Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Kristin Davis, and I want to know are
Speaker 1: you a Charlotte? Hi? Everybody, welcome to Are you a Charlotte? Today?
Speaker 1: We have a really fun guest is Caroline Aaron, who
Speaker 1: was in the first season. She is an incredible actress
Speaker 1: who has done Broadway film, She's worked with amazing directors
Speaker 1: and so many incredible parts on television. She's incredible. We
Speaker 1: have a great conversation. We talk about Michael Patrick King,
Speaker 1: who she's known forever and loves. So please join us
Speaker 1: for a fun talk with Caroline Erin. Welcome. Welcome, Caroline Aaron.
Speaker 1: I'm so excited to have you, so exciting to you.
Speaker 1: Oh you're so sweet. We I mean, first of all,
Speaker 1: when they printed out your look at the number of
Speaker 1: papers I have about your resume. My good lord, I
Speaker 1: don't even know where to start, but we're going to
Speaker 1: start with sex and the City because I swear were you.
Speaker 1: But I mean, there's so many things I could talk
Speaker 1: to you about. Your career is so amazing, which I
Speaker 1: knew but now I really really know. And props. Okay,
Speaker 1: thank you sweet are it's so so so nice. So
Speaker 1: tell me. I love to ask people what they remember
Speaker 1: this would have been what nineteen ninety eight?
Speaker 2: Was that the first season?
Speaker 1: Yep, you were on the first season.
Speaker 2: Wait, you're wow? I know wow. And I'm only thirty
Speaker 2: so that was twenty so I must have been three,
Speaker 2: So I mus have been three years old.
Speaker 1: Yeah. We were all little babies, all of us.
Speaker 2: Much little babies. Yes, this is what I remember. Of
Speaker 2: many things that I remember, I remember meeting Sarah. I
Speaker 2: had never met her before. Okay, I think I said
Speaker 2: to her, do you have all the same number of
Speaker 2: organs that I have? Because I could. She was so
Speaker 2: tiny that I thought she can't also have a gallbladder
Speaker 2: and a pancreas that little ribcage.
Speaker 1: She's tiny.
Speaker 2: Yeah, she was itty bitty. So that was like really different.
Speaker 2: And I knew all that, you know, I'd met Michael
Speaker 2: Patrick King doing a play that he wrote. Oh which
Speaker 2: one it was, I don't even know what the name
Speaker 2: of this play was, but it was from a long
Speaker 2: time ago before he was mattress Michael Patrick King, and
Speaker 2: I was sitting on a white bench popping up and
Speaker 2: down in Culver City. He'll wow. And then I knew
Speaker 2: Darren and I knew Andrea King, who was a writer
Speaker 2: during that first season, but I didn't know, if you
Speaker 2: ladies right, it was sort of right at the beginning.
Speaker 2: And I'm thinking when I first got there, I was
Speaker 2: in New York City during my salad days in that
Speaker 2: and I went, Wow, I wish I'd had the life
Speaker 2: these girls had when I was in New York.
Speaker 1: But listen, I felt the same way because I was
Speaker 1: also in New York City when I was an actress waitress.
Speaker 1: So I was like, this, this is the life, and
Speaker 1: I'm just going to try to pretend like this is
Speaker 1: my life because it felt very surreal. You know. So
Speaker 1: you knew Michael Patrick years before.
Speaker 2: Yes, years before, I knewhim, and I think I knew Darren.
Speaker 2: I mean they just asked me. So it was hot
Speaker 2: off the press, so nobody knew it was Sex and
Speaker 2: the City.
Speaker 1: Uh huh oh no, you just go, Okay.
Speaker 2: I just want to be there for my friends that
Speaker 2: are working on something new. It's got an incredible cast
Speaker 2: with the four of you, and I don't think Evan
Speaker 2: Handler was on it.
Speaker 1: Then, No, not yet. Harry had not shown up. Yet.
Speaker 2: Harry hadn't shown up. I did a Broadway show with it.
Speaker 2: So now that you guys have been on for so
Speaker 2: long and done so much. I probably know almost everybody
Speaker 2: who's ever been on it.
Speaker 1: Ah. I love that well you I think you have
Speaker 1: worked with everyone in the industry for sure. What play
Speaker 1: did you do with Evan?
Speaker 2: A play called I Hate Hamlet?
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, I heard of that. Yeah, oh wow, wow,
Speaker 1: I'm going to talk to him about that. Now. This
Speaker 1: is what I love so much about you. Like, as
Speaker 1: much as you are a brilliant character actress, where you
Speaker 1: can do Broadway film, Woody Allen, Mike Nichols, television, vintage
Speaker 1: you know, period pieces, blah blah blah, everything, you are
Speaker 1: also very specifically you like your voice alone is like
Speaker 1: so evocative, Like I just hear your voice and it's
Speaker 1: very powerful. So when Mazel came on, I was like,
Speaker 1: this is like the best thing that's ever happened. We
Speaker 1: just get so much Caroline, which I really love.
Speaker 2: Right, I have to say that was the gift that
Speaker 2: keeps on giving and so special, very special and very exciting.
Speaker 2: And you know, because I'd worked with so many great,
Speaker 2: great film directors who were all tours starting with I
Speaker 2: think the very first Broadway play I ever did was
Speaker 2: directed by Robert Altman one of the Wow filmmakers with
Speaker 2: cher what Love It, and Chassy was always there and
Speaker 2: that's Chaz now I understand share and Sandy Dennis and
Speaker 2: Kiaren Black and directed it. So that was really exciting
Speaker 2: because it was his first time sort of doing theater himself,
Speaker 2: and because I've worked with so many iconic filmmakers, and
Speaker 2: you know, I always say, like, tour filmmakers are different
Speaker 2: because there's nothing being done by committee. It's all one vision.
