An Epic Day with the Girls

Hi, I'm Kristin Davis, and I want to know, are you a Charlotte Ether My love?

Yeah, thanks for having me back a podcast.

I know a two time visitor. Only very special people get.

To come back the life.

I feel lucky to have you and we just had a really fun day. Thank you for being with me.

Thank you.

I love driving you around in my new Hyundai Palisade Hybrid. I know it's so spacious. Yes, we can just like stretch out and relax.

I like being driven around by you. It was really fun.

It was fun because we're here in la where we both live, but we've also both lived in New York and we had just rewatched The la Versions of Sex and the city where we came and like, I want to say, the year two thousand, like so long ago? Wow, crazy? Right, Yeah, And we went to so many places in the show that are really fun to look at just from an actor's standpoint, The Warner Brothers Lie and then we drove around today our neighborhood, and then we went up Beverly Glenn.

Well, my family moved to LA when I was nine years old. Wow, And then I moved. I moved to Agra, so I was going to high school there and I started going auditions to become an actress. And then you know, I moved into the city. The minute I graduated high school, I moved to West Hollywood, and then I went to UCLA for a few years. But wow, yeah, I've lived in LA since I was nine.

You must have so many memories, I do. Is it a good thing when you drive around and you think about, Oh, I remember my first audition at Warner Brothers, or I remember going here.

It's nostalgic. I mean, there's definitely. I think LA is the kind of place. I don't know if you can relate. But sometimes I'm here and I love it, and other times I get really sick of it. But then I leave and then I miss it so much. When I come back, I remember why I love it.

I mean one hundred percent. Absolutely. The whole time that we were doing the show, I had my house here. I got my house. So I think after the pilot and I remember Sara Jessica saying why did you do that? And I was like, well, because it's like this tree house and I love it because there's a part of me that needs the nature and the calmness. But then you do get bored. You can get a little bored.

Right think in La everyone's in the entertainment business. Okay, not everyone, but no, a lot of people. So everywhere you go, everyone's like, oh, my scrip my thing. That's true. So it is nice to meet people that are doing different things. But there's so many cool creative people here. I have so many friends here. That's one reason why I love.

La absolutely mean too. I mean coming back, it's very easy when you've been gone, you know, because sometimes when we're on location or whatever, it's kind of hard. You're any different.

We're in the winter and it's eighty degrees here today, Like, we cannot be that.

Right, we cannot beat that. We had a fun little picnic with like lemonade and pies.

That's my dream of I feel like I was on Sex City today.

I'm so glad and you look very glamorous. It's very very more glamorous than me.

I had to dress up with it being with the fashion icon.

I kind of dress up and so not. I play a fashion icon, but I am not a fashion kind of are one. You're so sweet. I don't think. I don't. I don't think of myself that way because I do feel like sometimes in life, especially in La which the vibe is like really relaxed. Sometimes we're now I'm out in the world, like at the grocery store or whatever, I feel like people are like, oh, they're disappointed that you're not dressed. Yes, it's funny. I think you look very glamorous.

I like, I'm not trying. I just have my like Schnell jacket and Chloe like, I'm not trying. I got here.

It's because you're here.

It's because you're here.

It's only for you.

Normally, I just throw on some yoga clothes I know.

Yeah right, me too, And then people are like, oh, yeah, I'm like coms. I feel the pressure.

You know what I do.

I do, But you always look incredible. All right, let's compare when did you live in New York?

Oh, well, I have a place in New York still. No, So I bought my apartment in two thousand and one and I still have it.

Yeah, it was so smart. Yes, yes, I never bought. I always rented, and then it is a place there. I had a place that I really love right by the park, Central Park West. It was like where the fuddy duddy people, Charlotte. I know, right, so charlottecause I always had my dogs with me, right, So then I needed the park and I love the park. But then there came a time and it was like downtown is cooler, right,

It's fine.

I go down. I get it. But now because I don't have a place anymore because my business manasure at a certain point was like that's not smart, and I like, all right, So now I stay in Airbnb. So you get to pick and choose and kind of live all the different.

