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Kristin Davis Confesses Charlotte Almost Looked Totally Different on ‘Sex and the City’
The iconic Charlotte York (Kristin Davis) almost looked completely different in Sex and the City.
Davis kicked off her new podcast, Are You A Charlotte?, on January 12 and began spilling secrets about the show’s start. The 59-year-old revealed that the SATC team initially wanted to give Charlotte quite the makeover before the show’s premiere in 1998.
The preppy friend in Carrie Bradshaw’s (Sarah Jessica Parker) clique, known for her long, chocolate locks, was supposed to chop her hair off to make space for a more “New York” look, or at least that’s what the production team tried to guide her toward. Davis wasn’t a big fan of this change, yet wasn’t sure what to do when she was first cast.
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While looking back at the pilot, she noted, “Everyone else is so much more sophisticated than me!” Happy to have been cast in the HBO series, Davis wasn’t quite sure how to express her disagreement. She was, however, thinking, “Why? Why do you want me to cut my hair?” She continued, “I didn’t feel like all the New York ladies had their hair cut or whatever.”
The team who suggested it had a clear image in their head. Davis recalled them saying, “We want you to look like Jill Hennessy who’s on Law and Order.” Not understanding how she could look similar to Hennessy, Davis thought, “Well, Jill Hennessy is really tall and extremely beautiful, and she’s got this long neck and how am I ever gonna look like Jill Hennessy? And also, my hair is wavy. I was like if you cut my hair — like she had like a short bob at this time, right? — I’m just gonna have like a poof, I’m gonna be like a poodle.”
Charlotte with a short bob? Her arc and entire personality would not have been the same!
The hairdresser attached to the show told Davis at the time, “You’ve got to get your hair cut, and if you don’t get your hair cut, I’m gonna cut it for you on your first day of work.” This panicked the actress so much that she went to a salon on Madison Avenute and cut her hair, but not as drastic as a Hennessy’s short bob.
This caught everyone’s attention so much that costar Sarah Jessica Parker even commented, “What happened to your hair?” Davis explained the situation and quickly realized that next time something like that happened she’d have to go to her costar to get her out of the situation. With a new understanding, Davis hopped over to Parker when they wanted to put a massive velvet scrunchie in her hair.
And just like her character, Parker defended Davis. “No scrunchies, no banana clips, we’re in Manhattan,” Parker said. They listened and the rest of the filming for the pilot was done with Charlotte’s hair up as she grew it out again.