Speaker 2: You die on that hill or you succeed on that hill.
Speaker 2: And then when I got in Mazel, I went, oh,
Speaker 2: there's a tours in television too, and you are a
Speaker 2: part of a show that has a television a tour,
Speaker 2: and so was I.
Speaker 1: Definitely, I'm doing.
Speaker 2: A lot of TV. I remember one time years ago,
Speaker 2: I auditioned for something and my agents called me and said,
Speaker 2: you're their first choice. And I was excited and they went, unfortunately,
Speaker 2: this time they're going with their second choice.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, And I went.
Speaker 2: Your kid what they said, because you think about it,
Speaker 2: when something's being done by committee, not everybody's going to
Speaker 2: have the same first choice. So you and I have
Speaker 2: to agree, we're going to throw out our first choice.
Speaker 2: Then we're gonna go to our second choice or our
Speaker 2: third choice, whatever it is. So when you work on
Speaker 2: a show like Sex and the City or Mazel or whatever,
Speaker 2: it's one person's vision and that's pretty exciting.
Speaker 1: I agree, I agree totally. And I don't know, I
Speaker 1: don't know if people really realize that in a way.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think true fans realize that, you know,
Speaker 1: but I don't know if everyone does. And I sometimes
Speaker 1: wonder if everyone realizes that. I mean, for us also,
Speaker 1: it's been amazing to also have this length of time
Speaker 1: working together. You know, it's very unusual obviously, and we
Speaker 1: have a lot of input, which is great. But it
Speaker 1: is still Michael Patrick's vision.
Speaker 2: You know, Yes, you're dealing with one person who has this,
Speaker 2: and you know, I love him and I tested for
Speaker 2: a bunch of shows, you know, he did a bunch
Speaker 2: of shows before you did your show. And but he
Speaker 2: the reason he I think, once he became even like
Speaker 2: mildly successfully, he either rented or bought this theater in
Speaker 2: Culver City because he wanted doing work. He wanted to
Speaker 2: keep turning over the soil of his own artistic imagination.
Speaker 2: And then you guys snatched him up and kept him.
Speaker 1: Ahha, we kept him. But then he did Two Broke Girls,
Speaker 1: which you were also on.
Speaker 2: Oh it's right, that was Michael's. Oh that's right, that
Speaker 2: was right, right, right, right, right, so fun.
Speaker 1: I mean, you do everything like you do multi cam.
Speaker 1: It's very impressive. What is your favorite?
Speaker 2: Well, I just closed in an off Broadway play here
Speaker 2: and I had and it was just a two hander
Speaker 2: and it was just me and this kid and for
Speaker 2: two hours, and I loved it so and I went, wow,
Speaker 2: I'm really working for a living now. I had no
Speaker 2: when you're doing eight times a week and it's just you,
Speaker 2: it's but you know, I loved it, and I would
Speaker 2: have to say, it's not the what I would say,
Speaker 2: the delivery system. Whether it's television single camera for camera
Speaker 2: or film, indie or studio, or theater Broadway or off Broadway,
Speaker 2: it's it's the part. Yeah, It's always about what is
Speaker 2: the part? What are you communicating to people? And who
Speaker 2: is this person? And that's always going to be my
Speaker 2: favorite is whoever it is that I'm playing. If I'm
Speaker 2: very turned on by that, and I like to do
Speaker 2: a deep dive. I'm sort of a nuisance when you
Speaker 2: work with me because I ask so many questions.
Speaker 1: Haha. I love it. I love it.
Speaker 2: I'm not difficult, but I'm curious.
Speaker 1: Well, I think that you cannot be a good actor
Speaker 1: and not be curious. I mean, that's I think possibly
Speaker 1: number one.
Speaker 2: I know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, my question for you about choosing roles, if that's
Speaker 1: the thing that's really driving you, because sometimes for me,
Speaker 1: it's about the role, but sometimes it's also about who
Speaker 1: you're working with, which sometimes I make a mistake that
Speaker 1: way what I'm saying. But I love the like the collaboration.
Speaker 1: You want to be with people that excite you creatively.
Speaker 1: But also I feel sometimes when I look at different
Speaker 1: things that I've done in the past, and maybe there's
Speaker 1: a practical reason or whatever, but usually it's like some weird,
Speaker 1: unconscious reason that I choose a role. Do you ever
Speaker 1: feel that, like something in yourself that you need to
Speaker 1: express or that hasn't gotten attention or light.
Speaker 2: Yes, you know, I'm always going to be drawn to
Speaker 2: not repeating myself, you know what I mean. It's like
Speaker 2: if you were offered like in the next ten years. Charlotte, Charlotte, Charlotte, Charlotte,
Speaker 2: Oh god, no, yeah, and you would go. You know what,
Speaker 2: I've already played in this sandbox. I want to play
Speaker 2: in another sandbox.
Speaker 1: Oh for sure. Oh I've definitely taken parts just based
Speaker 1: on that. It's not always a great thing, I know,
Speaker 1: really yeah, no, I definitely have done that. Also because
Speaker 1: I have now played Charlotte for almost thirty years, which
Speaker 1: is really plenty. I love her. I would like to
Speaker 1: keep going, but I don't need to do any other
Speaker 1: versions of her.
