Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

Sarah Jessica Parker: The WCT Interview
by Richard Knight, Jr.
2006-03-08

This article shared 3297 times since Wed Mar 8, 2006
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


When I talked with Sarah Jessica Parker, her latest romantic comedy, Failure to Launch, hadn't been screened for the Chicago movie critics so I was a tad nervous as I approached our interview. What would we talk about? But there's a reason why Parker, who's a delight in the wonderful Failure to Launch—in which she co-stars with Matthew McConaughey—was the secret weapon that made TV's Sex in the City such a gigantic hit. Her enormous audience rapport was immediately evident the moment we started talking. We spoke the afternoon of New York's recent tremendous snowstorm. Highlights from our wide-ranging conversation:

Windy City Times: And ... we're off and running! Hi from Chicago, where it's snowing today.

Sarah Jessica Parker: It is here, too. The city is now disappearing before our eyes.

WCT: So that's the first thing we have in common.

SJP ( Giggles )

WCT: OK, let's jump right to the movie. You've made so many great romantic comedies—like a zillion? What stands out about Failure to Launch? What separates it from the herd?

SJP: Well, it's not so much what separated it from the herd but rather where it came in my life at the time. I was just getting ready to start The Family Stone and I knew I was going to do Spinning Into Butter after Failure to Launch and it seemed like a great Chapter Two of my trilogy that I've spent the last year doing. I loved that there was this big, lush romantic comedy that was for adult actors and those are few and far between, really. That and it was a very decadent, generous schedule and there were a lot of ingredients that I really liked.

WCT: So what's to resist, right? OK ... for the 25th time today—what was it like working with the Sexiest Man Alive?

SJP: Well, first of all at the time we were shooting he had not quite been appointed that yet but we didn't need a magazine to tell us that, now did we?

WCT: Well my husband and I think that you're married to the cutest man alive.

SJP ( melts ) Ooooh, thank you, I agree! I concur. I agree!

WCT: So now you've got the cutest AND the sexiest!

SJP: That's right, I agree—I've had 'em all!

WCT: So was he great to work with?

SJP: Yeah, he was really fun. He was really easy—loved the camera, the camera loved him, he's very comfortable and it was very pleasant. Very easy-breezy.

WCT: Did you know him before you started shooting?

SJP: I knew a little bit because he did Sex and the City for a couple of days once.

WCT: Oh, I guess I missed those episodes.

SJP: Yeah, when Carrie goes to California she's supposed to interview him or have a meeting with him or something. I can't remember the circumstances but he had been very generous and very brave because he played kind of a cliché of an overindulged movie star and it's a pretty hilarious performance. So I met him on that—it was a couple of days work, I think. So I knew him a little tiny bit.

WCT: And then, you worked with Kathy Bates. I kinda worship her in every single thing that she does. How was that?

SJP: It was great—I mean I barely had any time with her at all but it was wonderful to be around her. You know, she's the real deal.

WCT: Is this a great date movie? You have to help me because you know they haven't screened it for us in Chicago yet.

SJP: I think it is—it's going to appeal to a lot of people. It's not a chick movie; it's not a guy's movie. It's a wonderfully silly romantic comedy that's got something in it for everybody.

WCT: I hear it's kind of a guy date movie.

SJP: Yeah, I think it will appeal to a lot of guys. I think men really like Matthew McConaughey but so do women.

WCT: And gay men as well.

SJP: Exactly. Exactly.

WCT: You worked with Thomas Bezucha, the director-writer of Big Eden, my favorite 'gay' movie, and I loved The Family Stone so much so I'm going to jump a little bit if that's OK.

SJP: That's fine, of course.

WCT: In light of the fact that you're a renowned friend of the gay community, was it hard to do that scene at the dinner table where you had to face down Diane Keaton and Craig T. Nelson with those questions about nature versus nurture about their gay son?

SJP: It was as an actor but I'll tell you what; I hope this is received in the spirit in which it's meant to be. I think if my character, Meredith, had been anybody else with better people skills, she could have asked those questions and it wouldn't have been so provocative because I've been around thinking, civilized, decent, tolerate, loving people who talk about nature versus nurture and what does that mean and what is it like to be two men raising a son or a daughter and what are your concerns and environment—and I think it's a really interesting conversation. It's just that she doesn't know how to ask questions.

WCT: And you can see clearly that she doesn't feel that way. You're right; she doesn't seem to have the language to express it. In a way, that's when my heart went out to her.

SJP: If Claire Danes's character had asked those questions it would've been perfectly acceptable. It's just that she had already dug this ridiculously deep hole for herself and she doesn't have the people skills nor does she have the ability to feel the room. You know?

