It wasn’t that she said ‘no’ to the movie; it’s that the studio said ‘no’ to the movie, which, you know, happens. And every actor has a right to ask for things, to have, you know, a contract that feels good to them. I never would have disputed that because, frankly, that’s not my business. Were we disappointed? Sure. But it happens.” The “Plaza Suite” Broadway star added that it’s not her place to say “you’re wrong” to Cattrall but that her recounting of a tense set “hasn’t been our experience” for co-stars Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis. “I’ve spent a lot of years working really hard to always be decent to everybody on the set, to take care of people, to be responsible to and for people, both my employers and the people that I feel I’m responsible for as a producer of the show,” Parker said. “And there just isn’t anyone else who’s ever talked about me this way, so it’s very painful.”
And Parker cleared up the use of the term “catfight” thrown around in the press when referring to her and Cattrall’s long history. “It’s so painful for people to keep talking about this ‘catfight’ — a fight, a fight, a fight. I’ve never uttered fighting words in my life about anybody that I’ve worked with ever,” Parker said. “There is not a ‘fight’ going on. There has been no public dispute or spat or conversations or allegations made by me or anybody on my behalf. I wouldn’t do it. That is not the way I would have it…There has been one person talking. And I’m not going to tell her not to, or anybody, so that’s been kind of painful for me also.” However, Parker noted that Cattrall’s absence on “AJLT” didn’t mean that her character Samantha couldn’t be on the series by way of text messages and implied meetings. “We were enormously reliant upon [showrunner] Michael [Patrick King] addressing it and figuring out how to talk about the absence of Samantha, because we have such affection for Samantha, and we wouldn’t have affection for Samantha — I mean, it’s all tied up in Kim, so you can make the natural inference that it’s there because of Kim’s work,” Parker said. “But we felt comfortable moving on without her and without that part because we knew what Michael wanted to do. And we thought he handled it beautifully — that she was there and she was present — and that was kind of nice for all of us and, I think, the audience.” Cattrall formerly told Variety that she found out she was not going to be on “AJLT” via social media along with the rest of the “SATC” fans. However, she acknowledged it was time for her final exit from the franchise. “It’s a great wisdom to know when enough is enough,” Cattrall said earlier this year. “I also didn’t want to compromise what the show was to me. The way forward seemed clear. Everything in me went, ‘I’m done.’ And you can’t go against that feeling. I don’t ever want to be on a set and not want to be there.” Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
