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Kim Cattrall was in Banff, Alberta this past week for the Banff World Television Festival and the 2008 Banff World Television Awards.

Kim Cattrall was awarded the NBC Universal Canada Award of Distinction at the awards ceremony on June 9th. Cattrall, a Canadian actress, has led an outstanding career in the broadcasting industry and spoke candidly about her career in her acceptance speech and in an hour-long "in conversation" session held the next day.

Still glowing from the recent success of the Sex and the City movie, Cattrall had much to share about her life in the theatrical world. For, the theater still holds her heart, and she almost passed up her Universal contract to pursue it full time. And Kim Cattrall, after many years on television and in film, turned down the role of Samantha several times before joining the Sex and the City cast.

Cattrall was first offered the role of Samantha before Sarah Jessica-Parker was cast. After reading the book upon which the show is based, Cattrall turned it down.

"I read about a quarter of the book… which was really well-written and very funny, but also very painful if you were single, which I was at the time. And I literally took that paperback and I hurled it across my bedroom because I found it so depressing… I thought… this is not a comedy. It’s really devastating! All men are shits, don’t trust anyone!"

At the time, HBO was a very "boys" network, so Cattrall had concerns about how they would make a comedy for women. After just turning 41, Cattrall wasn’t feeling very sexy. Hollywood was already considering her "out to pasture". After turning down the Sex and the City role twice, another actress was cast in the role of Samantha.

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After Kim Cattrall had moved on, Dennis Erdman, boyfriend of Sex and the City creator Darren Star, called her up to ask why she passed on the project. Erdman confronted Cattrall for being scared to take on the role, to be sexual at that time in her life. The next morning, Kim Cattrall had her agent call up Darren Star again. At 41 years, the 6 year contract was daunting, and she had many questions to ask Darren, particularly about the seriousness of the show. Thankfully, after a week and a half and some readings with the network, Cattrall was signed on for the project. And the cast chemistry was instantaneous:

"As soon as all of us were around the table at that read-through, it was so apparent that there was something. There was chemistry in the room. And we were so completely different."

Kim Cattrall says that the Sex and the City schedule is quite a hectic one, often filming two episodes at once:

"It was an insane schedule. 19-hour days were not uncommon. We would start on Monday morning at 4:45 for hair and make-up… we’d stop for rehearsal, then we would go all day and all night if necessary. And part of it was just the challenge of filming in New York."

"I never felt like we were doing a tv show. I felt like we were doing a little movie each week."

How much of Kim is in Samantha, and how much of Samantha is in Kim? Really, they are very separate people, so very different. Sometimes, though, parts of her life or of the lives of her co-stars would get written in. Like, Samantha got new glasses just after she started having to wear glasses. Only once has Kim Cattrall said no to a scene, in the episode involving the Bat Mitzvah, the original writing had a more sexual conversation between the "old" and "new" A-listers. Kim Cattrall felt it was inappropriate, and that innocence was an important element to retain.

Kim Cattrall was asked, at the very end of the interview, whether or not there would be a second Sex and the City movie to follow on the heels of this box office success.

"There’s no question!"

Sex and the City the movie was the biggest selling R-rated comedy ever, as well as the number one movie with female leads. Cattrall says that there will be a Sex and the City sequel movie, but that it is in the hands of the writers now. Would she be a part of the movie? Of course! In the last 10 years, Cattrall and her Sex and the City co-stars have changed what it means to be a woman over-40 in Hollywood, and what it means to be a strong (and yes, sexual) actress.

We won’t have to wait until then to see more of Kim Cattrall. Kim has signed on as producer as well as star for the new HBO series Sensitive Skin, a New York-based comedy that will follow a strong 50-something woman who rediscovers her sexuality and the choices in her life.

Here is a video segment of Kim Cattrall’s session:

Tags: kim cattrall, bwtf08, banff, world television festival, sex and the city, sex and the city movie, sex and the city 2

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