Q:IN SEX and the City: The Movie, the character of Samantha is as wonderful as always, yet she has changed a little since we last saw her in the television series. Are you happy about that?
KIM CATTRALL: Yes, I am, (though] I can't say exactly how she's changed, unfortunately, I feel like I have a gagging order on this one. But yes, I think characters on TV series have a tendency to stay the same, though I think it is something we alwa
ys tried to avoid , with all of the characters.
When we did the pilot for the show ten years ago, it felt like a dress rehearsal. Then, in the middle of the first season, the writers started to get into a groove. I think that we got deeper and we got better – the plots and characters became much more interesting. So what's happened in the four years since we haven't been on the air is even more of a maturation, really. The characters have had to stay true to themselves, but have matured a little.
Q:Absolutely, it's what we love about them – we do all get older.
KC: Exactly! I mean, honestly, we don't all change that much in real life, but there are events that can really change one's perspective – and those things happen to these four women.
Q: What did you miss the most when you had finished filming the TV show and then didn't see each other for that much time?
KC: Just the joy of getting those scripts and doing those scenes with those wonderful actresses. Those zingers, that dialogue – stuff like that hasn't been written for a very long time. I loved some of the stuff that came out of my mouth as "Samantha". Sometimes I even shocked myself! That kind of rapid-fire dialogue that we had with each other comes from the 1930s and 40s. I missed that a lot. Coming back to it was just so easy and so much fun.
Q: The anticipation this movie has generated is unbelievable. You were on set and there were hundreds of fans watching you shooting the scenes, there were paparazzi trying to get shots or trying to hear dialogue. What was that like?
KC:It was exciting and a little frightening. The first day, I was terrified, I couldn't even hear what my cue was when we were walking down the street (because] people were screaming so loudly. They would be screaming your name or your character's name, or even Pat Field's (the SATC costume designer] name. The fans have a lot invested in this, so it wasn't just like coming home to family for me, I think it was like that for the fans, too.
Q: The shoes, the clothes, the jewellery… does it ever get overwhelming?
KC: It's one of my favourite things, working with Pat Field; coming into her studio where she has hundreds and thousands of articles of clothing and jewellery and shoes and rings and hats and scarves and bags. Oh, the bags! She just puts it out there and says 'let's get creative, let's try this, I don't know, what do you think?' She is a joy to work with. Everything and anything goes; she mixes a $3,000 dress with a $5 belt. She has such a relaxed attitude about her work, but makes everything look so damn good. She is also collaborative and that's really what I think makes SATC so successful.
Q: There is a hilarious scene (in the film] where Samantha wants to give her boyfriend Smith an unusual Valentine's gift. I don't want to give anything away here, but suffice to say it involves sushi. Was that one of the most uncomfortable shooting days of your life?
KC: (laughs] I'd say yes – slightly clammy and uncomfortable! Let's leave it at that.
Q: Plus, Samantha has a neighbour with a very healthy sexual appetite. Samantha occasionally likes to spy on him. When you were shooting those scenes, were the actors really there?
KC: Yes, they were there. Talk about an uncomfortable day! They did their side of the story first and I was off camera for those scenes. Then they said they were going to be there for my reaction shots and do the scene again. I thought that was so great, because it really did help with how I reacted on camera. Let's just go on the record here, though: I am not a voyeur!
Q: That was very thoughtful of them.
KC: I thought so, but I have to say there were a couple of other scenes I did where I wished I had seen more, since I had to use my imagination and that wasn't vivid enough for my liking! That's the amazing thing about film. You can sometimes do a close-up to someone who isn't even in the room, or even in the same country.
Q: Most women who have watched the show always say, 'I'm so much like Samantha', or 'I'm like Miranda'. How can every woman in the world somehow be like one of these four particular women?
KC: I think the way that the show was constructed and set up is that it was four separate women, who all together made up one complete woman. So in any situation, at any time of the day, you can look at these characters and say 'I understand that', because they were a part of one complete woman. So you can have a morning like Charlotte, an afternoon like Miranda, then go and buy shoes like Carrie and top it off with a night like Samantha. You can relate to all of these women.
Q: Is it tough not to be typecast (after Sex and the City]? Can you escape this legacy that you have created?
