Sarah Jessica Parker’s Favorite Movie Is Quintessentially New York
New York was its own character in Sex and the City. Carrie Bradshaw, Miranda Hobbs, Charlotte York, and Samantha Jones lived and breathed the city, as millions of New Yorkers do. Carrie often spoke of her love for Manhattan and that NYC was the “greatest city in the world.” It’s hard to imagine Sex and the City taking place anywhere else. And the show’s biggest celebrity is also a diehard New Yorker, having starred on Broadway in the ’70s and made her home there for decades. So it’s no surprise Sarah Jessica Parker’s favorite movie takes place in the Big Apple.
Sarah Jessica Parker loves New York
Not only does Carrie Bradshaw live in NYC, but her portrayer does too. Sarah Jessica Parker moved to the city when she debuted on Broadway at 11 years old. She has been there ever since.
The Sex and the City star and her husband, actor Matthew Broderick, live, work, and raise their children in “The City That Never Sleeps.” She believes her three kids are lucky to grow up there.
Parker told Town & Country in 2020 why she loves New York: “It has to do with the cultural promise and complexity … the challenges and the opportunities, the vibrancy.”
She added she loves the yellow taxis, the architecture, and bumping into people on the streets.
In an interview with Vogue, Parker said she would never leave NYC voluntarily and that her favorite thing to do there is walk. Asked to describe the city, she replied succinctly: “Symphonic, tiny, real.”
Sarah Jessica Parker’s favorite movie is ‘The Way We Were’
In the same Vogue interview, Parker revealed her favorite movie is The Way We Were. That’s not surprising because it’s quintessentially New York. The 1973 film stars Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford as Katie Morosky and Hubbell Gardiner.
Katie is a politically active Jew, and Hubbell a WASP, but even though their beliefs are worlds apart, they fall in love and marry. Unfortunately, their differences make it too hard to sustain their relationship.
The unforgettable last scene of the movie takes place in front of the famous Plaza Hotel, where Katie and Hubbell meet by chance and have a short conversation.
An episode of Sex and the City even took a page from Parker’s favorite film. Carrie is feeling very “Katie” and takes a walk to the Plaza, where her ex, Mr. Big (Chris Noth), is celebrating his recent engagement.
Our heroine touches his cheek and recites a line from The Way We Were. “Your girl is lovely, Hubbell,” she says, to which Big replies, “I don’t get it.” She responds, “And you never did.” Then she walks away through the city’s streets.
Robert Redford refused to say 1 line in ‘The Way We Were’
Robert Holfer’s book The Way They Were: How Epic Battles and Bruised Egos Brought a Classic Hollywood Love Story to the Screen dishes on some drama on the set of the 1973 romantic film.
Robert Redford believed a line in the script implied Hubbell was bad in bed, and that didn’t sit well with the actor.
“Hubbell looks into Katie’s eyes after their orgy of grapes and tells her, ‘It’ll be better this time.’ Only Redford refused to say the line. He even made sure to have it crossed out in the working script,” Holfer wrote. “Redford was never bad in bed. So how could Hubbell be?”
We wonder whether knowing this tidbit about Redford’s ego would affect Parker’s opinion of her favorite movie.