Speaker 2: And you get into the mountain, you know what I mean,
Speaker 2: You've got to talk with this character. You don't need
Speaker 2: to do that again.
Speaker 1: You no, so in your mind, like with Mazel. I mean. Also,
Speaker 1: part of the reason I talk about Mazel is that
Speaker 1: we have a lot of the crew members from Mazel.
Speaker 1: You love to remind us, do we have a lot
Speaker 1: of the camera crew, and they're always like that time
Speaker 1: on Mazel when we shot a three block with the
Speaker 1: crane and we're like, we know, it was amazing, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, you're still you know, basking in
Speaker 1: the glory basically, So I feel like we talk about it.
Speaker 1: I mean also it was such a beautiful New York show,
Speaker 1: you know, in a different way, in a different era.
Speaker 1: But so for me like, I love that era so much.
Speaker 2: I know it made me miss my mother every day.
Speaker 2: I wrote that was published in a magazine. I think
Speaker 2: the name of the article was called The mother Load.
Speaker 2: And originally they were going to interview me about Mazel.
Speaker 2: And then it's like, and I'm sure you feel this too,
Speaker 2: I really am so sick of talking about myself when
Speaker 2: you're doing that blot of press all at once, and
Speaker 2: you just feel like, oh no, no, don't talk to
Speaker 2: me about me. So then they said they offered for
Speaker 2: me to write it. Well, right, So I wrote about
Speaker 2: my mom, sang a mom. It was great where there
Speaker 2: was an overlap between her mother ing and and Shirley
Speaker 2: the character. It was putting on the clothes. It was
Speaker 2: like and I kept thinking, why did I give away
Speaker 2: all on my mother's clothes?
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. Yeah.
Speaker 2: And you know, I don't remember it well enough. But
Speaker 2: one of the sort of like iconic things about Shirley
Speaker 2: was this white mank that she had all the time
Speaker 2: with her, no matter if it was eighty degrees up seven,
Speaker 2: and it was a real mink, and Amy wanted it
Speaker 2: to be white as opposed to brown, and it went
Speaker 2: fift decent they searched it out, and then a couple
Speaker 2: of months after the show wrapped, they sent it to
Speaker 2: me as a gift.
Speaker 1: It's so sweet.
Speaker 2: That's so sweet, and I go, what will I ever
Speaker 2: do with it? But maybe it will come back in.
Speaker 2: But it was those kinds of things, gloves, hats, all
Speaker 2: those things that my mother always it was just her
Speaker 2: everyday life, yeah, other things, and I think that made
Speaker 2: me miss her.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, those details. I mean, that's such an interesting
Speaker 1: thing to think about when you're playing a part, and
Speaker 1: sometimes when you're doing something on stage. Also because I
Speaker 1: feel like when you're doing something on stage, they really
Speaker 1: build a costume from the ground up, you know, in
Speaker 1: a wonderful way, which changes how you feel and how
Speaker 1: you're moving and all of those things, which is also
Speaker 1: true of modern clothes as well. We just kind of
Speaker 1: take it for granted. But I feel like the details,
Speaker 1: the details that went into those costumes amazing.
Speaker 2: Are costume design genius. I would come in some days
Speaker 2: and I'd go, do I have to put on the girdle?
Speaker 2: You know, and the point you brought out because there'd
Speaker 2: be a scene where I just be in my road
Speaker 2: and she goes, yes, you have to put it on.
Speaker 2: It makes you walk differently, it makes you talk to
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. It's like, yeah, I cannot
Speaker 2: believe that women in that aid and during that time
Speaker 2: didn't have a lot of bladder infections. I can tell
Speaker 2: you that because none of them I did to go
Speaker 2: to the bathroom. There was a lot to take off.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, I feel you. I mean I can
Speaker 1: only imagine. Yeah, like even just for sex and the city,
Speaker 1: there's a lot to take off. And sometimes we're in
Speaker 1: locations and they don't have nice bathrooms and were like, you, guys,
Speaker 1: you gotta sweep the floors because these clothes are going
Speaker 1: to be a wreck because we got to take care
Speaker 1: of all the layers anyway, and the belts and the
Speaker 1: wh Yeah, yeah, but yes, I mean Mazel. But I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: I obviously I'm a big band, So I'm just gonna
Speaker 1: talk about Mazel. But I'll get off Mazel.
Speaker 2: For my whole life. I loved it so much.
Speaker 1: I'm so glad. Isn't that just such a gift. It's
Speaker 1: such a gift to have something you guys.
Speaker 2: Have to is that we are all in touch with
Speaker 2: each other all the time. We will never yah and
Speaker 2: I kept thinking to myself. I even said to Amy
Speaker 2: and Dan once and you should ask Michael this too,
Speaker 2: because I don't know the answer. Did they cast chemistry
Speaker 2: for us and all those people? I mean, it was
Speaker 2: unbelievable and they didn't.
Speaker 1: It was just so amazing.
Speaker 2: They just looked out And we still are all very
Speaker 2: much each other's family, creative.
Speaker 1: Family, absolutely, I mean for us. They also we didn't
Speaker 1: read together anything like that. I've never met Sarah Jessica,
Speaker 1: I had never met Cynthia. I've met Kim briefly. But
Speaker 1: it is just such a very very unusual situation and
Speaker 1: where and I mean, this is our job, right, Like
Speaker 1: our job is to go onto a set and to
Speaker 1: make that work, you know, to connect, but it doesn't
Speaker 1: always work the way you want it, to write, like
Speaker 1: you can try and try and try, and sometimes you
Speaker 1: still don't have that like kind of frision, you.
