My world has been rocked. And who would have thought a podcast would be at the hands of my world ending? Since the news that Kim Cattrall was out of Sex and the City and would never return, I have had a lot to deal with. Firstly, my illusion that SATC was real life was shattered and secondly, I have had to find some way to cure my insatiable appetite for the series (how you ask? Re-runs and lots of them).
The very public feud between Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim has marred the series and the concept of friendship and womanhood that the show perpetuated. The best part of the series was the fact that it felt so real and attainable, yet to learn that a friendship we admired and looked for was faked was just all too much.
While I very much realise that television is made up, the power of SATC was the fact that nothing felt artificial. It felt like real life and real love and it represented the attainment of goals that woman were striving for too back out in the real world.
Premiering on HBO in 1998, Sex and the City would go on to be a timeless hit
Source: Wikipedia
Over the last few months I had made steps towards recovering from the shock that Kim hated her time on my favourite television show. I had made peace with the fact that a third movie wasn't going to happen. I had accepted that the first movie was more than enough of a cinematic masterpiece to make up for the lacklustre second.
Just when I thought I had heard every bombshell and dealt with it accordingly, in honour of their 20th anniversary, the main players, sans Kim, sat down for a podcast called Origins hosted by James Andrew Miller. In this podcast James reveals he was given the script for the third movie. At first I just thought good for you James, shoving the fact that there never will be a third down our throats. But my friends, it gets worse. James ACTUALLY revealed a key plot line from the movie.
Apparently, the heart breaking and fabulous (these are direct quotes from SJP that were used to describe the third film) script that was written revolved around Mr John James Preston dying of a heart attack in the shower. I'll just let that sink in.
The fans who stuck around during the Berger era, dealt with the blow of Samantha's cancer and endured Carrie moving to Paris were going to be rewarded... with Big dying. What a slap to the face.
True love: Carrie and Big
Source: Harper's Bazaar
For the first time I am almost grateful to Kim for tanking the prospect of this third film, because, if it had gone forward, my heart would have been broken beyond repair. Throughout the series and the first movie we watched Carrie Bradshaw be taken for a ride by the concept of love. She fought, she cheated, she cried and she loved hard and the reward for all of that suffering is meant to be your dream guy. And after one last twist Carrie got Mr Big and now you're telling me she only got a few years with him before he died?
Now I know that real life is cruel like this, but life is cruel enough, we don't need romance movies being this cruel too. Killing Big would have been the final nail in the coffin. Why bother trying to find your other half and then loving them so much when they are just going to be taken from you. At the core, SATC is a comedy about love and friendships in the big apple. Stick to your lane SATC, give us the love and the friendships without the death.
While I can't imagine a world where Big isn't in it, some other things aren't sitting well with me either. Last year we were lead to believe that Kim was deemed by the studio as too demanding for the project. Then we learn that the project is dead because it isn't really SATC without Kim (much like the Spice Girls just aren't Spice without Posh- but that's a story for another time). Yet, this podcast says that there was a date set for the beginning of production (sometime in late October) that was axed mere weeks before it arrived.
In happier times, Charlotte, Carrie, Miranda and Samantha
Source: ABC News
Now, I don't know much about film production, but you're telling me that sets were being built, costumes designed and deals negotiated without one of the stars agreeing? I find it funny that Kim had been allegedly saying no for years, yet everything was more than in motion for a third movie to go ahead with her in it. Something doesn't add up here. Is it the fact that she had supposedly been saying no for years or the fact that production and film making was going ahead yet it was canned because Kim was supposedly too demanding during contract negotiations? Both things don't sit well with me, I feel like I'm being lied to from all fronts.
Teasing the script and the production date is a further insult to the fans that have adored the show for 20 years. We suffered through the disappointment of the movie not coming to fruition, now we also have to deal with plot reveals that will never see the light of day. If this was a last ditch effort to bring Kim to her senses it feels cheap and further serves to highlight that Kim might have been right- she simply had no common ground with the other girls and always felt left out.
Sex and the City dealt with love in many forms, self-love, romantic and friendship
Source: Babble
We will always be disappointed that the door is closed on SATC and that a career defining moment may have been a nightmare for one of the women. But what is arguably worse is that the only time this show is mentioned now is always in conjunction with the 'cat fight' and alleged mean girl culture. The fans can get over the failed movie project, we can look past the feud, but please stop tarnishing the legacy of the show. The show broke boundaries for women, it redefined how female characters were portrayed and it resembles what we all sometimes think is unattainable- true love.
There is more than enough material in the series, the two movies that were made and the groundbreaking nature of the show to create podcasts and stories about. Continually choosing to focus on the scandal and the could of beens takes away from the pure magic of what was. And wasn't it great?
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