Carrie Bradshaw and Me

When open auditions for Sex and the City 2 called for “fashion models, socialites, and soccer players,” The Daily Beast’s Rebecca Dana had to wonder: Did she have what it takes?

What does it take to land a non-speaking role as an anonymous party girl in the upcoming Sex and the City sequel?

Grit, determination, hours of free time on a weekday, and a high tolerance for pain.

“It’s not about what you say, it’s about how you look,” said a local TV news reporter stationed outside an open casting call for Sex and the City 2 in New York on Tuesday. The woman, dressed in a kicky red knit frock, practiced the line in front of her cameraman, over and over. “It’s not about what you say, it’s about how you look, for the hopefuls here…” And repeat.

“Those four women are my heroes,” one hopeful said. “If I could just get my one chance to do something, to be part of the history of making something that I could tell my kids about, I’d be happy.”

Behind her stood a few hundred of the hopefuls, myself included, corralled by metal police barricades into a dense mass, four tube-topped thirtysomethings thick. The line wrapped around a full city block. A sidewalk preacher stood by the entrance shouting “Repent or die!,” but otherwise, the atmosphere was friendly. There was an octogenarian carrying her headshot and two mothers hauling along antsy kids. Mostly, there were office workers on their lunch breaks and ladies from Long Island queued up for a shot at—well, not quite fame. The most we could hope for was just a more concentrated kind of obscurity…and a glimpse of Carrie Bradshaw!

June Prensky, 45, and her friend Gina Donaldson, 43, took the early train in from Laurel Hollow, New York. “We should have invented this series,” said Prensky, who is unmarried, goes by the nickname “Bug,” used to frequent Studio 54, and says that of the franchise’s four female archetypes, she’s “definitely a Carrie.” “Our lives are Sex and the City,” said Donaldson, whose nickname is “Charlotte.”

And that’s just the thing. How long does this franchise really have left before it has to pack up and join Bug and Charlotte in the suburbs? The first film, made in 2008, was a bona fide blockbuster, grossing more than $400 million worldwide. Producers quickly signed up Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Davis, Chris Noth and yes, even free-wheeling Kim Catrall, for part two, due in theaters in May 2010. (Katie Holmes has also reportedly been offered a role in the sequel.) But will the same droves of sobbing girls turn out again, now that Carrie’s safely entombed in her giant shoe closet uptown?

Little is known about the actual plot of the sequel, but between the recession and the looming onset of menopause, the four heroines are probably in for a more modest adventure this time around. In interviews, Sarah Jessica Parker has promised a “massive romp” while acknowledging that economic realities have given the writers and cast “a lot that we have to think about.” Last week came reports of another setback: The government of the United Arab Emirates is said to have nixed filming in Dubai, where the gals presumably would have poured petro dollars all over the local Louboutin boutique, because officials from the strict Muslim country objected to the word “sex” in the film’s title.

Of course, none of this mattered to the thousands of hopefuls Tuesday afternoon. Producers put out a call for “fashion models, celebrity types, upscale socialites, urban clubgoers, gays and lesbians, international types (Middle Eastern, Arabic, Asian, European, British), and professional soccer players.” Cops, expecting a crowd of 5,000 and highs in the mid-80s, were prepared for G-8 protest levels of mayhem. “Everyone’s been friendly so far,” said one police sergeant at 9 a.m. “I hope it stays that way.” He looked around. “We should all hope it stays that way.”