‘WHEN THE SHOW FIRST AIRED STRANGERS WOULD TELL ME VERY INTIMATE DETAILS OF THEIR LIVES'

stories on was always going to be a chaHenge.

Reports suggest the final cut has been a lengthy work in progress. not just to marry the expectations of the cast and crew but also to avoid disappointing the show‘s loyal fan

base. a pressure not lost on Parker.

Reflecting on what series writer and

director Michael Patrick King has

created for SATC‘s big screen debut. Parker says: ‘Michael Patrick has

done a beautiful job. He wrote a wonderful story and he really gave me the part of a lifetime.‘

And while the plot of the film has been

dream sequences leaked to the press and gag orders on the cast and crew. the actress admits that life had to. inevitably. move on.

‘lt doesn’t pick up right when the series left off. which means. in terms of (‘arrie‘s life. there is much more at stake.‘ hints Parker. following suggestions that the crux of the movie will lie with the original show"s greatest love affair. that of her and Big (played by (‘hris Noth) and the ‘will-they-won‘t they" of their nuptials. Parker remains resolutely tight lipped on the outcome. ‘Something major happens that fundamentally changes who she is. She's a new person in a lot

at the crucible for the first time.‘

(irowing tip and settling down wasn‘t such a stretch for Parker. who made her screen debut at the tender age of eight. Married to fellow actor Matthew Broderick and mother to son Jamie. the 43-year old admits that she is more likely to be spotted hanging out in the local playpark than heading to New York‘s latest hot spot.

She says. ‘My son comes first. If he’s not content. then everything else doesn‘t have the same meaning. liverything works if he‘s all right.‘

Whether fans love or hate her upcoming big screen outing. there is already talk of a sequel. with (‘ynthia Nixon and Kim (‘attrall reportedly showing interest. (‘an Parker really be ready to hang up her Jimmy (‘hoos for good'.’ ‘It would be putting the cart before the horse to talk about another.‘ she smiles. "l‘he expectations are very clear to us. but you can‘t write for expectations. You just have to write a great story and I think that‘s what [Michael Patrick King] did.‘

Sex and the City is out on Wed 28 May.

kept tightly under wraps. with stories of

of ways in this movie. because she finds herself

é

Affleck 0‘1 set

Morgan Freeman, asey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan ianone Baby Gone

Similarities with the Madeline McCann case led to the UK release of Gone Baby Gone being delayed but the project was almost shelved before it even got off the ground. Director Ben Affleck tells Kaleem Aftab why

Ben Affleck returns to his childhood stomping ground for his directorial debut, Gone Baby Gone. It focuses on the story of a child who gets kidnapped with the mother a prime suspect and. like Mystic River, it is adapted from a work by Dennis Lehane. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the similarities of the story with the Madeline McCann case led to the release of Gone Baby Gone being delayed in the UK.

“You see a lot of postcard images of Boston and there is a part of Boston that is worth being put on a postcard,‘ reflects 35-year-old Affleck as we sit together in a Parisian hotel. ‘There is also part of this city that looks like what I‘ve photographed and shot; bars that are ugly and streets that are full of regular people. What I think is beautiful about that is the very fact that they’re not physically beautiful people, they just look like normal people; some are heavy, others look like they‘ve been pushed down by the world, but what is elegant is that they're holding themselves up with dignity against this force.‘

Affleck bought the rights to Lehane‘s novel several years ago and admits that there was a certain fear in his heart when he heard that Clint Eastwood was adapting Mystic River and that it would be out first. He says, ‘At first. there was part of me that thought “well I should go find something else to do now as Mystic River is going to be this towering masterpiece and so I should go and find another author to adapt. because I shall inevitably be compared to something that is just going to be way better than what I‘m going to do". Then I thought, so what? It's not like somebody will have the revelation that I'm not Clint Eastwood!‘ It's a false modesty: Gone Baby Gone is a rollercoaster of emotions and the more entertaining of the Lehane adaptations.

I Gone Baby Gone is out on Fri 6 June.

22 May—5 Jun 2008 THE LIST 25