Kim Cattrall Takes On The City by Brad Balfour.
When I heard that my friend Corine had already had her ticket for the first screening on the opening day of "Sex And The City," I knew I had to give her transcripts of the roundtable interviews that I conducted with the cast and director of this film—four years in the making.It was a wonderful day talking to all of them in preview of the film's debut. And since Kim Cattrall is her favorite I got this to her as soon as it was transcribed and cleaned up. I will let Corine take it from here to write what she wants about her favorite show and movie. And more will be coming from those sessions.—Brad Balfour
Q: When you first started acting in Toronto what did your parents think of your career choice and what do you they think of it now?
KC: Actually it goes further back than Toronto. When I was about 10years old I did a play. I played a cold germ infecting a whole classroom full of kids [laughs]. It was called "Piffle is only a Sniffle." I only had a big feather that I was tickling under their nose and I had wings on my back. I thought I was so hot [laughs].Then I did musical festivals and competitions. I did very well and then in '68 I went with my mom to England on a family visit and my great aunt was a teacher and I stayed and did these exams. My parents were [happy] because I was a good student, but I wasn't exceptional. I had a lot of friends, but I was a bit of a geek, not really a popular girl or anything. I hit upon acting and I just couldn't get enough of it. I wanted to go to the community theater, to watch movies, to read about actors, to learn about acting, to read plays and they go texcited by the fact that I was channeled in one area or another,because my sister was in a more academic route where she didn't know what to do. They were incredibly supportive and one thing seemed to lead to another. They were a 100% behind me. For a period of time my family became my cheering section. They were just very excited by the plays I was doing. They would drive all the way across the country to see a play I was doing in Toronto, where I did the "Rocky Horror PictureShow" and played Janet. They had never seen a show like that. It kind of opened up the family to a whole new experience, not just for me andwhat I was doing but for the world and to travel and it's continued tobe that way.
Q: Do you like the way your character has evolved to this point in the film and does it feel comfortable to you?
KC: Yes it does! I really love the fact that I am in a big Hollywood movie about woman that one of them is turning 50. I think that's never been done before [laughs]. I'm really proud to be part of something that allows that to happen. In the series, Samantha always lied about her age; she never said what her age was, and here, you see her at the beginning of the film, she's given up her home city, she's given up her business, she's starting all over again, as a sign of faith to be monogamous to this man. I said at the end of the series, "I don't know if this is going to last[laughs]."You can try to be somebody else but ultimately you can't do it, you just can't do it. The fact that at the end of the film she is the one who remains single is truthful to the show much more than the television ending was.
Q: Do you think she slept with her neighbor next door in L.A.?
KC: What do you think [laughs]? I just wish they did my close up on his shower scene last instead of first, because it was extraordinary[laughs].
Q: Samantha seems to have body issues. Do you relate to her character in this way?
KC: Of course I do. I'm human, she lives in fantasy land [laughs] I'm a real woman of course I do yeah. That's what's great about doing a show where you feel so confident about the hands that you're in. John Thomas shot the television show for six and half years and he lit us all beautifully. I felt so safe; could I do what she does as Kim? No!
Q: Do you go to the gym or have trainer to prepare for being exposed in the film?
KC: I work out. I grew up in a generation where a woman did work out. I mean Jane Fonda was one of my heroes. [Laughs] It's always been apart of my life, to be in shape so I can withstand a 19-hour day, and to look good to work in my profession. I was doing a program for PBS,"My Boy Jack," where I was playing a woman from 1914 to 1918. So I went from these really high collars to high heels within a two week break. I didn't have a lot of time to work out, for me it's about dieting; it's more about what I eat then exercising.
Q: What was it like watching the final movie, was it very emotional?
KC: This has been 10 years out of our lives and we've put so much in to it. The bar was so freaking high when we left and I always thought can we match it, are their stories that still need to be told. I'm so glad Michael came up with the script. I think he did a fabulous job. He took these four characters and brought them together in this seamless way. I sat there at the screening with five people, it was freezing cold in the room, and I was so nervous.You do the scenes that you're in and you hope those are good and then you see what was made of the rest of the movie and that's the most exciting part of it because you've just been concentrating in your own little world. That's the tough thing about movies, you don't get the whole flow of it you just do your bit. When the music started and the credits…it's just chilling.
Q: Did you feel like you missed a beat between the show and the movie?
KC: I really didn't. It fit like a glove, the read through, the first couple of pages everyone was nervous and very emotional and then after the fifth or sixth page it was like we were back.
Q: What did you think of Samantha's clothes?
