Chris Noth: “I’ve never seen Mr Big as an alpha male”

Chris Noth he was not convinced to rejoin the cast of And Just Like That, the reboot of Sex and the City that from December 9 we will see in Italy on Sky and Now, but in the end, after a chat with director Micheal Patrick King, he changed his mind. The actor himself confessed this in a long open-hearted interview to the British Guardian, in which he had his say about the show, about New York, about himself and of course about Mr Big. «After the two films from the series, I thought I had given Big everything in my power“, has explained. “But I had a long conversation with King, a conversation that lasted as long as the pandemic, we discussed the character together and we finally found the square, so he pulled me in.”

After all, the Big of 2021 could not be the same as seen in the first series, nor in the two films (the last dated 2010), because it is the very world in which he moves that has changed. It is the protagonist himself who recognizes it, also recalling how little he enjoyed making the last film: “They did it well, of course, but I admit that I didn’t feel very comfortable with the so unrealistic way in which they were resolved. Carrie and Big’s problems. I don’t remember much of that set, while I remember how much fun we had in the series ».

However, more than 20 years have passed since the time of the series. America, already tried by the September 11 attacks and a heavy economic crisis, passed through the Trump era, through #meToo and then through a pandemic that changed the face not only of places (“New York does it’s more what it used to be, “says Noth from his Massachusetts home where he lives with his wife and two children), but also about the roles: the alpha male millionaire who never has to ask and does good and bad times in relationships is no longer as glamorous as it used to be. “But I’ve never seen Mr Big as an alpha male”, replies the actor, “Although it’s true that after him they only offered me parts in a” suit and tie “, Big is as far away from me as possible: my wife says so too, “I don’t think people realize how sloppy you are in real life” ».

Yet, over the years, Noth managed to give the character an unparalleled tone, which not only led an entire generation of women to believe they had a Mr Big in their life (who almost never, however, was sitting in the back seat of a Limousine) but above all led him to be identified with the heartbreaker billionaire. A situation that disturbed him a lot, at the beginning: “Sex and the City it became a phenomenon of costume in a very short time and people soon started pointing to me on the street by the name of Mr Big. At first I found this very annoying: no actor wants a character to stick on him, because he knows he will never come off again. But in the end I gave up: the audience, as long as you can resist, will continue to identify you with that role. Cynthia Nixon may become mayor of New York but will always remain Miranda di Sex and the City».