Speaker 2: Know, doubt and yes you're right. I remember when I
Speaker 2: was studying when I first came to New York, I
Speaker 2: was studying with the great Uda Hagen, and one of
Speaker 2: the big questions was, so I'm in a scene and
Speaker 2: it's a love scene, and I hate the guy I'm with.
Speaker 2: I just hate him. I hate what he's doing on Uda.
Speaker 2: What do you do? She said, you know you use
Speaker 2: the magic if it says if he's the love of
Speaker 2: your life, it'says if you can't wait to get your
Speaker 2: hands on him. Sometimes that works, sometimes that doesn't. And
Speaker 2: if you can't make it work, you have to quit
Speaker 2: because you can't let you can't legislate another actor's performance.
Speaker 2: I'm sure you know urse you've tried to legislate what
Speaker 2: you're doing. I would never do that to another actor.
Speaker 2: It's certainly been done.
Speaker 1: To me me too, right.
Speaker 2: Haven't you been to it? Yeah? I'm like, okay, you know.
Speaker 1: Usually by men, by me, by male actors.
Speaker 2: Male actors saying things to me, I will be nameless.
Speaker 2: But I was doing a movie and the actor came
Speaker 2: up to me and said, you know, if you if
Speaker 2: you make it very real, little be funnier, and I went, really,
Speaker 2: thank you so much for that tip. I'm going to use.
Speaker 1: My god. I was like, oh my god, I had this.
Speaker 1: I've had two actors say this to me kind of early,
Speaker 1: like like maybe the first week where you know you're
Speaker 1: you've got some scene, and these were roles where I'm
Speaker 1: like the mom right. So you're usually in a kitchen,
Speaker 1: you know those kitchen scenes. We have all these props,
Speaker 1: but you're you have like little kind of inconsequential dialogue
Speaker 1: and the actor has the main he's driving the scene,
Speaker 1: and so you're just trying to be real, as you said,
Speaker 1: and do your best that you can do, and you're
Speaker 1: actually rehearsing. So I was rehearsing the prop work and
Speaker 1: the actor is standing maybe three feet from me in
Speaker 1: terms of the director and says she's not going to
Speaker 1: do it like that is she?
Speaker 2: Oh my god?
Speaker 1: And I'm just like, oh my god. I was like, ah,
Speaker 1: I was rehearsing, Hello, I can hear you, and I
Speaker 1: was rehearsing and we ended up getting along great. But
Speaker 1: in the beginning, I mean, it does scare you, like,
Speaker 1: oh God, Jesus, is the whole job going to be
Speaker 1: like this? Yeah, but that's good to know.
Speaker 2: I would never say anything to another actor. So we
Speaker 2: were really really lucky on Mazel that the chemistry we
Speaker 2: got for free we did it was just there. We
Speaker 2: cared about each other and we see each other now
Speaker 2: all the time. And the opening up the play I
Speaker 2: just did off Broadway, my pretend son Michael Zigan was
Speaker 2: there with my real the son of the play. So wow,
Speaker 2: my three sons all standing there. It was really crazy.
Speaker 1: Oh I love it. I love it so much. Rachel
Speaker 1: is so nice. I see her at event. She's so
Speaker 1: lovely and I'm so looking forward to Superman. I feel
Speaker 1: like she is the star of Superman.
Speaker 2: It is and let me just say, you know, it
Speaker 2: starts with the umber one on the call sheet, and
Speaker 2: I kept thinking, why is this working so well? But
Speaker 2: I'll tell you, and it was Rachel's that it was
Speaker 2: all of our attitudes. The project was more important than
Speaker 2: any single one of us. So everybody was bringing their
Speaker 2: A game to the material and so that was the
Speaker 2: star of the show.
Speaker 1: The show, Well, that's what we wanted, that's what we
Speaker 1: tried our best to do.
Speaker 2: I mean, I think you did. Thank you by it
Speaker 2: because where you are you're still going Massie.
Speaker 1: That's right, which we're just so incredibly lucky. Like do
Speaker 1: you ever think about your whole career and like when
Speaker 1: you were starting, what was your biggest dream er? What
Speaker 1: was your fantasy version of your career?
Speaker 2: My fantasy version hasn't happened yet. Can't wait for it.
Speaker 1: Oh, I love that, Okay, do you want to put
Speaker 1: it out there? What is it?
Speaker 2: I lived in La you know, for twenty four years,
Speaker 2: and I said until I came back to New York
Speaker 2: for Meson, what I used to say, what I want
Speaker 2: for my career is to know where my parking place is.
Speaker 2: So I just want, you know what I mean? It
Speaker 2: was like, I just pray for them. I just pray
Speaker 2: I would I think I would like to be on
Speaker 2: a successful, important, interesting TV series for a number of
Speaker 2: years I've never done. I mean, I did that with Masiel,
Speaker 2: really great, and I would like to have that back
Speaker 2: because it's like being a school teacher. You have three
Speaker 2: months off in the summer. You can do other things
Speaker 2: that you really really want to do. And although what's
Speaker 2: going on in our business now is very complicated.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, Yeah, this is chaos.
Speaker 2: It's just unbelievable, and who knows where this is all
Speaker 2: gonna land. But I just keep thinking, you know, artists
Speaker 2: are the witnesses and it will be our footprints in
Speaker 2: the snow that a one hundred years from now people
Speaker 2: will follow and say they'll be watching your show to
Speaker 2: try and put together what was it like to be
Speaker 2: like then?
