Evan Handler

Interview: Willie Garson as Stanford Blatch Toasts ‘Sex and the City 2’

PatrickMcD — Fri, 28 May 2010 19:01:55 -0400

CHICAGO – Willie Garson is one busy actor this week. When you portray Stanford Blatch, Carrie Bradshaw’s gay best friend, then the “Sex and the City 2” release will undoubtedly fill up the schedule, including his introduction of the film May 28-30th at the Hollywood Palms Cinema in Naperville, Illinois.

Garson has appeared on over 50 TV shows, several films and has portrayed famous presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald on three different occasions. But he is best known as the funny and breezy friend of Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie in the TV and film incarnations of Sex and the City.

Raising a Glass to the Gals: Willie Garson in Chicago, May 27th, for ‘Sex and the City 2’
Photo Credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

HollywoodChicago sat down with Willie Garson this week, and he talked both about his alter ego Stanford and his long career of character parts in TV and film.

HollywoodChicago.com: I loved the marriage ceremony that begins the movie. How important is it for Michael Patrick King, the stars of ‘Sex and the City 2’ and you to make sure that this celebration was appropriately emotional, yet so grandly over the top?

Willie Garson: It’s really important that the Sex and the City ‘family’ kind of grows, so that’s what is happening. We got Mario [Catone, Stanford’s husband] a few years ago, and added him in to the mix. Being that the whole concept of Sex and the City is about love and holding onto each other, how do we keep this family together? This was the next natural step for Michael.

Other than that, it was the perfect opportunity for Michael to have an amazing centerpiece, over-the-top ceremony. Between us all, we’ve done about 500 movies, but no one had been on a set that big. The scale of that scene was ridiculous.

HC: What have you learned about yourself playing Stanford Blatch? And what do you give of yourself to make him the way he is?

WG: What is great about Stanford is that he’s free. He’s a free man. I think that is very attractive to people. He can behave any way he wants, he certainly can dress any way he wants and there is something very pure about Stanford, with no filters in the way. And that has been a great thing for me to try and strive for. Hopefully I bring some of my sense of humor and intelligence, plus Stanford cares about the people he cares for. As bitchy as he can come off, it’s obvious how much he cares about the people around him.

HC: How does it feel to play a single character for a long time and be identified with him? Are you happy with your relationship with Stanford and the character you created?

WG: Stanford was always searching, searching. When love finally hit him, it was very comforting to me that the search finally ended. I think that’s what makes it real. It’s not explosive, it’s not ‘oh my god,’ it was right in front of him. That is somehow deeper and more real.

On being identified with him, it’s a hard thing because people really take these characters to be their friends and they take them into their lives. A common question I get is ‘are you scared of being typecast?’ As an actor you can only do that to yourself. I’ve seen every script for a character similar to Stanford. It’s my choice to do it or not do it. I choose not to do it. Every TV series I’ve had, including my current series [”White Collar”], is a completely different character.

HC: We saw the first time Stanford and Anthony kissed in the first film, that magical New’s Year’s Eve sequence. Were you surprised that King was going to bring the character’s together, so much so that they would eventually marry?

WG: I was a little surprised. I knew that Michael Patrick King was going to bring Stanford together with someone. I don’t know if it was on his mind when we made the first movie. In that New Year’s Eve sequence, it wasn’t any passionate kiss or anything, it was just set up that we were both there, we don’t have anyone to kiss on New Year’s at midnight, so we end up kissing each other. [laughs] It got a great laugh in the film, and that’s what it was played for.

What was very important for this current film with Michael is that it should be funny. He wanted it to be funnier than the first one. But also he wanted it to be more mature, these characters are growing up, we’re not just flitting around like fireflies in New York. We’re mature grown-ups now, so now what? And that is where he went with Stanford.

Betrothed: Willie Garson as Stanford and Mario Catone as Anthony in ‘Sex and the City 2’
Photo Credit: Craig Blankenhorn for © New Line Cinema

HC: You done so many guess spots on famous sitcoms. Which one had the best atmosphere and why, and was there one you couldn’t wait to get out of?

WG: I could never tell you the one that I could wait to get out of. [laughs] I’d say the early ones are always the best, because you’re so excited to be there. I got very lucky out of the gate and I did the top shows at the time when I was a kid, like ‘Family Ties’ and ‘Cheers.’ These were iconic settings and people. It was also when television was still more iconic. There weren’t 500 cable channels, so when I walked on the set of Cheers I thought, these are my best friends and I had grown up with them. So those were great.

