Mario Cantone asked for more nude scenes in ‘And Just Like That’

Mario Cantone thinks And Just Like That is best when it’s spiciest.

Speaking with series star Kristin Davis on a recent episode of her Are You a Charlotte? podcast, Cantone, who first appeared on a 2000 episode of Sex and the City as Davis’ character’s wedding planner, told his And Just Like That costar that “before season 3 started filming, I said to [showrunner and executive producer Michael Patrick King], ‘I want more nudity.'”

After showing some skin in the second season, which aired in 2023, Cantone told King, “‘My DMs blew up the next day. I want more nudity.'”

“I like being sexualized at 65 years old. It’s good,” Cantone joked.

Cantone first appeared in the Sex and the City third season episode “Running With Scissors.” His hot-tempered Anthony Marentino became an instant fan-favorite, leading to future appearances through the sixth and final season of the series.

Despite the enormous differences in their personalities, Anthony begins dating series lead Carrie’s (Sarah Jessica Parker) best male friend, Stanford Blatch (Willie Garson), and the pair get married in the 2010 sequel film, Sex and the City 2. Though the couple returned for And Just Like That, Garson’s death from pancreatic cancer in 2021 led him to being written out of the spinoff series, landing Anthony (after a period of mourning) single and ready to mingle.

“When we were going into the second season, Michael Patrick King called me up and said, ‘Hey, just so you know, you’re gonna be getting a storyline, you’re gonna be getting a boyfriend,” Cantone told Davis.

In the second season of And Just Like That, Anthony steps into a new role as the owner of a bakery called Hot Fellas, which, well, employs hot fellas as delivery men. Anthony soon swoons for one of the hottest fellas – Giuseppe (Sebastiano Pigazzi) – and pair quickly fall for each other and start dating.

Anthony’s newfound love led to several scenes in which he bares, if not all, then more he ever bared on Sex and the City. Though the storyline has blown up Cantone’s DMs, he calls his kissing scenes with Pigazzi “a little weird” because the actor’s “like my brother now.”

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Still, Anthony holds on to memories of Stanford. Mourning his late TV husband in 2021, Cantone recalled, “I miss him. He made me laugh so hard and he was a great TV husband. Oh God, he was loved. And he was brilliant and hilarious and just, he was everything. I miss him a lot.”

You can listen to the rest of Cantone and Davis’ conversation on Are You a Charlotte? above.