Speaker 1: This is why I'm doing the podcast because I thought
Speaker 1: to myself, you know, we've been incredibly lucky and blessed
Speaker 1: to be a part of this thing. And many other
Speaker 1: people have shared their thoughts about the show and the
Speaker 1: people on the show and what they think went on
Speaker 1: or didn't go on. But I thought, why shouldn't we
Speaker 1: share our own thoughts and memories. So there's like a
Speaker 1: time capsule because things are changing so rapidly, you know.
Speaker 2: Funny because I was only in that one episode for
Speaker 2: a minute in the first season, and like even very
Speaker 2: early on in the first season, and then the show
Speaker 2: grew up to be it will go down in history,
Speaker 2: right obviously. And I went to see it Bucks County.
Speaker 2: I saw the original material from Kandas Bush.
Speaker 1: Oh you saw her show?
Speaker 2: Yes? I saw her show How Great, which was so interesting.
Speaker 2: Did you ever see it? No?
Speaker 1: She I just started on the podcast. She talked a
Speaker 1: lot about it. I mean, she's a fascinating person.
Speaker 2: So fascinating. And you know what the set was. Did
Speaker 2: you tell you what the set was? No? Imagine a
Speaker 2: set like a stage, and it was all of these
Speaker 2: different platforms made out of blue sight and on every
Speaker 2: platform was just a pair of shoes, a hundred pair
Speaker 2: of shoes.
Speaker 1: Wow, Oh that's a great idea.
Speaker 2: It's a great idea. And yeah, our shoes. I mean
Speaker 2: I thought about it like we could probably all do
Speaker 2: that with our own closets, you know what I mean,
Speaker 2: pair of shoes or that pair of shoes or you know.
Speaker 2: It's like I did Nora Front's play Love Lost in
Speaker 2: what Yeah, the same idea, which is I don't know
Speaker 2: if it's true for men, but it's certainly true for women.
Speaker 2: Clothes are like electricity. They're conductors of things and events
Speaker 2: and memories, yeah, that we have in our lives. Like
Speaker 2: when I went back and looks at the episode, I went,
Speaker 2: I know that jacket. I know that you know what
Speaker 2: I mean? It was like, yeah, oh I remember all
Speaker 2: of that and why I had that on and.
Speaker 1: So great, so great, and the thing that I love
Speaker 1: about you, and I mean, this is true in all
Speaker 1: the roles that you do. But when also I don't
Speaker 1: always remember. Part of what's interesting looking back on the
Speaker 1: show is like I would never have thought that you
Speaker 1: were in first season. I remember you so vividly being
Speaker 1: on because you're such a presence, but I would have
Speaker 1: thought it was later but first season, we hadn't even
Speaker 1: been on the air, right, so you definitely.
Speaker 2: Knew that it was the city exactly, you know what
Speaker 2: I mean. It was like and I, yeah, wonder what
Speaker 2: people are going to like this? You know, it's oh,
Speaker 2: it's you know. I when people would interview me about
Speaker 2: Maisiel and they'd go, why do you think it's a hit?
Speaker 2: And I would go and it was a When they
Speaker 2: first sent it to me, I was like, Okay, this
Speaker 2: is great. Jews will like it. New Yorkers will like it.
Speaker 2: I guess that's a lot of people. And then it
Speaker 2: turned out that it blew up internationally and we did
Speaker 2: press all over the world, and I would ask people
Speaker 2: all the time, like we were in Milan doing press
Speaker 2: and there were all these journalists that came in from
Speaker 2: like Sweeten and Brazil and this place, and I'm like,
Speaker 2: why do they like? Where do they line up?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Find find a place to relate to. And it was
Speaker 2: one of the most interesting things that I heard was
Speaker 2: there was a young woman, a young journalist, I think
Speaker 2: she was from Sweden, and she said, we see a
Speaker 2: lot of young women on television, but we don't see
Speaker 2: confident women our age. Wow, Oh, she's you know, most
Speaker 2: of the women they were seeing on television, you know,
Speaker 2: they had boyfriend problems or parent problems or job problems
Speaker 2: or whatever. They didn't see confident women. And it was
Speaker 2: so meaningful to her to see a woman who was
Speaker 2: ambitious and confident in her thirties. And I, wow, isn't
Speaker 2: that interesting? I thought that was interesting. And also it's
Speaker 2: about family and everything else, even if it's not even
Speaker 2: if your specifics are not their specifics, I think. And
Speaker 2: it's about dreamers dream and I think people like really
Speaker 2: really responded to that, and so it was a big mystery.
Speaker 2: And I felt the same way when my friends all
Speaker 2: started on Sex and the City because I knew Dark,
Speaker 2: I knew Michael, and I knew one of your writers
Speaker 2: at that time, this woman Andrea King, who's a wonderful writer.
Speaker 2: And I think we had become friendly. She was like
Speaker 2: the editor of the Hollywood Reporter or she'd been in
Speaker 2: journalism in some way.
Speaker 1: Wow. Oh, I didn't know that, yeah.
Speaker 2: And was like one of her best friends. He asked her,
Speaker 2: you know, to come to the party, and I remember wondering, people,
Speaker 2: I don't like this.
Speaker 1: I mean, we wondered as well.
Speaker 2: We were staring to know from you you didn't the scripture,
Speaker 2: cheating a pilot, you go, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I mean, we knew that we loved it, you know,
Speaker 1: I think that we had I mean, I know, for myself,
Speaker 1: I had a sense of how special and different it was.
Speaker 1: You know, certainly I had been I had been my
Speaker 1: out of work afterself in New York, and then I
Speaker 1: had gone to LA because there was more work, right,
Speaker 1: and then in LA everything was much more you know, soundstagey.