WCT: Yeah, yeah.

SJP: But I do think that's an interesting conversation to have. I've had it many, many times with people but she doesn't know how to extricate herself when things look no longer appealing.

WCT: So you know, Entourage has been called the straight version of Sex in the City, The L Word is the lesbian version and Queer as Folk is the gay version, OK ... when are you gonna strap back on those Manolo Blahniks?

SJP: ( she's laughing hard )

WCT: What happened to our Sex in the City movie?

SJP: I know, I know. Oh, I really did want to make that movie.

WCT ( commiserating ) : Ooooh, this sounds like it's going to be bad.

SJP: It was a beautiful, funny script that Michael Patrick had written and, you know, three of us wanted to do it and you have to respect people for not wanting to and for moving on. It was a hard pill to swallow. But it feels like the moment has passed for it. The momentum was so critical to make that movie then and when we heard we couldn't make it ... that Kim didn't want to ... the sets were struck and they were sold or put in a dumpster and it's all gone.

WCT ( sighing ) OK, OK, I guess I'll move on, too.

SJP: But it will live forever in DVDs.

WCT: And I need to go check out those Matthew McConaughey episodes.

SJP: That's right!

WCT: You worked with gay icon Bette Midler on two movies: Hocus Pocus and The First Wives Club. Any chance that she's going to pop up in Slammer, the movie musical set in the women's prison you're doing that I'm dying for!?

SJP: Hmmm, we'll see. I'm not sure what's happening with Slammer and when and if we're going to get going on it but God, wouldn't she be fantastic? ( Turns into a fan for a moment ) I LOVE her so much. She's a friend now, which is really nice. A real friend, which is fantastic.

WCT: Let's get back to the new movie for a second. What's in it for my gay friends?

SJP ( laughs ) : Tell them that Matthew McConaughey takes his shirt off and swims around in the ocean. Tell all your gay friends that. That's what I'm telling all my straight friends.

WCT: But what about you? Are we going to love you in this movie?

SJP: You're going to freak out when you see me—I am so fantastic in this movie! I'm just kidding—I don't know if you're going to love me in this movie but if you don't love me, you'll love Matthew.

WCT: But is she different from Meredith in The Family Stone? I ask that because you know it wasn't easy to dislike a Sarah Jessica Parker character.

SJP: ( My character ) Paula really enjoys her life, she's not particularly concerned what other people think of her. She's very comfortable, kinda delighted by romance and silliness. She's a nice one again.

WCT: Is the character sort of like you?

SJP: Not at all like me, actually. When you see it ... she's very different than I am. She's a much lighter touch than me.

WCT: OK. So tell me about this next film—the third part of the Sarah Jessica Parker trilogy—Spinning Into Butter. It's a dramatic piece, isn't it?

SJP: Yes, it's based on the play that was on Broadway about five years ago that Rebecca Gilman wrote and she's adapted it for the screen.

WCT: Oh, right, right!

SJP: And she's a Chicagoan.

WCT: Of course, yes. Why don't you come here and do a play at Steppenwolf or Lookingglass?

SJP: I would love to but I probably wouldn't have the nerve.

WCT: So you're shooting Spinning Into Butter now?

SJP: No, I'm taking some time off until September when we start and taking care of my son.

WCT: How old is he?

SJP: James is three and some months.

WCT: Oh my God. How do you do it?

SJP: Probably like every other working mother, probably very badly but I try.

WCT: So when James is grown and you and Matthew have reached your emeritus years, which I know are many, many, many moons down the road—are you going to do a club act like Steve and Eydie and call it When Sari Met Mattie?

SJP ( Laughing hard ) Oh God, that's hilarious! Gosh, I don't know, we'll have to see what our mature years bring. We'll have to see if anybody's interested.

WCT: Well, you're both from the stage. You have so many things that you could do together.

SJP: Oh God, I don't know. We'll see 20 years from now who's interested in us.

WCT: So, in the meantime, when are you two going to do something other than the club act?

SJP: You know, we have no plans to do anything in the near future but you will be the first to know.

WCT: Call me immediately!

SJP: I will call you immediately. Thank you so much. Be well.

WCT: I adore you Sarah Jessica Parker. I think you're going to do OK.


