Candace Bushnell to Sarah Jessica Parker: I Invented You

Photo: Getty and Corbis

In Net-A-Porter’s magazine earlier this month, Sarah Jessica Parker said watching AnnaSophia Robb — a “lovely girl” — portray a young Carrie Bradshaw on the Sex and the City prequel series The Carrie Diaries was “odd.” “I think it’s one of those tests of your generosity,” Parker said, adding that she nonetheless wanted Robb to “feel good” about the role. Today, Sex and the City writer Candace Bushnell is on the Daily Beast to remind SJP who created Carrie and therefore has the final verdict on Robb’s performance. She said:

“The reality is, that’s showbiz. Sarah Jessica’s first part was somebody else’s part. She played Annie on Broadway. She understands how these things work.”

We have yet to see anyone ask Parker about Quvenzhané Wallis’s casting in the latest Annie remake. Bushnell, meanwhile, has no shortage of nice things to say about Robb. In fact, she thinks she’s nailing Carrie. Some might even say ASR plays a young SJP better than SJP.

I love AnnaSophia. She just holds the screen. She’s a very cool girl in person. I think that comes through. That’s something that’s key to Carrie. Carrie has to be cool. And it’s funny—I’m going to say this, and it’s going to come out the wrong way, and I’m going to sound like an idiot—there are so many different shadings of iconic female characters in her performance, like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz or Nancy Drew.

[….]

She channels Carrie from Sex and the City as well. Sometimes I’m just taken aback. Like, wow, that is in a sense a young Sarah Jessica Parker. I know we think of a young Sarah Jessica Parker as very different, because she was in Square Pegs. But if Sarah Jessica Parker had played a 16-year-old Carrie Bradshaw, I see the connection.

There’s more insightful criticism of the SATC franchise post-Bushnell on the Beast. Like why did Carrie never aspire to anything more than column writing? And could Mr. Big have even handled that? Did Carrie have it all?