Still Sexy Four Years Later

May 16, 2008 -- "People come to New York looking for the two l's – love and labels" Carrie Bradshaw says in her opening monologue in this summer's highly anticipated film adaptation, 'Sex and the City'.

But 'Sex' is about much more than flying cupids and Chanel bags in the mega-popular series first appearance on the silver screen.

"The movie is really simply about life and forgiveness and love…the pain of all of it and the beauty of it and the joy," Sarah Jessica Parker told "Popcorn with Peter Travers" on ABC News Now.

Still friends and still stylish, much remains the same for Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte but with age comes new challenges as well.

"We were nervous, we were excited, we were uncertain if we could still walk in heels" Parker says describing that first day on set.

Four years later, Parker describes her character as a more mature Carrie Bradshaw.

"Carrie continues to have this great love affair with New York and her friends, but the friendships have changed due to marriage and children and geography. She's changed."

The challenges of life and love are still met with a cocktail at their favorite New York hotspot but the friendships have changed.

"When you're twenty and your heart is broken at work, in life, in romance….you can go to a friend's house in sweatpants or you could go to a bar… you could actually be distracted and you'd do fine. Much like a physical injury you bounce back," Parker explains. "When you're forty…and you lose what you think is part of your DNA, your friends are necessary, but they cannot fix it anymore."

There is a certain heaviness that fans are not accustomed to in "Sex," but Parker asserts, "the film is still funny and fun and it's still sexy," as evident with Samantha's humping dog, a quasi-lesbian scene and the film's biggest orgasm – the infinity closet.

But Parker wanted a smart film that would go deeper.

The heart of the film takes place outside of the girls' usual stomping grounds – at a luxurious resort in Mexico. It was there that viewers will see the value of true friendship and what it means to pick yourself up and move forward.

"It is the quietness….the space between the words," that some people are afraid of, says Parker.

"Studios were wary of the deeper, heavier plot, preferring to stick to 'fun, fun, fun'," she says.

But as executive-producer with Michael Patrick King, Parker was able to create a product that has both fun and humor as it shows the realities of life during love and heartbreak.

"I know this better than I know anything else. It doesn't mean I'm right. It just means that I care and it means that Michael and I will fight for what we think is the story we should be telling or how we should be telling it," Parker says.

"This animal cannot be about four women running around Manhattan, drinking cosmopolitans and pursing sexual relations. We wouldn't have allowed it….and I hope our audiences wouldn't have allowed it."

Off-screen, Parker describes a very different life than Carrie Bradshaw.

"It's no cosmopolitans, my friend. It's Gristedes, it's Jefferson Market, it's taking the garbage out, it's knowing the sanitation workers. "Good morning Jerry," Parker says with a grin.

But just like Carrie Bradshaw, Parker's true love is New York. "I've loved the city from the moment I stepped foot here" she says.

"Sex and the City" opens Friday, May 30th, nationwide.