BANFF, Alta. - Kim Cattrall is basking in the glow of the success of the movie "Sex and the City," in large part because she's delighted that her femme fatale character, Samantha, returns unapologetically to singledom by film's end.
"I thought at the end of the series, Samantha would be on her own," Cattrall, at the Banff World Television Festival to pick up an award honouring her career, said Tuesday.
"I thought that would be the truest to her character, so I was kind of taken aback when at the end of the series, Samantha was one of the four women who was in a relationship. I always thought that didn't ring true to me, so I'm glad that we got that cleared up. The way the film ends is rightfully so for her storyline."
Samantha is a polarizing character, Cattrall says - some women love her for living life on her own terms, while others label her selfish and slutty. But for Cattrall, Samantha has always been a brave and heroic character - even more so as she enters her 50s. Cattrall herself is 51.
"It was such a great thing to read that script and watch her turn 50, because that just doesn't happen in Hollywood movies," says Cattrall, prettier in person than she is on screen in a purple patterned jacket and cream-coloured skirt and heels.
"You can't even talk about the big 5-0, and 10 years ago, shows like 'Sex and the City' and 'Desperate Housewives' didn't really exist," she says.
"I mean, you turn 35 in Hollywood and the auditions are cut in half. They're just not interested. Either you've been around long enough and you haven't got the A-list status, and they don't like that, so then you become a B actress and you start thinking you should be playing someone's mom now, and in two or three scenes in a movie which are potentially cut-able at any moment."
Hollywood does indeed remain a sexist place, Cattrall says, but adds that misogyny isn't just limited to Tinseltown. She points to the media's treatment of Hillary Clinton in her unsuccessful run for the Democratic presidential nomination.
"Jesus Christ," Cattrall says indignantly when recalling the man who stood up at a Clinton event wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the slogan Iron My Shirt.
"That's one part of it and the other part of it were the journalists who were having a field day. Even that skit on 'Saturday Night Live' was making fun of something that everyone noticed - that Barack Obama was getting the puffballs and she was getting the hardballs right in the face. And I just thought: 'Come on.' This is not a fair game to begin with, we all know that - it's politics - but it peeved me."
Even in 2008, Cattrall says, sexism is alive and well.
"I deal with it on a everyday basis, whether it's somebody patting me or the old 'Oh, you don't need to worry about that, we'll take care of that.' That's why I surround myself with very smart women."
She admits that sometimes the women on "Sex and the City" weren't terribly smart about the men in their lives - Carrie when it came to Mr. Big, for example.
"As Samantha and as Kim and as a fan of the show, I never thought he was good enough for her. I found him unreliable and incredibly selfish and so many things had to be on his terms," she said.
"He was not interested in integrating except on very slim occasions, and then he was very withholding even then ... and I found him a horrific bore. I've met men like that, they're those A-type personalities, and everything is on their terms. I don't even want a friendship with someone like that, never mind a relationship."
What advice does Cattrall have for the legions of women who are turning out in droves to take in "Sex and The City," many of whom fancy themselves Carries or Mirandas or Charlottes or Samanthas?
"We're caregivers as women, it's who we are, but the great thing about this show is the message that before you become somebody's girlfriend or mother or wife or stepmother or whatever, you should really find out who you are, because then you can have a better life," she says.
"That information informs everything you do. It's about who you are in the world, and the more information you have and the more at home you are with that information, and the honouring of that information, the better off you are in every way."
News from �The Canadian Press, 2008
See Also
