Brian Van Holt has revealed the alleged surprising inspiration behind his memorable Sex and the City character.
“I don’t even know if this is true, this is probably all rumored and hearsay, but there’s the P***y Posse,” Van Holt, 56, claimed during an appearance on the Monday, August 18, episode of Kristin Davis’ “Are You a Charlotte” podcast. The actor played celebrity Wylie Ford on the beloved HBO sitcom, a so-called heartthrob Davis’ character almost hooks up with before she’s turned off by one of his sexual requests.
After David confirmed she remembered the nickname for Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire’s alleged group of friends — who were said to chase women and pull off pranks, though the alleged group was never publicly or officially confirmed — Van Holt said, “So that character Wylie Ford was loosely based on the P***y Posse shenanigans.”
Van Holt added that the role allowed him to “channel my inner douche bag.”
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“I just kind of embraced it,” he continued, “and it was not only fulfilling creatively, but it was also very therapeutic.”
Van Holt later added that it was “fun” to answer the question, “How can I be as douchey as possible? To represent something that I don’t really care for?” before he joked that he “did a lot of research” to understand the part completely.
DiCaprio and Maguire were allegedly often joined by actors Lukas Haas and Kevin Connolly on their reported exploits. According to Far Out Magazine, after the Titanic star achieved international success thanks to the 1997 blockbuster, he operated as a kind of ringleader of a group of young men who spent their time in clubs pursuing women.
The duo allegedly had a change of heart when it came time to release their Miramax film Don’s Plum, which they both allegedly believed was “so overtly sexist it was felt it might reflect poorly on how they spoke when nobody was around,” the outlet reported. The pair blocked the release of the film, which prompted a lawsuit filed by producer David Stutman.
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In the filing, Stutman insisted, “Maguire and his manager had determined that, in the film, Maguire did not come off as strong a ‘leading man’ as DiCaprio, and that some of the improvisational comments Maguire had made during the film revealed personal experiences or tendencies that would undermine the public image he and his manager were trying to project.”
The parties eventually reached a settlement in 1999, Variety reported. The film’s team agreed to not release it in the U.S., Canada and the countries’ respective territories.