So what's your favorite neighborhood in New York.

Well, we did a Brooklyn summer that's nice, incredible, Prospect Park incredible. But then last summer when we filmed the show, we stayed in the village, so it was pretty amazing.

I mean, you know, the carry House is such a tourist Attrack I think I actually posed in front of.

Yeah, they really don't like us. They're very mad at it because.

Everyone's posing in front. You walk down that street, you find people posing there.

I know twenty, including me seven. I think that's adorable. I walk on the other side and I try to rush by, but no one notices me because they're so busy taking their pictures. But they put a chain up.

Now, so are the neighbors. They don't like it.

It's not even the neighbors, it's the owner of the building. We're not allowed to say the address. Okay, okay everyone, but everybody knows and dress.

Also, you know, the Sex and the City got me into Magnolia bakeryocakes, which I'm obsessed with.

The last time we did a Hundai film, we went to the Magnolia. We sat on the bench. It was incredible. I love Magnolia. I love Winston Pie too. See now we're seeing I know the different places to go New York out.

I told you got to try Beverly Hills Cookies. I'm excited.

I'm excited how they're sharing some places to Allied places for me to go. She told me some restaurants to go to. I love it.

I mean, Beverly Hills Cookies was just my birthday and a friend sent me some and now I'm obsessed. They taste so good.

So wait, so you still have your place in New York? How often do you get there?

I mean I try to go a lot. I mean right now, since it is like fifteen degrees in New York and it's eighty degrees here, I'm pretty happy to be here. But no, I love going there. I do.

That's so nice. You do both. That's good. That's the lot because.

It's like an investment property as well, so different than having like a for sure B and B. Yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure.

I mean that's so smart that you bought it and held on to it.

I know, really a long time ago. Yeah that's good.

Yeah, really really good. I should have been so smart, but no, no, no, I was just busy.

Buy in La, own property in LA.

So I know, I know it's all good. It's all good. No complaints here, no complaints here. You know, there's so many cliches about La. Do you find to be true? A cliche that you find to be true, and maybe one that you don't think is true.

Okay, Well, the very worst thing about LA. I will just say the thing I hate about LA is the traffic.

I mean, no joke.

I mean you can sit in your car easily two hours a day just running some very basic errands. Like that's crazy.

This is true. But this is why I need to give you my list of Brentwood things, because see, I don't cross the four or five if I don't have I know that's smart. Do not like you got to get one of my fans are living over well, they need to come back.

That's why I got into cooking and inviting people over.

Definitely, definitely key key, key, Like just get your life over here on the West Side and then you don't have to get in that mess. But yes, it's hard, and you know what I find interesting In New York, there's really bad traffic and people are like, well, LA can't be worse. I'm like, oh, unfortunately I can. But

But couldn't you just park your car and take a subway or I don't know.

I mean maybe, but we were in a weird like where we were there was sub like and I think if I had my parents, I was less. You know what I'm saying. If it had been me, I would have been like, let's do it.

I mean the upside to New York is like if there's terrible traffic. You know, they have great public transportation.

Good point here they had point they do.

They have a new train, they do, but it goes to like one place.

I mean it's not practical, right, Listen, my kids have taken that train. Yeah, it goes to some kid places. Yes, yes, they love it.

One cliche that is true is that the weather's awesome, right yeah. I mean, of course that we have some moments of bad weather, but the weather is pretty great.

I mean, the weather is incredible and I do love it. I would say, I think there's a cliche. It's not exactly la, but it's an actress basic cliche. We talked about this a little bit earlier when we did go shopping, but we were comparing notes and really neither of us shop very much. I remember in time where every interview I did. They would say, either let's go shopping or where do you shop? Like it seemed to be what they thought we did with the majority of our time.

I don't really like shopping me. I mean occasionally, but yeah, I don't know.

I don't either. I like to have my places that I might go and pop my head in that are small, like where we went today the market where it's like own the owners there and it's really personal. I love that, But I don't want to go to a big store. I get very overwhelmed really quickly. I think that's a big misconception about actresses in general, because.

