Sarah Jessica Parker Carries On in HBO’s Divorce
After a 12-year hiatus, Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker is back on TV full-time, portraying a woman going through another stage of life and love in HBO’s Divorce. Parker portrays Frances, a corporate headhunter who put her dreams of owning an art gallery on hold to move out of Manhattan and support her ex-stockbroker husband, Robert (Thomas Haden Church), when he began a career as a house flipper in Westchester County. Then the real estate market tanked. Years of being the sole breadwinner, mortgage payer, insurance supplier and grocery buyer for their two adolescent children have wearied Frances. In the opening scene, she gives Robert the finger behind his back after he complains about her bathroom use. That night, the pair witness a fight between their married friends Diane (Molly Shannon) and Nick (Tracy Letts) that ends in gunfire. (Did we mention this was a dark comedy?) Robert feels reborn. Frances realizes she needs a divorce. As she sadly states, “I need to save my life while I still care about it.”
The idea for Divorce came to Parker, also an executive producer on the series, four years ago. “I started thinking about how many different versions of marriage there are,” she recalls. “I saw my friends at various points in their own marriages—getting divorced, thinking about getting divorced, contemplating affairs, having survived affairs, having not survived them. I wanted to tell the truth about what divorce can look like, what an attempt at divorce can look like and what marriage at this point can feel like if you’re in it and you want out. I’m not a writer. I couldn’t tell the story. I could just talk about what was interesting to me.”
Also in this issue:
• Fall Streaming Preview: A look at what’s coming up this season, including Gilmore Girls, Marvel’s Luke Cage, The Man in the High Castle, Chance and more.
• Tom Bergeron. The unflappable Dancing With the Stars host talks about the recent Ryan Lochte incident and how he keeps his cool on live TV.
• Designated Survivor. Kal Penn returns to TV, putting his White House experience to good use in ABC’s Designated Survivor.
• Shameless. Emmy Rossum previews big changes ahead in Season 7 of the Showtime dramedy.
• Scorpion. A behind-the-scenes tour of the CBS hit’s new season.
• Ash vs. Evil Dead. Starz’s horror romp gets more outrageous (and more personal) in Season 2, including the arrival of Lee Majors as Ash’s dad.
• Plus: Hawaii Five-0, Arrow, Superstore, General Hospital and the best of movies, streaming, sports and more.