The stars of Sex And The City can finally put four years of speculation behind them.
A big screen adaptation of their hit 1998-2004 television show is finally set to strut its way into theatres, returning Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda to their legions of Manolo Blahnik-wearing, Cosmopolitan-drinking fans.
But that long march into the feature film limelight came with its fair share of trials and tribulations.
Namely, tabloid speculation that Canadian star Kim Cattrall, who reprises her role as the seductive and sex-obsessed Samantha Jones in the film, was the cast hold-out delaying production on the film.
Accusations rang out that Cattrall was feuding with series star Sarah Jessica Parker and that she refused to do a film for less money than Parker.
Cattrall explains that when the series wrapped in 2004, she was in a difficult emotional situation and needed time away from the show and the city of New York to regroup and regain her footing.
“At the same time (the series was ending) I was going through a divorce,” the Courtenay, B.C.-raised actress explains.
“I had been through another divorce, but it had been private and this was incredibly public. I woke up one morning and it was all over the (New York) Post,” she said. “It wasn’t a column or a paragraph, it was all over the page, and speculating about my personal life. I’ve been very honest about many things, but I really didn’t feel this was anybody’s business.
“Then the show coming to an end and my dad was diagnosed with dementia shortly after that and that was the toughest thing of all … I needed to take a timeout with my family.
“That’s when I went back to Canada, started my own production company and decided I was going to spend less time in New York away from my family, I was going to spend more time in the vicinity of Canada. I was in Toronto for a time, then went to Vancouver, and then I went over to England and did a couple of plays where I have a lot of family, as well.”
Cattrall says she was simply unable to build the emotional strength needed to convincingly resuscitate Samantha’s sultry sensibilities. By early 2007, however, the 51-year-old found herself in a better place — her father had stabilized, she began dating, and accepted a script from Sex And The City writer-executive producer Michael Patrick King, who would go on to direct the feature film.
The rest is history, but in hind sight, Cattrall admits she has no regrets about waiting to make the film.
“We left at such a high place, if we had done the movie right after (the show stopped production), maybe it would have been too much.
“It’s the anticipation, it’s what you can’t have that you really want.”