We're kind of some like we're trying to get a job, or we're optioning a book, or we're you know, working on our next thing. Yeah, it's not like we're just running around shopping all the time.

No, Like that's a crazy life, Like why I don't.

Need Maybe it's because you were in like an iconic TV show where you had so many fabulous outfits.

I guess, I mean, because technically, how do you get those outfits, right, you would theoretically have to shop. But then also, I mean I would think Charlotte would be online, you know, saying online. Right.

No, It's so great when you like buy something online and it just comes to your house.

I mean right, I love it, Like what do we do before that? Gosh, except I do remember, and I wonder if you have any memories. It just came to me.

Fred Siegel, I know that popped in my mind when that used to be the spot. That and Barney's, Yeah, one of them is like this rain, both of them being gone crazy.

When I drive by Barney's and Beverly Hills, I'm like, what it's messed up that it's not there.

That was like the pinnacle I rememb when I first moved to LA and I was like this little small person with like really no money and be like Barney's is like the holy Grail of clothes. Like I felt like I couldn't afford anything, but I aspired to and walk around.

You didn't even have to buy anything. It was just the vibe and Fred's Siegel. Also, I have a good nineties story of Fred Siegell. What I saw Alanis Morris at that one time. It was so exciting. It was with my girlfriend Melanie.

I saw you, so that's like she was very it was like.

The height of Atlantis time. And she was with this beautiful man and I had a golden fever puppy and the beautiful man wanted to say hi to the golden fever puppy. We were eating in that little cafe there at the Santa Alaica one and Alanis hung back in a way that made me wonder what was happening, Like, who wouldn't want to pet this beautiful puppy. I was like, it's Alana.

And then I was like, try to breathe.

Try to breathe, Try to breathe because I love her so much, so much. I just had that flash back. But yeah, fred Siegel was like the spot and Barney's was the whole.

It is making a documentary about Barney no way, and he's gonna I'm sure we would love to interview. And I think he's doing trying to do like a TV show about the family dynasty of Barney's amazing.

Yeah, I have a lot of Barney stories. I mean, we've know a love. Just to give him a shot, we filmed him Barney's and then also started Jessica and I one time when shopping on a lunch break when we were filming there there it didn't It was kind of a mess. Our security guards had to get us out. It was literally a lunchtime at Barney's and the two of us thought we could go to the shoe department.

Oh my god, everyone in Barney's just like ah.

It was very bizarre, and we had tried to elude our security guys because we just wanted some us time, but one of them, Q had followed us and was hiding.

That's cute. He's got his job and we needed It.

Was really sweet. And then we had a time where we for some reason, I can't remember if it was the movie, they did windows and each character got designer and each window was a fairy tale. But our character and mine was pro as a schooler. Isn't that so amazing? And then we went to the party for that. And then my final Barney story is that when Barney's had already sadly closed and we started and just like that, we had our opening party there. It was so strange.

Wow. Wow, because you guys shot a lot of scenes in Barneys.

We did. We went to Barney's pretty frequently. One time this was really fun too. This is a fun meme. One time Charlotte is volunteering at this place for people who are blind, and so she goes to Barney's with a Berbery eyepatch on and tries to see what it would be like to be blind. So there's a funny little picture of me in the shoe department with my eyes covered. And you remember the Sandy Bullock movie bird Box.

Yes, when people.

You have to blindfold so that they can't get you, and they put funny comparison memes.

It was really adorable. Oh my gosh.

Anyway, that's very random.

I want to have reference.

Yes, audition stories, horror story.

Do you have an audition? Well, do you remember this is before they had whatever GPS? Right, I don't know if you had this, but when Thomas guy, Yes, the Thomas guy, he's the auditioning in LA and you'd have like because I didn't really know the city that well. So you have this book and it's like page three hundred ninety seven forty one. Now they're like go to five, eight, six nine.

You don't know. And then some of my pages would fall out because they were like the ones that we went to a lot, and so I'd be like, where'd the page going.

