Sarah Jessica Parker Talks "Family"

One of our fave "Sex and the City" single gals is really a wife (to actor Matthew Broderick) and mom (to son James) but it's doubtful that her own family is anything like the crazy relatives in the new comedy The Family Stone. Sarah and fellow castmembers Diane Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Luke Wilson, Claire Danes, Dermot Mulroney and Craig T. Nelson did some serious bonding over the course of the shoot for the film and felt like a big family by the time they were wrapped on the project.

When Sarah's character Meredith is brought home by her fiancé Everett (Dermot's character) to meet the parents...and bros and sisters, it's the bohemian Stones versus Sarah's high-powered, big city businesswoman and something has gotta give.

We spoke with Sarah recently in Pasadena, California about her family life with hubby Matthew, developing her character in the film and her sense of style. Picture the pretty actress and New York style icon in classic pink 1950's retro dress with wide belt and very high heels.

TeenHollywood: Since there is a deaf character and member of the cast, I understand you all had to learn to do sign language. Was it just impossible for anybody?

Sarah: Well, there's a story about Craig [who plays the dad in the film] trying to learn to sign. [she dies laughing]. He just couldn't. His brain wouldn't accept new information. [Sarah makes a sign] This, apparently, is the sign for Christmas and Craig almost poked his eye out trying to sign and learn. Luke [Wilson] had a hard time learning it too. Then he heard that Craig was having a worse time, so he said, "So, Craig, how's the signing going?" He was so grateful because Craig's inability to sign made Luke look good.

TeenHollywood: You are kind of a style icon. Do you look at price tags of clothing or just pick what you like?

Sarah: I don't shop very much but I look at tags. There are certain stores where I definitely will look at a tag, and other stores I don't. I look at the (tags in) the stores that are expensive, whereas in thrift stores I tend to be more generous with myself.

TeenHollywood: But, since people are watching what you wear, do you feel pressure when you get dressed?

Sarah: Now that I'm taking my son to school every day, it's kind of liberating in a way, because we don't have that kind of leisure time in the morning. I'm not disciplined enough to not rush in the morning. My son, by the way, has some strong feelings, which I understand are unique to his age [five or six], of what I should and shouldn't be wearing. James Wilkie is like, 'take that dress off, I don't like it.' He'll say, 'I'd like you to wear down pants today'. Down pants just means long pants. He doesn't like to see any skin. 'I see part of your belly.'

TeenHollywood: Whoa, guess he knows what he likes. What does he wear?

Sarah: He is obsessed with the Beatles, so he thinks not only he should dress like the Beatles, which is perfectly fine, but he wants all of us to dress like the Beatles. And it's a particular period of the Beatles, which is the least interesting part, the Yellow Submarine era, which is big collars with flowers on them and stripes. Vertical stripes, and really weird haircuts. He's particularly fond of bellbottoms so he only will wear bellbottoms, which are not easy to find. That's the only way we could get him out of pajamas, by the way, was to tell him he could dress like a Beatle.

TeenHollywood: Where does this come from? Did you play Beatles records for him when he was a baby?

Sarah: A few months ago, I showed him the movie of 'Yellow Submarine.' I thought it would be better than certain other things he was watching. And that was it. He really connected with the Beatles. He knows every song of every CD. He loves it. I honestly, as a civilian, whenever I dress, I dress in a way that makes him happy because he basically is the center of our lives.

TeenHollywood: After the TV show, how has it been getting back into movies after about five years? Any changes in the way it's done?

Sarah: Has the technology changed? (laughs). (Speaking in an old woman's voice) 'In my day, we actually had a camera'. No, it hasn't radically changed. But there are a lot of young actors whom I'm completely unfamiliar with. I haven't worked with them. It's scary starting new all the time. I was with the same people so happily for so long and it was a hard decision to leave. [Now}, it's like being in the 11th grade, over and over, being the new kid all the time. It's like you're the new kid and everybody (else) has already been together. I remember the first day [of this shoot]. I called home and said, 'I think they know each other and they're very confident.'

TeenHollywood: Your Meredith character is kind of severe in her manner and dress. Can you talk about your physical transformation in the film?

