‘It was really hard’: Mario Cantone on filming the day after Willie Garson died

Sarah Jessica Parker and Mario Cantone returned to the ‘And Just Like That…’ set the day after Willie Garson passed away.

The actor – who played Sarah Jessica’s character Carrie Bradshaw’s best friend Stanford Blatch in ‘Sex and the City’ – died from pancreatic cancer in September, at the age of 57, and only filmed three episodes of the revival series.

Mario, 62, who played his lover Anthony, has revealed it was “the hardest day” filming a comedy scene while grieving for their beloved co-star, but heaped praise on Sarah Jessica, 56, for taking care of him “like a mother”.

Speaking to ‘Entertainment Tonight’, he said: “I came in the day after he passed away, and that was real hard. That was the day we did the plastic surgery scene with Jonathan Groff [Dr. Paul David], who was magnificent and he is just wonderful. I just adore him. So that was a hard day.

“That was the hardest day, and Sarah really took care of me like a mother. She just took me out of the room because it was hard.”

Mario was referring to the episode after Anthony was dumped by Stanford – who abruptly left for Tokyo to manage a TikTok star – and needed someone to come with him for their “his and his” plastic surgery consultation.

He continued: “But yeah, she’s the No1, and she just kind of takes care of you.

“We just kind of all huddled together and loved each other and moved on, and we had to keep going and do this thing.”

Mario says if Willie were still alive, the pair’s on-screen relationship would have gotten “very turbulent”.

He said: “I think you were going to see a relationship that was very turbulent.

“It’s turbulent arguments, but I think it was supposed to be – I don’t really know exactly – but it was supposed to be me dealing with his craziness, and having to calm him, and talk him out of things, and mend things.

“But it’s a very turbulent relationship, very argumentative.

“But yet, we can’t live without each other. That was what that was supposed to be.”

Showrunner Michael Patrick King previously revealed a “midlife crisis” was on the cards for Stanford before he passed.

Mario hailed his late co-star as “hilarious” and admitted he will be sorely missed.

He added: “He’s just truly a raconteur, his storytelling is brilliant, he’s hilarious.

“But I’m usually the one that’s like, you know, doing my thing, being crazy on set.

And I can sit back and just watch him go off. He’s hilarious and he lived in LA, we didn’t see each other a lot, but we would do Zoom readings and we would always be texting each other and talking c**p about things and situations. So yeah, but he’s really missed.”