‘Sex and the City’: Kim Cattrall Says She ‘Lost a Lot of Friends’ From Playing Samantha Jones
It’s safe to say that Sex and the City wouldn’t be the same without Kim Cattrall. Her portrayal of the sexual PR woman, Samantha Jones, is what makes the show so iconic all these years later. But according to the actor, starring in the HBO show came with a lot of pitfalls. While playing her character was a dream come true, Cattrall admits that she lost many important people in her life by playing Samantha.
Kim Cattrall thought she was too old to play Samantha Jones
According to Mairie Claire, Cattrall initially rejected the offer to play Samantha Jones because she thought she was too old for the part.
“When I was first sent the script, I thought I was too old for Samantha,” said Cattrall. “Then I picked up the book by Candace Bushnell,” she says, referring to the book that Sex and the City is based on. “I read about half of it, and I literally threw it across the room. It was such a distressing scenario. Most of the girls were hard to connect to, and the guys were all jerks. I was dating at the time, so it was the last thing I wanted to hear or read.”
But after passing on the role, producer Daren Star still tried to persuade her to take the part- Even after they already cast someone else!
“Six weeks before they started shooting, I got a call from Darren’s boyfriend saying, ‘You know, I’m just curious why you said no to this,'” recalls Cattrall. “‘They gave the part to somebody else, but it doesn’t fit.’ I had a really sleepless night, and when I woke up, I called my rep and said, “Why don’t you call Darren.'”
Kim Cattrall says she ‘lost a lot of friends’ while starring on ‘Sex and the City’
In a lot of ways, Cattrall felt blessed for being offered the role of Samantha Jones. But that’s not to say that it didn’t come with a bunch of pitfalls as well. According to the actor, her commitment to the series is why she decided to not have kids. Her dedication to the job also led to her divorce from her husband, Mark Levinson. And unfortunately, as Cattrall admits, being a part of Sex and the City caused her to lose many quality friendships.
“Catrall felt underappreciated at the time of the show, which she has said contributed to both her decision not to have children and the demise of her relationship,” the book Sex and the City and Us claims.
“You know your counterpart’s making a million dollars an episode,” says Cattrall, “And I knew that we were never going to get that, but I felt that we had worked a lot of nineteen-hour days; I lost a marriage to the series and a lot of friends. You just have no life.”
Kim Cattrall will not be returning for the HBO Max reboot, ‘And Just Like That’
After years, Sex and the City will finally be returning to HBO for a reboot. But sadly, Cattrall will not be returning as Samantha Jones for the revived series.
“I played it past the finish line and then some, and I loved it, and another actress should play it,” she said, according to BBC. “Maybe they could make it an African-American Samantha Jones or a Hispanic Samantha Jones, or bring in another character.”
