Blake Lively Rumoured to Star as Young Carrie Bradshaw in SATC Prequel

Last year’s Sex and the City 2 was a box office failure and critical punching bag. Opening in third place in the US, the film had disappointing takings and was subject to terrible reviews that mocked its awkward attempt to glam up its aging stars and squeeze the last drops of blood from the popular franchise.

However, though the flop indicated that the franchise had lost the voguish magic that had made it a runaway success, Carrie and her band of merry fash hags are still significant figures in popular culture. Furthermore, Sex and the City 2 earned US$90 million globally though its stars are no longer A-list fixtures in US celebrity news.

New Line, which owns the rights to Sex and the City, is keenly aware of this and last year news surfaced in the celebrity gossip magazines that a film adaptation of Candace Bushnell’s 2010 prequel The Carries Diaries was in the works. The novel focuses on Carrie Bradshaw’s Connecticut high school days in the early 80s, her early months in New York City and the beginning of her relationship with an older man.

The film is still in the pre-production phase and writer-director-producer Michael Patrick King has reported that he is currently in talks with Gossip Girl celebrity Blake Lively to take over from Sarah Jessica Parker as a pre-SATC Carrie.

It’s a smart move for New Line Cinema. Lively may not have the strongest film resume but as high school queen been Serena van der Woodsen, she’s as significant a star in the teen TV universe as Sarah Jessica Parker was to women in the late 90s and early 00s. Lively would introduce to Sex and the City a captive younger audience who may not be so familiar with the original series, and refresh a tired franchise with a new batch of young starlets.

At the same time, the prequel would keep the strong SATC brand recognition without alienating its original older audience. Its basis in another Candace Bushnell novel also gives it the hallmark of authenticity.

It’s still too early to tell what will come of the project but it already rings faintly with the sound of cash registers and Lively’s agents couldn’t be reached for comment when the rumours began. If the project comes through it would make a good year the actress who was made Chanel’s latest ambassador for the Mademoiselle handbag line.