Around the floor? We did you have this like where you brought different outfits in your car because maybe one role you went up for it was like the sweet innocent girl, another one was like the slutty whatever, and then you're like, oh, the sophisticated business woman. So I have like car exchanged while I was driving. It's really really unsafe, but I was just because I wasn't like a good place and all of the auditions, like it

Oh my god, can you believe everything we went through?

It?

Now everyone's self tapes, So you use this, use the Thomas Thomas Guide. I mean, how would we have lived? I don't know.

Now it's so easier, just like address band one tells you what to do.

Thinking just like that Hyundai has that nice map. I mean I really dig that I need a kind of a large map. You know, it's not going to be hard to look at because you know, the I sight isn't what it used to be. So I'm excited. I'm excited about that nice big screen in the Hyundai. I'm digging it, I know, right, Yeah, Okay, horror story or just the Thomas Guide horror story about auditioning.

I mean, what about you? Do you have one?

I mean I have to dredge to come up with one. I mean, gosh, I'm sure I have so many. I do. Remember this one time just floated through my head. You remember how like you would go and then they'd call you back, and they'd call you back, and they'd call you back, and then sometimes you wouldn't get it. One time, there was some movie. It was horrible, some horrible film. I can't even remember the name, and I really wanted

What that makes no sense? I know, it was good, like you could just wear red lips.

I was like, they could have asked me to wear red lips if it was one of those moments where you really go like, oh, okay, it's all ridiculous. Yeah, everything about this is ridiculous. Yeah, and it helped me see that. I think that's why I still remember it. Wow, Like that was like a valid a valid reason, like a valide.

I mean, I feel like I would go on an auditions and sometimes you could tell like, oh, these people really like me, like I have a good chance. And then there's occasionally go on auditions you're like, these people really hate me.

Yeah, you know, do you remember how they would interrupt you sometimes in the middle of a scene and be.

Like thank you.

Oh, I mean I can't even believe that we lived through it all.

I mean, yeah, you're right. Now everyone just puts like self tape, right.

And I know people complain a lot about it, but at least no one's going to be like mean to you.

But I miss like connecting with people in person, Like that's.

True, but I feel like creatively, when you could connect, it was amazing. That was amazing, right because then you knew, okay.

Okay, this is door. You'd be like, what was your So did you just get offered the part in Sex and the City or did you have to audition.

For it or like, what did you just kind of so I knew Darren Starr created the show because I've been on Melrose and he was I knew he had made a deal at HBO when we were like, WHOA, what's that going to be like? Because they really didn't have original programming so much. They just had Larry Sanders, which is a great show, which I was a guest star on, was amazing, but I couldn't picture Darren's show there. I was kind of like, what's he going to do?

You told her, I need to be Charlotte.

Yeah, I told Darren and he was like, are you sure? Because the way they described Carrie in the script was that she had the body of Heather Locklear and the brain of Dorothy Parker. And I was like, I'm neither.

Of those things.

I didn't feel like I could be that at the time, but I'm I'm glad because I did really relate to Charlotte.

Did you have to audition for they?

So then he's like, no, no, no, oh, everybody one of those parts. I'm sure you were on some film or you would have also been in the mix. I feel like every woman in New York in LA was in the right. Yes, because it was so unique and so great because at that point there wasn't a lot filming in New York. So the idea of filming in New York about like something around women that's kind of unheard of. Right, So I had to test, Okay, do you remember when I did you have to.

Test with other people? Like you saw other people.

Other people, but Willie Garson, you know other people for other parts, right.

Not like another actress for your part.

I think there might have been one other actress who I kind of knew who I was like, oh no, it was like people that you would see over and over again, did you have that? And she's a very nice person, she's listening, she's a very nice person. But I was like, oh no, please, don't get it. And we were there. So there was like men and women, you know, for Big and then Willie was there. He was the only person I think for Stanford because Sara.

About where other people like was Miranda and Samantha.

I think there were Samanda Samantha's and Miranda's, but I think they'd already offered it to Kim, and I think Kim had also turned it down, and I think they were really torn about how funny those two parts. So there was a comedian there. I think I was like, whoa, that's I wasn't thinking that, you know what. And then obviously they went more actory, but they just couldn't. They didn't exactly know what they were doing.

