Sex And The City Star Evan Handler Almost Got Fired Over One Scene

Throughout his time on Sex and the City, Evan Handler’s Harry Goldenblatt proved himself one of the show’s most endearing (and enduring) love interests. Even SATC author Candace Bushnell has declared her allegiance to Team Harry. But the character’s beloved place in the SATC canon was far from guaranteed early in Handler’s run.

Handler opened up about an early filming experience he “handled very badly,” one that could have ended his run on the show, during an Oct. 12 appearance on the Are You a Charlotte? podcast, hosted by his on-screen wife, Kristin Davis.

The pair discussed a scene from the Season 5 finale, “I Love a Charade,” in which Charlotte voices her dismay at Harry’s hairy back. “I kept getting a note, ‘Don’t be so nice … It’s too sweet, stop being sweet,’” Handler recalled a producer telling him.

The actor admitted his own “mea culpa” for how he handled what he felt was an unhelpful note. “What I did that really could be a firing offense, is I actually said: ‘Listen, this is a scene I auditioned with, and I got the part, so…,” Handler said. “As if to say, So, what are you giving me problems about? Like, It’s already been approved from up high. And that’s a terrible way [to be].”

Liz Tuccillo, a writer on the show, soon told him his response hadn’t gone over well, Handler said. “She said, you know, ‘This is a big deal — like, they’re talking about letting you go. And what happened was really bad the other day. And what you said was really bad. And the scene doesn’t work.’”

Then executive producer Michael Patrick King called him in. “I was told, ‘You’re on thin ice. They’re talking about getting rid of you,’” Handler recalled. “Michael told me, ‘Listen, I keep getting calls from different departments: this happened, that happened, that happened … attitudes don’t last here. And I need you to last.’”

Handler admitted to King that he “didn’t handle that well,” but assured his boss he didn’t have an attitude problem. He kept the job, and Harry went on to become one of the show’s most beloved characters.

He told Bustle last year he was proud to be part of a series that followed its women, and their love lives, decades into the future. “This is one of the few shows on the air — now or ever — dealing with women in their 50s, and the things that they go through, and how their lives are different from when they were in their 30s, and how relationships affect them,” he said. “I have long existed on Sex and the City and in that world in service of the women in their storylines. And I think that’s the way it should be.”