KC: I loved them. First of all, working with Pat Fields was fantastic. She's so creative but she always listened to what I needed to make it work, since I do so much physical comedy. That was really helpful.
Q: Where does Samantha get her sexual openness?
KC: I think she has a tremendous amount of confidence. She is a little bit older than the others so she comes from little more experience. I think she has lived a very full life. I think that fearlessness about her is what makes her so attractive.She doesn't care if it's the wrong color, she doesn't care if it's taboo. It's a waste of her time. She doesn't sweat the small stuff,she just lets it go. I mean her vulnerability shows when it's intimacy. She can't really deal with that. She can't get down in that way. I think she has, what comes with age, is that knowledge of self.
Q: Do you guys talk about how the four characters complement each other?
KC: I remember Jenny Bicks, one of our terrific writers on "SATC,"said that she felt the four women really represented a complete woman.Four aspects that are strong drives in any woman; contemplatives,sexuality, fear, and aggression. We are supposed to be such good girls all time and we are just as vital and alive as any man is in all of those areas. We just have to go about it in a different way. They're archetypes, all four of them. I think that's why they resound with an audience.
Q: Do you think this opens up more roles for woman in their 40s and 50s?
KC: It better [laughs]... because this is the audience and they want to capture that audience that will hopefully see a movie like "Sex And the City." You know they make movies for 17- and 18-year olds because they go and see it three or four times, they just don't see it once. A lot of men and woman are saying I actually would like to see it again and that is like a studio's dream [laughs] but they have to be smart or the audience is not going to stay.
Q: What role do you think your looks had in landing roles earlier in your career?
KC: I was trained as a theater actress, so when I was signed to a Universal contract all I really wanted to do was get in front of a camera. It was a rep situation for me. I was basically playing victim of the week, one week I was raped, the next week I was blind, one week. I was shunned [laughs]. It was always these women in peril but I was also 19 at the time so I was playing a young frightened ingenue.Then I did a film called "Porky's" and I became the sex kitten that didn't work for a while [laughs]. Then I started playing girlfriends,best friends, and then kooky aunts. Then this came along. I would always take projects to feed my theater habit. I was one of the few actors in Hollywood who would continue to do plays because I was on contract and couldn't leave. I thought if I could do a play for at least six weeks or a work shop, I thought of it as a rite of passage.I couldn't make enough money to live off of theater. I did it, I survived.It's funny as an actor you say, "if I could just join Equity, if I could just get an agent, if I could just get screen actors guild, if I could just get a good part," and it seems where ever your career is at, there is always another tier that you're going for [laughs]. This has been such a peak in every way, because the writers knew who they were writing for, the actors knew the characters so well. It's like anything in life; the more you do it the better you get at it, the deeper the experience.
Q: Were you cast in those early films because of your pretty face?
KC: I didn't feel that way at the time, because even to get those roles it was highly competitive. I was auditioning against other contract players and other people who were freelance, and to keep working I thought it doesn't matter what the roles are right now I want to learn what the camera does. I wanted to know what it's like to be on a set. My first movie they said action and I thought, "You got to be kidding." [Laughs] Do they really say that? [Laughs] I really made an effort to learn on the job. I don't know how else to do it. It used to be you just do two of the Providence theaters. Now you start to do episodic TV if you want to continue to work in the business.
Q: As shown in the movie, do you think everyone deserves a second chance?
KC: It depends on what they have done [laughs]. I hope so, if it isn't too heinous. I love the way Michael has written it and the way it ended up in the film with a character like Samantha who is so supporting of her girlfriends that when Steve comes she is protective of him as well as apathetic to him because that is what so great about the character.She has lived a full life and you see that in the way she handles those situations.
Q: Since New York is up on a pedestal in the film and a lot of jabs are made at LA, will there be a backlash?
KC: I hope not. It's all done with a lot of fun. I think the spirit of the movie is never mean spirited. So hopefully the people in California will understand and if not what are you going to do?[Laughs]
Q: What's next?
KC: I have a project in development at HBO It's about a woman in a midlife crisis.
Interview by Brad Balfour.
Go see SEX AND THE CITY!!!!! It is my favorite movie in years.
Samantha's character has always cracked me up and I am a woman that can't wait to see the film a second and hopefully third time. I want to own the movie. Go and see the movie. It is a Corine's Pick.
Also, stay tuned. I will be interviewing Lynn Cohen- Magda for my site soon. Hopefully on video. (Comments by Corine Cohen Interview by Brad Balfour. Thanks, Brad for the interview. I would have killed to have attended that event. As, the show was my favorite of all time. (PS My Birthday is coming up and I could use the entire season on DVD!)
