Gilles Marini broke down how he filmed the shower scene in the Sex and the City movie where he was fully naked — the one that still has Us fanning ourselves 16 years later.
“It was cold. It was January. It was Malibu. It was water from the ocean and every time I did the scene, I was soaping and then the salt water — it made it all dry. But it was three hours of nakedness,” Marini, 48, exclusively shared in the newest issue of Us Weekly about the scene in which he got out of the water and removed his surfing wetsuit to step into the outdoor shower.
He continued: “The first time that everything got blurry for me and very focused was the moment when that towel dropped and I was butt-naked in front of 250 people. And in that moment, everything got blurry and I’m like, ‘Oh, it’s easy. I don’t see anyone.'”
Marini, who played a love interest for Kim Cattrall‘s character Samantha in the 2008 film, said he “channeled” his costar when filming his NSFW moments.
“That was my character development. I’m [reminiscent of] Kim Cattrall’s [character] five years prior and I’m going to show her as my neighbor that she should come back to that team because it’s fun,” he joked about his character Dante’s motivation. “That was the character.”
Sex and the City, which premiered in 1998, focused on Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) and her journey to find love in New York alongside her friends Charlotte (Kristin Davis), Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) and Samantha (Cattrall). After six seasons on HBO and two movies, the hit series was revived as And Just Like That for Max.
Marini isn’t ruling out the idea of making an appearance on And Just Like That — but he doesn’t think it will happen.
“[Executive producers] John Melfi and Michael Patrick King are the big bosses [in charge] of that. I would adore being part of this,” he shared with Us. “I think the hiccup for me [is] if they want [a new character for me]. They will have to say, ‘Well he was the love interest of Kim Cattrall’s [character]. Because she’s not back completely, I guess they don’t think about [a return] for me.”
Cattrall, 67, was initially the only OG main cast member who didn’t return for the Max revival series. She made a brief cameo during season 2 where Samantha was seen speaking with Carrie over the phone, which Cattrall filmed solo.
While Marini hasn’t received the call for a cameo on AJLT, he wouldn’t mind coming back.
“I would love to. I would love to work with them again just because that will make me feel like all these happy times of my life,” he continued. “Kudos to Sex and the City for giving me a career. I have to be honest, SATC gave me Dancing With the Stars. People saw, ‘Oh, he’s a good guy. So let him work.’ And that was great.”
Marini is excited for fans of his work to see his new wartime film Murder Company.
“Honestly, what drew me to this character is 17 years of waiting for that character to come. I have a very personal story when it comes to World War II. My grandmother saved countless [members] of the Jewish community herself,” the actor told Us about portraying a member of the Fresh resistance who’s held captive by American soldiers amid their pursuit to capture a Nazi. “What got to me is the fact that this man really existed. He lost his entire family from a man that he now has the opportunity to kill. I pretend so hard that I think it’s real — and that’s the advantage I have.”
Murder Company is available in select theaters July 5.
With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