Speaker 1: The guys are the leads, the girls or the girlfriends,
Speaker 1: you know, all of that kind of thing. So for me,
Speaker 1: it was something where I thought that this is like
Speaker 1: shocking basically that four of us are here, you know,
Speaker 1: with our own storylines walking around Manhattan at night time,
Speaker 1: like yay. But I didn't know if it would resonate
Speaker 1: out in the world, and we all really thought that
Speaker 1: it might just well, Sirjisca says that she didn't even
Speaker 1: really think about the success part, which is super interesting.
Speaker 1: But I do think she's very you know, kind of
Speaker 1: what you're saying about the part. She's kind of project focused,
Speaker 1: you know, she's not big picture focused. I myself, I
Speaker 1: felt like I want this to keep going, and I
Speaker 1: hope we can get at least a niche type following,
Speaker 1: you know, and wouldn't that be great?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 1: And obviously it unfolded in a very different and fantastic way,
Speaker 1: but we none of us saw that coming. You could
Speaker 1: never see that coming.
Speaker 2: You know. It was really interesting when I went back
Speaker 2: and watched this episode. So we are saying it was, well.
Speaker 1: Here did you say the first season ninety eight?
Speaker 2: Okay, so it's ninety eight and there was all of
Speaker 2: this talk about oral sex for women, and I like,
Speaker 2: I'm rewatching it now and going that was radical. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's radical. It doesn't feel radical right now to revisit it,
Speaker 2: you know, to have that conversation with your character about
Speaker 2: when you said I don't like it, and even a
Speaker 2: woman saying I don't like it, I don't want to
Speaker 2: do it. It's not for me, and I'm like, going, wow,
Speaker 2: this is pretty brave.
Speaker 1: Oh, I know, we were scared.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this was really brave. I don't think people can
Speaker 2: for now can even realize how brave it was.
Speaker 1: Absolutely. Yeah, things have changed in some ways so much,
Speaker 1: and then other things have not changed, which is really
Speaker 1: interesting to look at. I remember being nervous about so
Speaker 1: many elements of it and thinking like, are people just
Speaker 1: going to be outraged, like, oh my god, turn this off,
Speaker 1: you know.
Speaker 2: Exactly, nobody should see this. It was like, yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: it would have been you know, you would have thought
Speaker 2: it was late night cable.
Speaker 1: Right because it did have that element. It did have
Speaker 1: that element, and there were I remember the press that
Speaker 1: came out in the beginning, and a lot of it
Speaker 1: that was kind of male driven reviewers kind of snow,
Speaker 1: you know, reviewers was very negative, very negative, and part
Speaker 1: of us was I remember, I'm not a big review
Speaker 1: person anyway, but it trickled down to me generally speaking,
Speaker 1: and we were just like, we're not gonna be That's
Speaker 1: not who we're making the show for. We're just gonna
Speaker 1: block it out. We're not making the show for these
Speaker 1: white guys who write for papers, you know. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: that is a good skill to have anyway, because you
Speaker 1: can't really do your job if you're worrying about them.
Speaker 2: My daughter told me when she first discovered it, she's
Speaker 2: twenty at out care. So let's say, you know, she's
Speaker 2: the second round of audience members for Sex.
Speaker 1: In the City, second or third, Yeah, second or third.
Speaker 2: So she started like, let's say five years ago or
Speaker 2: whatever it was. So I kept saying to her, so said,
Speaker 2: why do you like it? What's in it for you said,
Speaker 2: because it's women talking about sex. We don't ever get
Speaker 2: to see that. And that was say, that was a
Speaker 2: couple of years ago.
Speaker 1: That's incredible.
Speaker 2: So that has not happened, you know, like it's it
Speaker 2: still occupies that own the loan territory, which is crazy.
Speaker 2: Is that crazy? Yeah, it's crazy, said, some things have
Speaker 2: stayed the same. Yeah, for young women who want to
Speaker 2: have that conversation or see that conversation, it was very
Speaker 2: She felt very much like it was a source for her.
Speaker 1: Yay, I like that. I mean, younger women say that
Speaker 1: to me, and I'm pretty sure. I'm happy. Like sometimes
Speaker 1: I feel a little nervous, like, oh my god, I
Speaker 1: don't know, uh, you know, because we were trying. We're
Speaker 1: playing very flawed characters obviously, you know, or it wouldn't
Speaker 1: be interesting. But then on the other hand, I think, no,
Speaker 1: I think that the main message is, you know, we're
Speaker 1: representing so many different viewpoints and we're all together in it.
Speaker 1: That's right, you know, the friends And I think that's
Speaker 1: a powerful message.
Speaker 2: And for each other. And you're also imperfect and you
Speaker 2: remember in their Internet Instagram generation, perfection is always being
Speaker 2: put in front of them and making them feel really insecure.
Speaker 2: And then they watched this show and it's not about perfection.
Speaker 2: It's about insuality for women. And I think that's a comfort.
Speaker 1: Really absolutely, thank god, you know, I'm just so so
Speaker 1: happy to be a part of it. Yeah, it's amazing.
Speaker 1: I have a pressing, pressing question for you.
Speaker 2: Oh good, I'm excited. I love pressing.
Speaker 1: Are you a Charlotte?
Speaker 2: I don't think so. I mean, let's see, Am I
Speaker 2: a Charlotte? I don't think so.
Speaker 1: No, what are you?
