Sarah Jessica Parker on life after Sex and the City,
romantic comedies, and her new movie, Failure to Launch
BEST known for her role as Carrie Bradshaw on HBO’s Sex and the City, Sarah Jessica Parker is, for many a woman—whether struggling or strong-willed, completely together or in a million pieces—the voice of understanding and certain wisdom, especially regarding matters of dating and single life in the big city.
Failure to Launch, which some have said to be not too far a stretch in character for Parker from her Sex and the City role, is a romantic comedy dealing with a very real issue in society today: "adultescents," referring to adult children who are marked by their reluctance to go out on their own, generally opting to live with their parents, mooch off their food, and avoid responsibility at all costs.
In this screwed-up romantic comedy about a 35-year-old man (Matthew McConaughey) who falls in love with a woman (Parker) whom he believes to have meet by chance, the huge twist is that Parker’s character was actually hired by Matthew’s parents (Kathy Bates and Terry Bradshaw) to trick him into falling in love with her and convince him to move away from home.
Q: So first off, what appealed to you about Failure to Launch?
SJP: So many things. When I first heard about it, there wasn’t even a finished first draft yet. It was based on an article and I had seen the "60 Minutes" piece about the Italians and how this was becoming more and more common in Italy. There was just a bunch of ingredients that I thought was interesting. I thought, this is perfection; to do a big, lush, studio romantic comedy doesn’t come around that often.
Q: What was it like playing opposite Matthew in the film?
SJP: He’s a very attractive person. I don’t mean it in the obvious way—of course it’s obvious and now it’s a public proclamation and officially anointed, but he’s engaging and her draws you in. So he’s very easy to play opposite.
Q: Sex in the City was such a great long running romantic comedy in itself. Were you apprehensive about jumping into something like this again with Failure to Launch?
SJP: No. I’m always nervous before a job! I always think I’m going to be fired, I always think I can’t do it. I always think I’m going to disappoint somebody, myself included. But I don’t think of things in terms of Sex and the City. I don’t think of things relative to something else. I think it’s a distracting way of thinking of something that’s a part of you.
But I certainly don’t look to repeat what that particular story was. I think that [Sex in the City creator] Michael Patrick did it better than anybody I have ever seen, and that’s not the story I want to tell anyway. While it seems like the easiest choice, it’s not what I want to do anymore.
Q: Do you see that you get a lot of romantic comedy scripts as a result of your success with the show?
SJP: No. There is that script but it’s come upon me to make a better choice than that. I read just as many scripts that aren’t ‘that.’ You’d be surprised at how many romantic comedies there are, how few that gets made especially for people my age and Matthew’s age. Whenever a script comes along, it’s never as good as what Michael Patrick did. It’s hard because we had seven years to live a life, in Carrie Bradshaw, to really show a person. You can’t do that [in a movie] unless it’s a teeny piece to look at.
Q: How was your experience filming this movie in New Orleans? Did you and Matthew go out into the town?
SJP: Well I’m not a going out type person, generally speaking. But I’m an eater and I love the city. Oddly enough, when I first met my husband [Matthew Broderick], he had invited me to New Orleans for the weekend when we first started dating. I was working but I couldn’t go. He said, "It’s O.K. We’ll go soon." And it was never mentioned again. So when it came up that we were going to be there, it was really exciting. I loved the city. Magnificent city.
Q: Do you think you and Matthew [Broderick] will ever work together again? Is it because you’ve avoided it?
SJP: No, it’s not that conscious. We haven’t avoided it. We want to work together. But it’s nice having separate careers. It’s nice that I can be home in the evening and put our son to bed. It’s nice to come home and have different experiences all day long. It just works really well. I think I’m a good audience for Matthew, and a good support for Matthew. I don’t want to be in a situation where I can’t be that woman where I’m that nervous or anxious. I think it serves us well this way.
Q: Would you fear your own son being 35 and living at home?
SJP: I just can’t imagine that we would raise a son who is that tied to the apron strings. My mother did a really good job of shepherding us out of the house and encouraging us to be independent thinking young adults. So it’s hard to think that at 35, our son would be at home.
Unless we’re ailing, in which case, we’ll need him! I already told him that he’s going to come home on Fridays, no matter what his wife says, and bring me dinner and carry me up the stairs.
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