For those of us who don’t drink cosmos and will never bother to learn the proper pronunciation of Manolo Blahnik — straight guys, in other words — there was still one great reason to watch “Sex and the City”: Kim Cattrall.
Of course, the show’s other characters were all smart, witty and occasionally (except for Carrie Bradshaw) naked representations of modern American women. But Cattrall’s Samantha Jones was just … something else — insatiable, self-sufficient, unsentimental and simultaneously the most mature and hottest of the bunch. What heterosexual male wouldn’t want to be with her? Or, in a way he really shouldn’t feel threatened about feeling, want to be like her?
The actress addresses her most famous role, the “SATC” movie controversy and being a real-life cougar.
On playing Samantha:
“I think she has a lot of male energy. With Samantha, it’s sex with no strings attached, and that can be described as more of a male fantasy than a female fantasy. But the writers were gay men and straight women. …
“What was so refreshing about Samantha, and what I think men could get behind was her frankness in seeing relationships for what they were, not expecting marriage and babies and the white picket fence.”
On balking at making a big-screen “SATC”:
“Really, I just needed to get away. It was a fabulous, tough, long, hard six years. I’d never done a series before and I had worked some 18-, 19-hour days, but that was pretty much a weekly routine for us. … And there were events in my life. I was going through a divorce, and because I was on a hit TV show that became very public and that was tough.”
On hooking up with a younger man in real life (chef Alan Wyse, 23 years her junior):
“Most of my friends said, ‘Go girl, go do it.’ And these young guys? You are going to change their lives irrevocably in a fantastic way! They should be so frickin’ lucky, that’s what I say.”
On her age:
“I’m 51, so I came to terms with it … I was dreading it, especially over the month right before. The night before, I kind of tossed and turned.
“But when I woke up the next morning, I really didn’t feel any different, and the next day I just sort of let it go.”
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Quick pick
Sex and the City: The Movie (R)
2 stars
Who’s in it: Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon, Kim Cattrall
What it’s about: The movie picks up where the TV show left off in 2004.
Worth watching? “The film’s unfocused flabbiness amounts to a wasted opportunity.” [ GLENN WHIPP, L.A. DAILY NEWS ]