Speaker 2: I don't know. Let's think. The reason I was saying
Speaker 2: that I wasn't a Charlotte is I feel like Charlotte
Speaker 2: stays in the lines of the coloring book, or she
Speaker 2: used to, and that's where her comfort is is. And
Speaker 2: I don't think. I think I always felt very other. Oh,
Speaker 2: and I don't think Charlotte is the character on that
Speaker 2: show that's other.
Speaker 1: You're so right. Yeah, you're so right.
Speaker 2: And I don't think probably if I had to be
Speaker 2: one of the four, i'd be.
Speaker 1: Cynthia yeah, Miranda. Yeah, Miranda, you seem like a Miranda
Speaker 1: to me. She's very intellectual, but she's also like says
Speaker 1: it like she sees it, you know. Yeah, yeah, I like.
Speaker 2: That, and she's kind of she's willing to go into
Speaker 2: uncharted territory certainly now in her character. But yeah, four,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean, she's yeah to go out
Speaker 2: there and say, Okay, I don't know if this is
Speaker 2: going to work out for beer or not. Charlotte seems
Speaker 2: a little risk at first.
Speaker 1: Well, I have to say the funny thing, I totally agree.
Speaker 1: And I know why you're saying that, because she was
Speaker 1: so focused on her goal of marriage and whatnot. But
Speaker 1: when you actually look back when we finished the series,
Speaker 1: the first series, they did a book called Kiss and Tell,
Speaker 1: and in the back of the book they put all
Speaker 1: the guys that each character had been with, and guess
Speaker 1: who had been with the most guys.
Speaker 2: Now, Charlotte is the slut, so a study girl. I know.
Speaker 1: I also was a little shocked. I was like wow,
Speaker 1: But I mean, in some way, so in some ways
Speaker 1: she's got this kind of more traditional picture she's trying
Speaker 1: to create, right, but she was pretty adventurous in terms
Speaker 1: of how she was going to get there, which is interesting.
Speaker 2: Isn't that interesting?
Speaker 1: I know, yeah, it's also surprising when I watched, when
Speaker 1: I rewatched back to the early days, I'm like, wow,
Speaker 1: I am all over the place, man. I mean, it's fun,
Speaker 1: it's fun to watch, and I don't I don't always
Speaker 1: remember those parts, you know, because I think her through
Speaker 1: line was always this much more traditional thing, which was
Speaker 1: kind of my role right on the in the mix,
Speaker 1: and that was it's not really my life. So I
Speaker 1: had to work hard on making that, you know, grounded. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but it is interesting to think about it. I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: she's she's done some slightly crazy things, but that's okay.
Speaker 1: It's fun, you know, why not? She has friends with Samantha,
Speaker 1: so you know, show.
Speaker 2: Going off the air, Sex in the City. How many
Speaker 2: years was it until just like that? When did that?
Speaker 1: Well, the movies were in between, right, So like for me,
Speaker 1: it all blends like I have to remind myself of
Speaker 1: the actual shifts and breaks that happened because obviously, like
Speaker 1: we're there together still, right, so it still feels like
Speaker 1: the show, except that we're getting ready to air season
Speaker 1: three of it, just like that, and I watched the
Speaker 1: first one. I'm like, oh no, these shows are very different.
Speaker 1: They're very different. It's so fascinating. You know, same characters,
Speaker 1: but the vibe, like the way that we shooted and
Speaker 1: the pattern and the timing and kind of the subject matter,
Speaker 1: all of it very different. It's super interesting.
Speaker 2: That's so great. That's so great.
Speaker 1: It is it's a very rare situation. But in between,
Speaker 1: to answer your question, we did the first film I
Speaker 1: think was released in two thousand and eight. I think
Speaker 1: we went off the air in like oh four, I
Speaker 1: feel like wow. And then so then the movie, the
Speaker 1: second movie would have been roughly twenty ten, twenty eleven,
Speaker 1: something like that. Then we took a kind of a
Speaker 1: long break, but we saw everyone we're saying with your cab,
Speaker 1: So you had a through line, you know personally.
Speaker 2: Right right, and what you guys have, what your own
Speaker 2: personal lives have evolved. You became mothers, you became wives,
Speaker 2: you know, all those things happened to you guys along
Speaker 2: the way, which is which is also very exciting because
Speaker 2: you do bring that whenever you know, the great director
Speaker 2: Peter Brooks said, you know that which is truly personal
Speaker 2: as universal, and we're bringing our personal selves to whatever
Speaker 2: we are doing as actors. And I think that's really exciting.
Speaker 2: I agree, gotten to do that through time.
Speaker 1: I agree, you're a.
Speaker 2: Different woman than when you started this show.
Speaker 1: I mean yes, like we were a little children when
Speaker 1: we started this show. Really, you know, we lived lives
Speaker 1: like lives multiple It's really fascinating.
Speaker 2: Are you in La?
Speaker 1: I am. I'm in La right now, getting ready to
Speaker 1: go back to New York. We're back and forth still,
Speaker 1: which is great. I love to be back and forth. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I aint't ready to do the press for and just
Speaker 1: like that, which is fun but also stressful in this
Speaker 1: new streaming world, you know, because it's just like a blast,
Speaker 1: like you just blasted out there, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: I took a picture of all of the underwear I
Speaker 2: had on the years we were going to you know,
Speaker 2: when you're going through the Emmys and the Golden Globes
Speaker 2: campaign problems I understand.
Speaker 1: But yeah, yeah, yeah, the shoes and.
Speaker 2: The clothes and the underwear. And I was like, oh
Speaker 2: my god, I'm doing a show about feminism and look
Speaker 2: what I have to put on.