As far as the things you want to get off of, as an actor you know it will be over in four or five days. It’s not that big of a deal. It’s not like those old movies about Hollywood where someone calls their agent and screams, ‘get me off of this turkey!’ It doesn’t happen. Every time in my life I’ve even complained to my agent he says, ‘show them how you feel, don’t cash the check. Wage your protest in private.’ [laughs] It’s a good point.

HC: You could dish the dirt on ‘Star Trek: Voyager,’ I wouldn’t mind.

WG: That’s the only job I’ve ever done that I have no idea of what I was talking about. It might as well been written phonetically in Chinese. I was playing a character from another planet that was made out of water. And it was all in Star Trek language, and I had never seen any episode of Star Trek in any incarnation, even the original series. I had never seen a moment of it. I had a line and I’d ask them to explain it to me, and they would start to say…’well, in 1971 this meant…’ and I was like, ‘I can’t’ [laughs]. It’s the only job where I’ve ever been like that.

HC: What was the experience like playing Lee Harvey Oswald on three different occasions within six months in 1992 [’Quantum Leap,’ ‘Ruby’ and ‘MadTV’]?

WG: I had auditioned for Oliver Stone’s ‘JFK’ and I knew I wasn’t going to get it, because they went with a movie star, Gary Oldham. As JFK was finishing shooting, they started production on Ruby. They knew about me, I went in and got it. And we went to Dallas just as JFK was finishing, that’s when we started. Ruby was kind of a unrealized movie. They took a few too many liberties. But my stuff I tried to make as real as possible.

HC: So in studying him, did you have a sympathy or dread towards him as a character?

WG: Well, obviously he’s not a great guy. [laughs] I felt very strongly after I finished the shoot in Dallas that there was no way he did it on his own. This was purely based on an actor thing. When he’s in the police station, after they got him – and when they got him at the movie theater they beat the hell out of him – when he’s walking through the police station the reporters are screaming at him, ‘Lee, Lee, what happened to your eye?’ He turns to the camera and he says, ‘the police hit me.’ Like it was the craziest thing that ever happened.

My feeling was he was told, ‘you go up there, you take the fall, you go to the movie theater, wait there and we’ll have you out of the country in five minutes.’ And I really believe that’s what it was. The look on his face when he said the police had hit him told me it wasn’t what he signed up for.

HC: What particular portrayal in your your long roll call of parts in the 1990s do you think got you the role of Stanford?

WG: I have no idea. I walked in and met Darren Star [the producer] in a tiny office on Olympic Boulevard, just him and I, and did the reading there. As I was walking out and he stopped me with ‘Willie!’ And I turned and he said, ‘that’s a really great suit.’ [laughs] And I thought, I’m in pretty good shape. And they called me and brought me on.

HC: What is the weirdest experience you’ve had as a cast member of Sex and the City?

WG: Oh my, every day is a weird day in the Sex and the City world. In all our lives, now. It’s like being on Bonanza, it goes on and on. Certainly in New York, it’s like being on the Yankees or something, it’s crazy. But I’d say the weirdest thing ever probably was the size of the opening marriage ceremony in the current movie. It probably was the weirdest moment for all of us.

The Hollywood Palms in Naperville, Illinois, presents Willie Garson in person to introduce
“Sex and the City 2” May 28th, 29th and 30th. Click here for more information and to purchase tickets. Featuring Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Davis, Chris Noth, Willie Garson, Mario Catone and John Corbett, written and directed by Michael Patrick King. Rated “R”

By PATRICK McDONALD
Senior Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

One Sequel Too Many For Sarah Jessica Parker, ‘Sex and the City 2’

PatrickMcD — Thu, 27 May 2010 08:37:51 -0400

CHICAGO – “Sex in the City 2” has very little sex and even less city. That is the least of its sins. This bloated, directionless semi-narrative take the familiar foursome – Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis – into unfamiliar geographic territory, but with no dramatic arc there is simply nothing there.

Rating: 2.5/5.0

It is two years after Carrie Bradshaw’s (Sarah Jessica Parker) marriage to John Preston (Chris Noth), AKA Big, and the couple has settled down to domestic bliss. It is somewhat too domestic for the antsy Carrie, but she still has the comforting friendship of her three galpal soul mates. Samantha (Kim Cattrall) has moved back to New York City and is on a post menopausal hormone regiment (seriously). Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) is still the hard-charging lawyer who can’t quite juggle motherhood. And soothing Charlotte (Kristin Davis), the domestic goddess of them all, revels in her two children and perfect life.

