It seems almost quaint now, but last fall, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall were engaged in a heated beef over Sex and the City 3 and whether the film would happen. Cattrall said no, she wasn’t interested, and SJP and her people slammed her for not signing on. Cattrall fought back, giving several interviews about how she’s totally over the franchise and Sarah Jessica specifically. This was honestly a HUGE gossip story just before the Harvey Weinstein story came out and everything changed. But for Sarah Jessica, everything is linked. SJP spoke to the Daily Beast to promote her HBO show, Divorce, and she ended up talking about #MeToo, Time’s Up and the Kim Cattrall beef. You can read the full piece here. Some highlights:
Talking about Catt Sadler on the E! Red Carpet: “I hope I didn’t do it in a way that was punitive… it’s not Ryan Seacrest’s [fault]—I’m assuming he doesn’t hold the purse strings. I hope I wasn’t finger-wagging, because nothing good is going to come from women [doing that]. That’s never gotten anybody anywhere, of any gender. His face was—I’m not sure how prepared everybody really was to have the conversation. But I think it’s OK. I think everybody survived. And ultimately it’s going to get much more complicated than that. A lot of people worked hard very to launch this campaign. I think it was impactful in ways that were meaningful. I hope now comes the real good work, and the important work.
The conversation isn’t just in black & white: “Yeah, and I think people are struggling. It’s not just—my god—it’s not just this industry. It is across industries. And that’s the most important work ahead, by the way. But it is hard. I think that there is a part of the conversation that is gray. I think, in a way, a moment of time is going to be when we can all decide that is a good place to be. Right now, people have very strong feelings. They have their personal experiences. It’s all very strong…. This is the beginning of a conversation, so everybody needs to be heard. Everybody needs to validated. Eventually we have to find a way of talking about this. How are we ever going to create uniform codes of conduct, as it were, if we can’t get to the gray? Right? This probably happens in the beginning of moments. This sort-of chaos. You say, “Conversation is welcome. There is no right. There is no wrong.” This kind of bedlam, in a way, it must happen, I think, in order to then settle.
The huge SATC 3 controversy with Kim Cattrall: “The thing I continue to learn is how painful it can still be, after all these years. When things aren’t true, especially when it is a personal attack about your character, the way you’ve chosen to conduct yourself specifically. I’m stunned by how deeply it still cuts. When all that stuff was happening with Sex and the City, which I know is meaningless in the world, but when it’s happening and you’re caught up in any of the muscle of that stuff, it’s so painful because all you want to do is respond. All you want to do is say, “Are you kidding me!? This is everything I know. This is everything that happened over the last six months. These are the conversations. These are the emails. These are the conversations with lawyers and agents and studio heads.” But you’re counseled time and time again, “Don’t do it. You’re going to get in the weeds. It’s a nowhere road.”
It was so painful: “But what happened, that was enormously painful for me. I just kept saying, “This was an experience I loved. I love those women. We shared this experience. It was a privilege. If that’s what we’re left with, those memories, there are only four of us who…” You know? But then all of a sudden the world shifted, right? I was like, oh this is ridiculous. I was afraid to talk about these allegations, and now there are real allegations [relating to abuse and sexual misconduct] in the world that are real? And all of a sudden I was like, “I think I’m going to answer the question about the Sex and the City movie.” For so long I was told to be quiet about all of that stuff. And all of a sudden I’m like, “If people are being encouraged to come forward and talk about really difficult, painful, potentially criminal things that they were part of or witnessed, I think I can talk about the Sex and the City 3 movie.” [Laughs] I think it’s OK! I’m a grown freaking woman.
“…It’s so painful because all you want to do is respond. All you want to do is say, ‘Are you kidding me!? This is everything I know. This is everything that happened over the last six months. These are the conversations. These are the emails. These are the conversations with lawyers and agents and studio heads.’” I honestly can’t believe SJP is still harping on about this. The original controversy was that Kim Cattrall spoke to producers briefly and even tried to figure out how much money she could get, but she ultimately felt like she was done with the franchise no matter how much money she could get out of it. SJP is basically saying that she wanted to pull out the receipts on how Kim was talking to producers and negotiating, therefore Kim is a terrible liar and it’s all so unfair. Basically, SJP is still mad that Kim either changed her mind or was simply curious about how much money she could make, and that Kim still didn’t want to do the movie. SJP is also claiming that people told her not to speak about it while doing her little-girl “who me?” act about the fact that she waged a bitchy campaign against Cattrall in the press for years.
As for SJP making some kind of comparison between speaking her truth about contract negotiations and the #MeToo movement… my God.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
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