For Gilles Marini, working with Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall on the set of the first Sex and the City movie was all fun and games.
“I did not feel any tension, even [on the red] carpet and everything else,” the 42-year-old actor, who played Dante in the 2008 film, told Us Weekly exclusively at the Solo: A Star Wars premiere at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on Thursday, May 10.
Speaking on Cattrall’s decision not to reprise her role as Samantha Jones in the now-canceled third SATC movie, Marini added, “People have the right to say, ‘No, I don’t want to do this.’ If it’s not important or meaningful for a person to do a film, then to each his own. If it wouldn’t be the same, I understand why the studio would pull the movie.”
But the Dancing With the Stars season 8 runner-up doesn’t harbor any ill feelings toward Cattrall, 61, Parker, 53, or director Michael Patrick King.
“I’m always going to be very, very thankful to [them] for giving me so much help during the shoot of the film that, to date, was the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” he told Us. “Naked, in front of 20 people? I’m wearing, like, [no] clothes, right out of the shower. You would never catch me naked. So it was very difficult for me to become Dante, but as soon as I did, I became that person and let it go. I love those guys.”
Marini continued, “It’s too bad that there is animosity, but I’m not really aware of it. … I would love to have seen a No. 3, or maybe finishing what I started with Kim. … I’m going to text her tonight and say, ‘Let’s just write something and finish what we started.’”
Parker, who played Carrie Bradshaw, first revealed in September that the film had been scrapped. Soon after, Willie Garson, who portrayed Stanford Blatch, implied on Twitter that Cattrall was to blame due to her “outrageous demands” for more money, which she later denied.
“My heart isn’t in it anymore,” the actress wrote on Instagram in October. “I’ve moved on. 61 isn’t 53 or 41. I have learned so much from our Sam. She was my hero but I want to rest & not work as much as I have been doing for years. I want a less hectic life.”
The drama worsened in February when Cattrall slammed Parker for sending condolences after the unexpected death of the former’s brother, Christopher. “Your continuous reaching out is a painful reminder of how cruel you really were then and now,” Cattrall wrote on Instagram at the time. “Let’s make this VERY clear. (If I haven’t already) You are not my family. You are not my friend. So I’m writing to tell you one last time to stop exploiting our tragedy in order to restore your ‘nice girl’ persona.”
Parker then clarified in an interview with Vulture in April, “There is no catfight. I have never uttered an unkind, unsupportive, unfriendly word. … I’ve always held Kim’s work in high regard and always appreciative of her contributions. If she chooses not to do the third movie, there’s not a lot I can do to change her mind and we must respect it.”