But is it so perfect? The complexities of being the perfect Mom start to wear on Charlotte, despite a live-in Irish nanny named Erin (Alice Eve), whose running gag is that she never wears a bra (Erin go…never mind). This plants the idea that perhaps hubby Harry (Evan Handler) will stray, following – according to Carrie – the Jude Law (rimshot).

So what do rich New Yorkers do when faced with so many problems? They take a trip to Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirate. The ladies jet away on Samantha’s dime, a free PR trip to the most luxurious hotel in the Middle East. Faster than you can step on a camel’s toe, the four lasses are caught up in the desert life, which includes a reunion between Carrie and her old fiancé Aidan (John Corbett).

“Sex and the City 2” opens everywhere May 27th. Featuring Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Davis, Chris Noth, Steve Eisenberg and John Corbett, written and directed by Michael Patrick King Rated “R”

Continue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of “Sex and the City 2”

Carrie of Arabia: Kristin Davis, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall and Cynthia Nixon in ‘Sex and the City 2’
Photo Credit: Craig Blankenhorn for © New Line Cinema

Continue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full review of “Sex and the City 2”

Slideshow: 30-Image Gallery of ‘Sex and the City 2’ Chicago Fashion Show

PatrickMcD — Tue, 25 May 2010 23:33:23 -0400

CHICAGO – On a summer-like night in Chicago on May 25th, a celebration of the release of “Sex in the City 2” – starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis – took place on the terrace at the Conrad Hotel. Libations, light appetizers and a fashion show entertained fans of the film, opening Thursday, May 27th.

The theme was “Toast on the Terrace” and the event was co-sponsored by the Conrad Hotel, Sex and the City 2 and The Shops at North Bridge on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. The fashion show followed through on the Sex and the City theme, as models representing Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda, Samantha, Big, Steve and Harry walked the red carpet runway.

HollywoodChicago.com was there, and captured the following images from the special event, including the atmosphere, the guests and the fashion.

Click “Next” and “Previous to scan through the slideshow or jump directly to individual photos with the captioned links below. All images © Patrick McDonald for HollywoodChicago.com

SexandCity1: Pre-Party Red Carpet
SexandCity2: More Fun at the Pre-Party Red Carpet
SexandCity3: Group Shot Before the Fashion Show
SexandCity: The Red Carpet Runway at the Conrad Hotel
SexandCity5: Fashion Fans Toast ‘Sex and the City 2’
SexandCity6: The Audience Anticipates the Fashion of ‘SATC2’
SexandCity7: Libations and Table Dressings
SexandCity8: ‘Big’ Dressed in Hugo Boss
SexandCity9: ‘Carrie’ Shows Off United Colors of Benetton
SexandCity10: ‘Samantha’ in XXI Forever
SexandCity11: ‘Charlotte’ and Friend in White House Black Market
SexandCity12: ‘Miranda’ in Hugo Boss
SexandCity13: ‘Steve’ in Tommy Bahama
SexandCity14: ‘Carrie’ Displays Deliciously Vintage
SexandCity15: ‘Samantha’ Dressed in Kenneth Cole
SexandCity16: ‘Charlotte’ Works XXI Forever
SexandCity17: ‘Miranda’ in Adele Dallas Orr, Stuart Weitzman
SexandCity18: ‘Aidan’ Shows Off Tommy Bahama
SexandCity19: ‘Carrie’ in Deliciously Vintage, Swarovski
SexandCity20: ‘Samantha’ Works Hugo Boss
SexandCity21: ‘Miranda’ Showcases Deliciously Vintage
SexandCity22: ‘Charlotte’ and ‘Harry’ in Hugo Boss
SexandCity23: ‘Big’ and ‘Carrie’ About to Release
SexandCity24: ‘SATC2’ Balloons Over Chicago
SexandCity25: Group Shot of the Models
SexandCity26: More Fashion Show Fans
SexandCity27: Group of ‘SATC2’ Admirers Working It
SexandCity28: ‘Swag Bag’ Show Off
SexandCity29: Fans on the Red Carpet Runway
SexandCity30: The View from the Conrad Hotel Terrace

By PATRICK McDONALD
Senior Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

Slideshow: 39-Image Gallery From ‘Sex and the City 2’ With Sarah Jessica Parker

BrianTT — Mon, 24 May 2010 18:38:34 -0400

CHICAGO – This 39-image slideshow features all the official press images for Warner Bros. Pictures’ “Sex and the City 2” starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Catrall, Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Davis, Willie Garson, John Corbett, Chris Noth, Evan Handler, Jason Lewis, and Mario Cantone. It was written and directed by Michael Patrick King. It will open on May 27th, 2010.