KC: I don't think it's a legacy that I want to escape. Look, I had a strong career before I started playing Samantha Jones and, since we stopped shooting the show, I have gone on to do many different types of projects. I like to continue to challenge myself with different roles and – thankfully – people are giving me the chance to do so. I'll always continue to work, but playing this character has been the experience of my life.
© Profiles International Media 2008
• Sex and the City had its London premiere last night and goes on general release across the UK on Wednesday 28 May.
Samantha's top ten sex-capades1 SAMANTHA BECOMES A LESBIAN (Series 4)
WHEN the biggest man-eater in Manhattan announces that she's a lesbian, Charlotte responds by saying: "She's not a lesbian, she probably just ran out of men." Unusually for Samantha – who claims not to be a "relationship person" – her love affair with the artist Maria gets serious and she quickly learns about the intricacies of sex with another woman. However, Samantha tires of the relationship when she realises that she simply misses men too much.
2 SAMANTHA DATES A PENSIONER (Series 2)
SAMANTHA is initially sceptical when she begins dating a 72-year-old millionaire, but when he showers her with gifts her concerns dissolve. While his attempts to woo her are a little old-fashioned, she's enticed into the boudoir by the rattle of his Viagra bottle. She turns out the lights and convinces herself he's no different from a younger man. That is, until he gets up to go to the bathroom and she gets a full-on view of his wrinkly bottom. Needless to say, she makes a swift exit.
3 SAMANTHA PLAYS THE STOCK MARKET (Series 6)
IN AN attempt to get over her faithless ex-boyfriend Richard, Samantha seduces a cocky young stockbroker who lives in her building. He is so impressed by her sexual antics that he offers her stock tips, but is arrested for insider trading while the couple are in bed together. The police officer asks Samantha to remove her handcuffs from her lover so that he can use his in a more official capacity.
4 SAMANTHA GETS STRUCK BY LIGHTNING (Series 2)
WHEN Samantha has a fling with her personal trainer, he makes his mark on her by branding her with a lightning bolt "down there" – thanks to a bit of handiwork with a razor while they're in the shower. Samantha is smug until she notices several other women at her gym sporting the same "hairstyle".
5 SAMANTHA DATES A SEX TOY (series 3)
ON HOLIDAY in Los Angeles with the girls, Samantha meets Garth, whose penis is so impressive that a sex-toy manufacturer uses it as a prototype. Garth lets Samantha sample the real thing, but not before reading romantic poetry to her and trying to get to know her – much to her disdain. When the two part company, he gives her a model of her favourite part of his anatomy as a souvenir.
6 SAMANTHA GETS RELIGION (Series 4)
WHEN Samantha spots an attractive priest outside his church, she makes it her mission to bed him, nicknaming him "Friar F***". She spends the next day fantasising about him, before going to the church and confessing her lust. To her great disappointment he turns her down, telling her that his life is about "other joys" besides sex.
7 SAMANTHA DATES HERSELF (Series 3)
WHEN Samantha keeps getting phone calls about a party being thrown by a "Sam Jones", she demands to know where the party is and who shares her name. It turns out Sam Jones is a male college student, eager to lose his virginity. Naturally Samantha obliges, but she begins to regret it when he becomes obsessed with her.
8 SAMANTHA IS FORCED TO GRASS UP (Series 3)
SAMANTHA dates Adam, whose bodily emissions she claims offend her. She tries feeding him shots of wheatgrass to improve the situation, but that doesn't work and so she is forced to spell it out in excruciating detail.
9 SAMANTHA "SWINGS" (Series 3)
SAMANTHA meets her sexual match in the form of Tom, who has a reputation as legendary as her own. However, Tom first asks Samantha to take an Aids test, something she has never done before. With some cajoling from the rest of the girls, she gets tested and is declared negative, leaving her free to strap herself into Tom's kinky leather swing and indulge so voraciously it crashes to the floor.
10 SAMANTHA HAS A THREESOME (Series 4)
SAMANTHA has almost had a threesome on several occasions, including with a gay couple, with a married couple and with a couple she overhears having sex through her bedroom wall. For her boyfriend Richard's birthday, she decides to give him a threesome with a young waitress she's noticed him eyeing up. However, during the deed she becomes jealous and literally kicks her rival out of bed, deciding that the girl's youthful 20 years cannot match her own 20 years of experience between the sheets.
The full article contains 1830 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