But was Cynthia Nixon there?

No, Cynthia was in New York. She had already read, she read pretty early, and she really wanted it. But they took forever to decide on any of us except for Kim and Sarah. That they'd offered it to write, but then Kim kept turning them down. Sarah got cold feet for a while, then kind of got back, you know, things had.

Kim turn around, Like what happened with Like she just decided last minute.

Darren talked her into it. I don't know how exactly. I don't know how exactly. I just know that both of them, they they were more well known than Cynthia, and I think it was known in the Broadway world. I had really only ever done Melrose, right, so they were both more more well known. I think back then you had to choose between film and TV. You know, it wasn't like now it's not. Yeah, yeah, now that's

But I'm not sure it's like everyone's trying to get into TV.

Absolutely well, that's because films, I mean making enough.

I know.

It's so sad because I love film obviously, Okay, story was it? Okay?

Yeah, okay, when you got it? What did you do? What were you well?

I was super nervous because they took forever to tell me, like you know you would. I don't know if you ever did this in the olden days when you would audition for something that was like a big deal, a big network deal. They had like a date that they had to tell you by. They waited till like midway through the day of the final date. I mean, it was so stressful, right, and I had gone to a

That's great, you know, also, wouldn't it. Okay, this is just me interviewing you, but I would love to be like Patricia Field.

Right. Oh, incredible, And do you imagine just.

Like, okay, make me cool and then she just does.

Right, whoa. It wasn't exactly like that because I was playing Charlotte right, I think, I mean, you were, well, yes, cool, but Charlotte right. And in my mind I had an image of what I thought she should be, and I went to the Upper east Side and did a lot of research. But Pat didn't necessarily agree with me.

Okay, what were you thinking? And what was I was thinking?

Like what I saw on the Upper east Side, like classic Ralph Lauren, long, straight brown hair, you know, like constrained. Yeah, but that's not really how Pat thinks. As we all know. She wow. I mean in the beginning, she tried to dress me in all kind of crazy things and I was like no, and then she was stressed. And then I remember one time Darren took me out to dinner. Whenever Darren called you to go out to dinner, you knew that you were in some trouble. So you were

In other words, your taste is bad, so like, listen, right.

Definitely, but at that point it wasn't even my taste. I just wanted to I want a character to be identifiable as an Upper east Side but Pat was so downtown that I think her she found that boring right, so like and and I'm not saying that she was wrong because there is an episode where Charlotte goes back and has brunch with her college friends, and she realized.

That's when you try to be like more like Samantha, and she tries to be more like you.

Yes, and I realized, I'm the Samantha of my college friends, and I'm wearing a little tank top with a sweater tide. In my mind, that's how I thought Charlotte should dress the whole time. But Pat was way better. Okay, you know what I'm saying, Like Pat would twist things ironically, even for Charlotte. She's a brilliant yes, but it wasn't so easy as like make me cool, you know.

I mean, I grew up in suburbia and my family we didn't think a lot about clothes, Like we went to like Marshall's, you know what I mean. So when I started acting, I started going to like these fancy stores, and I was like, what is this?

Yeah? Oh, I felt that way.

I looked a little bit like a Mormon child. When I.

Looked like a frumpy, preppy Southern child, you know what I mean. Like I wore wide maale corduoys with like ducks embroidered on them.

That sounds cute.

I don't know. I don't know.

I was cuting that. Thank you.

It's interesting. It's interesting that we get to be different people, right.

So if I didn't have help, I think I would have looked really bad. Like me to know that that's your makeup too was really questionable.

I mean, weren't all of ours with our eyes.

Without like being an actress and having like professional people be like, don't do that? Do that? You know?

I would definitely oh, it's super helpful to have the pros. We need the pros for sure. All Right, thank you, Heather, and I want to say thank you to Hyundai for a really fun day.

Thank you for this day.

It was mean what a fun day. And you're a joy.

Thanks for inviting me. You're amazed.

Yay, let's go eat some more pie.

Okay, great, Okay, good

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