Speaker 1: No joke, no joke.
Speaker 2: I know.
Speaker 1: It's really an interesting thing and sometimes you can go like,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to do this. I mean, certainly in
Speaker 1: my regular life, I just wore my jeans and my
Speaker 1: Adidas and I'm not going to be bothered. But that
Speaker 1: is the joy of what we do in a way,
Speaker 1: too write, because if you don't do it for a while,
Speaker 1: don't you kind of crave the costumes? Yes, exactly, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean too.
Speaker 2: And I a lot. And you know, because Sex and
Speaker 2: the City has also been about fashion, and I didn't
Speaker 2: know anything about fashion until I did Masel and I
Speaker 2: was like, wow, it's quite a subject and it's really interesting.
Speaker 1: I agree.
Speaker 2: I do think that fashion is the breadcrumbs of the
Speaker 2: times we live in. Yeah, I can know a lot
Speaker 2: about us from fashion.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, that's a really valid point. And I think our issue,
Speaker 1: I think sometimes with Sex and the City is that
Speaker 1: it almost seemed like fashion overtook the actual stories, you know,
Speaker 1: the actual storylines, and we felt some stress, like it
Speaker 1: seemed like we were just trying to sell shoes, which
Speaker 1: was really never our intention. It just grew, you know,
Speaker 1: and then I think we felt this this this pull
Speaker 1: away from that when we came back for just like
Speaker 1: that partly based on the stories. Also, like we you know,
Speaker 1: there was mourning and death and whatnot. We didn't want
Speaker 1: to be like running around and head to toe gucci,
Speaker 1: you know, necessarily. So it's interesting because you want to
Speaker 1: have the through line be there, but at the same
Speaker 1: time we're going through different things, so that's going to
Speaker 1: be reflected and what we're wearing. It's always super interesting.
Speaker 1: It's always super interesting to think about it.
Speaker 2: It's really funny about on MASL which I never said
Speaker 2: in any interviews was and this never has happened, is
Speaker 2: that four of the seven regulars were over fifty. Amazing,
Speaker 2: amazing and amazing. I'm on a TV show. It's like,
Speaker 2: who am I gonna have lunch with? I'm the only
Speaker 2: one who's over fifty?
Speaker 1: I understand, Yeah, we're in the same boat over there.
Speaker 1: And then just like that.
Speaker 2: Exactly, you're the only one. Then I go, wow, take
Speaker 2: a note, you know what I mean? Like this, Yes,
Speaker 2: this could take a note. And it wasn't about being
Speaker 2: over fifty. No, that it's okay. You could put characters
Speaker 2: on the air all different ages, and you don't you know,
Speaker 2: there is this feeling that you know, the thirty and
Speaker 2: under is where where the pot of gold is. But
Speaker 2: maybe fairly maybe.
Speaker 1: And also why can't all the stories get told right exactly?
Speaker 1: Why not? You know? I mean, I know, we're so
Speaker 1: lucky that we get to do our show. I fully,
Speaker 1: fully understand that. But sometimes when people are like, you know,
Speaker 1: are you shocked that you know, you ladies who are
Speaker 1: over fifty are getting to be on the television, I mean, like,
Speaker 1: it's hard not to be offended, like, why wouldn't we
Speaker 1: get to be on the television?
Speaker 2: Well? Why because there it hasn't happened for you know what.
Speaker 1: It is messed up. It's just so messed.
Speaker 2: Up, it's so wrong. I remember I actually sold a
Speaker 2: television pitch many years ago. I'd never done it before,
Speaker 2: for a show that I wanted to see about women.
Speaker 2: And we got to the point of having auditions, and
Speaker 2: I don't know if you remember this company, Carcy Warner.
Speaker 1: But Marcia, yeah, of course.
Speaker 2: I put a friend of mine down on the list
Speaker 2: to come in an audition, and after she had she's
Speaker 2: a brilliant actress, and Marcy went like this to me,
Speaker 2: what is she thirty? Like that? And I went, no,
Speaker 2: she's not, But I said, because I played my daughter
Speaker 2: in a play and so I know her, and I went,
Speaker 2: but I said, so is the moral of the story
Speaker 2: that when you get your period you shed just cut
Speaker 2: up your sad card? And she said pretty much that's
Speaker 2: what she said.
Speaker 1: Oh my god. I mean it's so I'm saying. But
Speaker 1: I do remember as a young actor being so worried
Speaker 1: that I wasn't successful. I wasn't successful until I was thirty,
Speaker 1: and I was like, well, I'm only going to have
Speaker 1: ten more years and it's going to be over. That's it, right,
Speaker 1: because that was how we were brandwashed, and.
Speaker 2: Everybody seemed to accept it as a truth exactly. Every
Speaker 2: time that truth gets disproved, like by your show or
Speaker 2: our show or whatever. Yeah, like so relieved. Not no,
Speaker 2: not that they catch up to that truth.
Speaker 1: No, no, I know they forget immediately.
Speaker 2: They forget immediately. But it's like, that's what I want
Speaker 2: to see, is like I want to see everybody. I'm
Speaker 2: we too. I want to see it all. I want
Speaker 2: to see young people and older people and old old
Speaker 2: people and yes, the human ex yes, what our.
Speaker 1: Job, yes, yes, yes, God, yes, all right, you're a joy.
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2: So great, give my love to everybody.
Speaker 1: Thank you. I will, I will, I will I talked
Speaker 1: to Michael soon. Okay, bye, k bye, honey,