Role Change
"They were like, ‘Yeah, not so much,’” said Nixon, who was eventually cast as Bradshaw's lawyer bestie
Before she was Miranda, Cynthia Nixon auditioned to play Carrie Bradshaw. Speaking on the And Just Like That… The Writers Room podcast Thursday, Nixon revealed that she tried to get the Sex and the City role made famous by Sarah Jessica Parker.
“They brought me in to audition for Carrie. I auditioned and they were like, ‘Yeah, not so much,’” Nixon said on the podcast. “And I said to myself — and I’m usually not so proactive — but I was like, at the time, it didn’t seem like there were four women, it seemed there was, like, seven. And I was like, ‘There’s gotta be one of those women I can play. Can they see me for somebody else?’”
Nixon — who was chatting with Parker and her other co-star Kristin Davis — added that after that she was asked back to read for the role of Bradshaw’s lawyer bestie Miranda Hobbes.
“My manager… said to me before I went in for Miranda, she was like, ‘Maybe you could comb your hair,’” the actress added. “’Maybe you could wear some lipstick.’ And they auditioned me a lot of times.”
In the conversation, Davis said that she too had auditioned to play Carrie because everyone in Hollywood “wanted it.”
“It was so unusual amongst women,” she said, adding that she was asked to read in Parker’s place since they weren’t sure if Parker would take the role. There was one line that stood out for her that made her seem like she wasn’t the right one for that lead part. “It said, ‘Carrie has the body of Heather Locklear and the mind of Dorothy Parker,’” Davis said. “And I was like, ‘That is adorable, but I can’t play that part.’”
Sex and the City director Michael Patrick King spoke up and said that “that kind of sentence destroys people because it’s an impossible standard.”
“But apparently not — because we got somebody with the body of Heather Locklear and the mind of Dorothy Parker,” he added, referring to Parker.
The podcast episode comes about a week after the cast celebrated the show’s 25-year anniversary since airing on HBO.
“I cannot believe Sex and the City premiered 25 years ago today 👠🥂🗽 Before the show I never thought anything as big and wonderful as this could happen to me,” Nixon wrote on Instagram. “And now I can’t imagine my life without it!”Trending
“I consider myself the luckiest person in the world to be a part of this story that connects so many of us together. It has and continues to be a JOY!” said Davis. “Thank you to all of you who have come along for the ride. We love you.”
As for Parker, she snapped a photo of a golden chain with her character’s name. “It’s our silver anniversary but the memories will always be gold,” she wrote.