Official Synopsis:

“The fun, the fashion, the friendship: “Sex and the City 2” brings it all back and more as Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Samantha (Kim Cattrall), Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) take another bite out of The Big Apple—and beyond—carrying on with their busy lives and loves in a sequel that truly sparkles.

What happens after you say “I do”? Life is everything the ladies ever wished it to be, but it wouldn’t be “Sex and the City” if life didn’t hold a few more surprises…this time in the form of a glamorous, sun-drenched adventure that whisks the women away from New York to one of the most luxurious, exotic and vivid places on earth, where the party never ends and there’s something mysterious around every corner. It’s an escape that comes exactly at the right moment for the four friends, who are finding themselves in—and fighting against—the traditional roles of marriage, motherhood and more.

After all, sometimes you just have to get away with the girls.

Michael Patrick King directed “Sex and the City 2” from his own screenplay, based on the TV series created by Darren Star, based on characters from the book by Candace Bushnell. The film stars Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon, with John Corbett and Chris Noth. David Eigenberg, Evan Handler, Jason Lewis, Willie Garson and Mario Cantone also star. King also produced the film with Sarah Jessica Parker, Darren Star and John Melfi. Toby Emmerich, Richard Brener and Marcus Viscidi served as executive producers.

The behind-the-scenes team includes such “Sex and the City” veterans as director of photography John Thomas, production designer Jeremy Conway, editor Michael Berenbaum, costume designer Patricia Fields, and composer Aaron Zigman.

New Line Cinema Presents, In Association with Home Box Office, In Association with Village Roadshow Pictures, A Darren Star Production, A Film by Michael Patrick King, “Sex and the City 2,” to be released nationwide on May 27, 2010 by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.”

You can click “Next” and “Previous” to scan through this slideshow or jump directly to individual photos with the captioned links below. Photos credited to Craig Blankenhorn/WB Pictures.

SATC2_01: Cynthia Nixon, David Eisenberg.
SATC2_02: Michael Patrick King.
SATC2_03: Michael Patrick King.
SATC2_04: Michael Patrick King.
SATC2_05: Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Davis.
SATC2_06: Michael Patrick King, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis.
SATC2_07: Cynthia Nixon.
SATC2_08: Kristin Davis.
SATC2_09: Sarah Jessica Parker.
SATC2_10: Michael Patrick King, Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Davis, Kim Catrall.
SATC2_11: Cynthia Nixon.
SATC2_12: Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Davis, Kim Catrall.
SATC2_13: Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon.
SATC2_14: Evan Handler, David Eisenberg, Chris Noth.
SATC2_15: Kristin Davis.
SATC2_16: Kristin Davis.
SATC2_17: Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Catrall.
SATC2_18: Kim Catrall.
SATC2_19: Cynthia Nixon, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Catrall, Kristin Davis.
SATC2_20: Liza Minnelli.
SATC2_21: Cynthia Nixon.
SATC2_22: Sarah Jessica Parker, Chris Noth.
SATC2_23: Kim Catrall, Cybthia Nixon, Kristin Davis, Evan Handler.
SATC2_24: Kim Catrall.
SATC2_25: Chris Noth.
SATC2_26: Chris Noth, Sarah Jessica Parker, Willie Garson, Mario Cantone.
SATC2_27: Kristin Davis, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Catrall, Cynthia Nixon.
SATC2_28: Cynthia Nixon, Sarah Jessica Parker.
SATC2_29: Sarah Jessica Parker.
SATC2_30: John Corbett, Sarah Jessica Parker.
SATC2_31: Sarah Jessica Parker.
SATC2_32: Sarah Jessica Parker.
SATC2_33: Kim Catrall.
SATC2_34: Kim Catrall, Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Davis.
SATC2_35: Cynthia Nixon, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Catrall, Kristin Davis.
SATC2_36: Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon.
SATC2_37: Chris Noth.
SATC2_38: Sarah Jessica Parker, Chris Noth.
SATC2_39: Sarah Jessica Parker.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com