This article shared 3297 times since Wed Mar 8, 2006
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

WORLD Uganda items, HIV report, Mandela, Liechtenstein, foreign minister weds 2024-03-21
- It turned out that U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Senior LGBTQI+ Coordinator Jay Gilliam traveled to Uganda on Feb. 19-27, per The Washington Blade. He visited the capital of Kampala and the nearby city of ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Queer musicians, Marvel situation, Elliot Page, Nicole Kidman 2024-03-21
- Queer musician Joy Oladokun released the single "I Wished on the Moon," from Jack Antonoff's official soundtrack for the new Apple TV+ series The New Look, per a press release. The soundtrack, ...


Gay News

RuPaul finds 'Hidden Meanings' in new memoir 2024-03-18
- RuPaul Andre Charles made a rare Chicago appearance for a book tour on March 12 at The Vic Theatre, 3145 N. Sheffield Ave. Presented by National Public Radio station WBEZ 91.5 FM, the talk coincided with ...


Gay News

Oprah, Niecy Nash-Betts honored at GLAAD Media Awards 2024-03-15
- Oprah Winfrey and Niecy Nash-Betts were honored at the 35th Annual GLAAD Media Awards that took place in Los Angeles at The Beverly Hilton on March 14. Winfrey received the Vanguard Award, introduced by iconic Chicago ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Jinkx Monsoon, Xavier Dolan, 'Frida,' Lena Waithe, out singer 2024-03-08
- Two-time RuPaul's Drag Race winner Jinkx Monsoon is headed back to the New York stage, joining off-Broadway's Little Shop of Horrors as Audrey beginning April 2, according to Playbill. The casting makes Monsoon the first drag ...


Gay News

Queer Eye's Jai Rodriguez is set to slay at The Big Gay Cabaret 2024-03-05
- Out and proud performer Jai Rodriguez is set to play at The Big Gay Cabaret this March for three days. Presented by RuPaul Drag Racer Ginger Minj, this monthly series highlights the wide world of cabaret ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Queer actors, icons duet, Hunter Schafer, Oscars, Elizabeth Taylor 2024-03-01
- Queer actor Kal Penn is set to star in Trust Me, I'm a Doctor—a film that chronicles the final days of actress/model Anna Nicole Smith, whose overdose death in 2007 at age 39 sparked a tabloid ...


Gay News

SAG Awards honor Streisand, few LGBTQ+ actors 2024-02-25
- Queer entertainers made their mark—although not a major one—at the 2024 Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, held Feb. 24 in Los Angeles. The event was live-streamed on Netflix for the first time. Indigenous and Two-Spirit actor ...


Gay News

THEATER Dot-Marie Jones talks Goodman production, 'Glee,' 'Bros' 2024-02-12
- Running through Feb. 18 at the the Goodman Theatre, the production Highway Patrol works with a script conceived entirely from Emmy-winning actor Dana Delany's (TV's China Beach) digital archive of hundreds of tweets and direct messages ...


Gay News

GLAAD finds missed chances for LGBTQ+ inclusion in Super Bowl ads 2024-02-12
--From a press release - Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024 — GLAAD is reacting to a lack of LGBTQ storytelling in ads that aired duringSuper Bowl LVIII on Feb. 11 and is reminding brands, corporations and advertising agencies why including the LGBTQ ...


Gay News

SAVOR 'The Bear,' new pizza lounge, Chicago Black Restaurant Week 2024-02-11
- "Bear" necessities: The third season of the Chicago-set series The Bear will debut in June, per Variety. FX chairman John Landgraf made the announcement during the network's presentation at the Television Critics Association's winter 2024 press ...


Gay News

Quantum Leap reboot springs into LGBTQ+ representation 2024-02-09
- Through the magic of television, Quantum Leap is once again jumping into the past to bounce back into the future—and in a recent episode, "The Family Trasure," non-binary artist and performer Wilder Yuri and writer Shakina ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Raven-Symone, women's sports, Wayne Brady, Jinkx Monsoon, British Vogue 2024-02-09
- In celebration of Black History Month, the LA LGBT Center announced that lesbian entertainer Raven-Symone will be presented with the Center's Bayard Rustin Award at its new event, Highly Favored, per a press release. She joins ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ JoJo Siwa, Tom Holland, Bowen Yang, Pet Shop Boys, Mariah Carey 2024-02-02
- In the wake of Nigel Lythgoe exiting So You Think You Can Dance, queer personality JoJo Siwa is returning to the series, per Deadline. Siwa, who was a judge on season 17 of the Fox show, will replace Lythgoe, who left ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Sundance items, Green Day, 'Wednesday,' Queerties, 'The Wiz' 2024-01-26
- At the Sundance Film Festival, Jodie Foster told Variety that the $1.4-billion success of Barbie helps confirm that Hollywood no longer views women directors as too much of a risk. She said, "With a big success ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.