'Sex's' Parker: Reunion was 'very, very special'

NEW YORK (CNN) -- It's been five years since Carrie Bradshaw journeyed to Paris in search of true love on the series finale of "Sex and the City." She appeared to have found it in the arms of Mr. Big, and she returned to New York -- and her now-settled friends -- ready for a new start.

Then came the inevitable cry: That's it? What happens next?

Sarah Jessica Parker, who played Carrie, wanted to find out as well. But the situation had to be right, she said, which prompted a cascade of rumors as plans for a movie came together, fell apart and came together again.

Now that the movie is out, Parker -- who's a producer of the film as well as one of its stars -- talked about the journey to making a big-screen "Sex and the City" with "Showbiz Tonight" anchor A.J. Hammer. The following is an edited version of that interview.

CNN: I think a lot of fans, maybe a lot of people, and those of you among the cast, didn't think this day would actually ever come ... but here we are. So how are you feeling deep inside, Sarah?

Sarah Jessica Parker: I feel extraordinarily privileged. I've spent the last two years cobbling this movie together. ... It's a once-in-a-lifetime kind of professional experience and one really shouldn't be greedy enough to ask for it twice. Watch the cast talk about the thrill of "Sex" »

I have to say that, this last six, eight months, was better than those seven years [the show aired] and I think it's because we all recognize how lucky and unique those seven years were and that this is a story that you don't get to tell twice. It has been, I must say, worth every obstacle and dead end, and fit and start, and every moment that was seemingly impossible. It has been a dream.

CNN: And I imagine sitting down for the first time in that room together for the table read, which was, from my understanding, the first time you all actually were in the same room [together] regardless of how much you kept in touch. Tell me a little bit about that moment.

Parker: I started putting [the] script back together in April of 2006 ... and that [table read] was a really extraordinary day, because just the perfunctory details of getting people to a table read were complicated.

Kim [Cattrall] had been away and Kristin [Davis] had been away and Chris [Noth] had been [doing] his other job, and this magnificent script had arrived and had been everything we hoped for and more. It was basically like being in an alternate universe for about three hours. ...

It was a kind of reunion that is very, very special, because you really want to be there. It's not the reunion where you're forced by your parents to meet your aunts and uncles that you see rarely. It's the reunion that you want.

I think even more so was that first day on [the] set. When we thought, good God, [writer/director] Michael Patrick [King] and I are actually making this movie, like we got it done, we're here, we're doing it -- what a privilege.

CNN: I think we as fans and viewers actually got a sense of what that feeling was like when we saw you all together on "Oprah," because the energy was ... palpable. ...

But we're talking about the perceived drama around this whole project. (Rumors have abounded about friction between the stars.) One of my producers said while we were watching the TV, "Are they going to sit near each other?" "Why are they putting Chris in the middle of all of them?"

Hearing that, does it make you mad?

Parker: I find it slightly -- it's not that I'm mad. I expect better from people. I think it's really beneath me, to keep defending myself. I have a 35-year career. I have an impeccable character, I really pride myself in my work ethic and the way I treat people. And I think Kim would say the same and Cynthia would say the same. And I love Kim, and I wanted her to be in this movie. We couldn't have done it without her, we couldn't have done it without Kristin, we couldn't have done it without Cynthia [Nixon], nor could we have done it without Chris. Watch Cattrall address the rumors »

You know, this is a story that people like to tell about women. Why? I don't know. Is it that interesting? Probably not.

So once again I just have to say it doesn't define the experience. Nobody can take the experience away. It's far more interesting for me to talk about my affection for this cast than to start to deny a sad old beaten tale.

CNN: You seem to have what goes on in the media in perspective -- and you have to, being at the game as long as you've been. To that end, one of the things that I've always admired about you and [husband] Matthew [Broderick] and I think a lot of people do, is how you've managed your public or your private life while being in the glare of the spotlight. ...

Now I know one of the main reasons you guys are able to make it work is because you don't talk about your private lives, which is great and I applaud that. That said, is there something that you can tell me about what it is about your relationship that enables you to make it work separate from that?

Parker: I wouldn't make any proclamations about why I have a marriage that, to me, is successful. I would just say that we've chosen to live in a city where we are not the most interesting people. This is a city that is about industry and finance and publishing and architecture and the arts and education and academia, and the movie industry fits into it in some small way, but there are a lot of people of important interest and I think that it's a conscious choice to live in a place where we're bumping up against humanity.

We run to the market on our own, we take the subway, and we integrate into our city, and we become a part of the fabric and I think it's really been to our benefit and certainly to our son.

Does it mean that we are not scrutinized and that we don't have paparazzi every single day at our house? No, but it is a city where you can't live behind a gate, you can't drive up in a car and be protected. You walk out the door and it is what it is. So you reconcile those things and you make the best choices you can.

CNN: Is it the end of "Sex and the City"? What does your gut tell you?

Parker: My gut tells me it's up to you and your colleagues and the critics and the people who show up. The future is dictated not by us at this point, and I think Michael Patrick and I have been so focused at getting this movie up on the big screen, that we haven't thought about the future. Doing this was more than we could have asked for. So anything beyond that is really kind of out of our hands in a perfectly wonderful way.