Sarah: I thought she was very complicated and very uncomfortable and uncomfortable in her own skin; like a wreck of a person. The one thing she was successful at was business and I think she thought she could apply that same theory to human beings, which as we know, you can't shove them around like numbers. She's ill-equipped. Tom [her director] gave me some handy little ideas of the physical life of Meredith, her posture. I remember meeting Diane [Keaton] in the foyer and I couldn't move the way I'd naturally move towards somebody. It was so hard to meet people like that physically, to not have some fluidity in your body. It was like if she moved, she might break in half she was so brittle. For me it was helpful.

TeenHollywood: In real life do you greet people with hugs?

Sarah: I tend to not be as physically demonstrative with people I don't know as well. I'm always a little bit thrown when people move toward me, especially when there's a person of European [descent].. there's the [kissing] on both sides. I'm always a little bit confused. It's really elegant but I tend to not. But I enjoy going to work and having to kiss somebody. By contract, I'm obligated to kiss this other person. This is the agreement. It's so amazing to have a whole other life during the day.

TeenHollywood: So Matthew doesn't worry or get jealous?

Sarah: No, because my intensions are not about sneaking something. I don't ever feel that way. I wouldn't say to him 'I'm uncomfortable with you [doing that]'. It's storytelling. It's part of the story.

TeenHollywood: What was it like when you first brought Matthew home to your own family?

Sarah: Well my family knew him before I did so it wasn't any revelation. They were fond of him. My parents really liked him.

TeenHollywood: Did you know in advance that he was going to propose?

Sarah: No but that's the one thing I don't talk about. That's private.

TeenHollywood: Okay. How about being in a situation where there is somebody at the dinner table where you just wish they weren't there?

Sarah: Oh, well that's a different story. My husband has a lower threshold for that than I do. My husband does not suffer fools. For me, it's humorous because I get lost in his rage. I've seen him actually clench a fist under a table, not that he would ever do anything but just this feeling of really not caring for somebody, buffoons or jackasses.

TeenHollywood: Meredith's hairdo was the world's tightest bun. How did that feel?

Sarah: I wish it was the tightest buns [we laugh]. That's the closest I'm ever going to get to actual surgery. It was only uncomfortable because I couldn't lay down, like if people went back to their trailers while they were setting up lights, I like to lay down and, out of respect for the hairdresser, I just couldn't lay down.

TeenHollywood: Do you ever really wear your hair like that?

Sarah: I actually do because, as I age, I'm more appreciative of what a bun can do for somebody. So, I actually love a tight bun. But, I don't usually go out with a tight bun planning to lie down. I use it differently but I loved wearing it for the movie.

TeenHollywood: If Meredith is so uptight, what are her redeeming qualities?

Sarah: What's redeeming about her is she's a human being. People are abrasive generally speaking, those I've met, because they are terrified. All that kind of bravado is all about terrible vulnerabilities that you are too afraid to communicate. And, she's not a murderer, she's just someone who is not great with interpersonal relationships. She's functioned quite well, only digging so deep. That's what makes her comfortable but I think that makes her very tender at the same time. I liked her. I found her human. She doesn't make a great case for herself immediately.

TeenHollywood: Why do you think you left "Sex and the City"?

Sarah: I loved playing Carrie Bradshaw. It was an unbelievable time in my life. I left it out of affection because I held it in such high regard and the reason I stopped doing it is because I wanted to do different things and I'd always thought of myself as a journeyman and missed that kind of work in my life. I missed being challenged in that way and being terrified and working with new people and learning again. We were all really comfortable with what we were doing on "Sex and the City" and it was great but I just hadn't learned. So that's what I want to do if I'm lucky enough, is to have experiences where I feel terrified and challenged and learn.

TeenHollywood: Would you go back to stage at all?

Sarah: Not any time that I know of. But, I'll do whatever is good and interesting if someone will have me.

TeenHollywood: Any hope for that "Sex and the City" movie any time in the future?

Sarah: Not that I'm aware of, no. I think there was a time but it didn't happen.

TeenHollywood: This film is funny but it also deals with death. Have you thought about that?

Sarah: It's about being a grown-up, about loss and being in love or thinking about what it is to have to leave your children, not just in death, but letting them go, letting your children go. That real moment when they don't need you in that same way any more. I can't imagine how painful that is. And, also how wonderful it is to realize that you've raised a child that can let go and be an independent person....whew!

***

Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.