All About Kim Confessions D'une Femme Fatale
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COVER STORY EN COUVERTURE ALL ABOUT KIM CONFESSIONS D’UNE FEMME FATALE By/Par Mathieu Chantelois Photo: Kate Orne / Icon International IN A RARE INTERVIEW, KIM CATTRALL TALKS TO VIA DESTINATIONS ABOUT COMING OF AGE IN TORONTO, THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING A GODDESS, AND HER PRIVATE LIVES. REALITY CHECK: KIM CATTRALL IS NOTHING LIKE The comedy runs for a limited time in Canada before hitting SAMANTHA JONES. Sure, neither woman minces words or is Broadway in November. afraid to speak her mind. But the comparisons stop there. Coward’s play features Cattrall and Paul Gross playing former When I reach Cattrall at her New York home, it takes only a spouses who have been divorced for five years. When fate finds few seconds to separate the woman from her famous character. them both honeymooning (each with a new partner) in ad- Her voice isn’t as loud, for one thing, nor as pompous. The star joining hotel rooms in the south of France, their emotions are speaks in a much higher pitch than her character did, and more rekindled. The pair dives back into their romance without slowly, too. Most importantly, she clearly thinks twice before a care for scandal, their new partners, or the reasons their speaking. You immediately sense her wisdom. marriage failed in the first place. She’s not even in a New York state of mind—at least, not one “I think I’m a character actress in a leading lady’s body,” she that Samantha would recognize. The actress was born in said, referring to bombshells she has played (including roles England, but emigrated with her family to Courtenay, British in films like Porky’s, Mannequin, and most recently, Roman Columbia when she was three months old. And these days, Polanski’s thriller The Ghost Writer). Maybe that’s why she her heart isn’t in the Big Apple but in Canada’s biggest city. sounds so happy about coming back in a character role to her Cattrall is starring in a production of Noël Coward’s Private “first and true love: the stage.” Lives at Toronto’s Royal Alexandra Theatre. The play had a very successful run last year in London, to glowing reviews. Continued on page 24 AVARE D’ENTREVUES, KIM CATTRALL S’EST POURTANT CONFIÉE À VIA DESTINATIONS SUR SA JEUNE VIE D’ADULTE À TORONTO, SES OBLIGATIONS DE DÉESSE ET SON RÔLE SUR LES PLANCHES DANS PRIVATE LIVES. LES FAITS SONT LÀ : KIM CATTRALL N’A RIEN EN COMMUN AVEC SON PERSONNAGE DE SAMANTHA JONES dans Sexe à New York. Ni l’une ni l’autre ne mâchent leurs mots, direz-vous, mais là s’arrête toute comparaison. Dès que je la joins dans sa demeure de New York, je suis frappé par le timbre de sa voix. Rien ne rappelle Samantha. Sa voix est moins forte, moins grandiloquente. Son timbre est plus aigu et son débit, plus lent, parce que plus réfléchi. Kim est beaucoup plus pondérée, on le perçoit d’emblée. La star n’a même pas la mentalité new-yorkaise, en tout cas, pas celle de Samantha. Née en Angleterre, elle n’avait que trois mois quand ses parents ont émigré à Courte- nay, en Colombie-Britannique. Ces jours-ci, elle délaisse la Grosse Pomme pour la première mégapole du Canada, où elle joue dans Private Lives, de Noël Coward, au théâtre Royal Alexandra de Toronto. La pièce avait déjà ébloui la critique londonienne. Elle est à l’affiche au Canada quelques semaines avant de faire le grand saut à Broadway, en novembre. Dans cette pièce, Kim Cattrall et Paul Gross jouent deux divorcés se retrouvant par hasard après cinq ans de sépa- ration. Coup du sort : ils sont tous deux en lune de miel (chacun avec un nouveau conjoint) dans le même hôtel du sud de la France. Dans des chambres voisines en plus! Et la passion reprend ses droits : les deux ex retombent amoureux sans se soucier du scandale, de leurs nouveaux conjoints ni de leurs anciennes querelles. « J’ai l’impression d’être une actrice de genre qui joue des rôles de femmes fatales », explique Kim, dans une allusion aux rôles de sex-symbol qu’elle a tenus notamment dans Porky, Mannequin et, plus récemment, dans le thriller de Roman Polanski The Ghost Writer. Elle est heureuse que ce soit dans un rôle de genre que s’effectue son retour sur scène, qui est après tout son « premier et véritable amour ». Suite page 25 COVER STORY EN COUVERTURE | KIM CATTRALL There’s something surreal about having this conversation with How can this be fixed? you. I have this strange sensation of catching up with an old pal. We need to find a place for women, a stronger voice for I feel like just asking how you’ve been these days… women. Not just when they are young and desirable, but as (Laughs) Well, I’m very happy at this point in my life. I think they age and have so much more to contribute—I know I do. I one of the reasons I’m happy is because I’m saying yes to feel that I know more, not just about what I do, but also about projects I like. I’m still learning, incidentally, as a woman and life. I mentor young actresses, because I feel it’s confusing as a person. When I stop doing that, it will be all over for me. out there. A lot of my girlfriends who are my age or older are still beautiful and sexy. Why can they not still have a face You’re still a sex symbol at 54. It seems like the press has and a voice, and contribute? Why, after a certain age, do you declared you’re the only woman your age to hold such a title. become marginalized in this society? That’s important to This might be true in North America, but in Europe, women me, because that’s what’s going on in my life. I take it very are allowed to age. It’s more difficult in the youth culture of seriously. North America, where aging is considered a disease. It’s been called a disease to make a lot of money for the beauty indus- Do you consider yourself a serious person? try. They say, “This is a clinic that can get rid of this.” I think I like to think that I’m serious about my work. It’s a respon- that’s very limiting. I like to look at people who have life on sibility to entertain people and give them a good experience their face, not just perfection. as they watch a story unfold. I like to think that I work hard. I have a great job, but I also have friends and family who are “In North America, aging is considered a disease. In Europe, women are allowed to age.” very important to me. As much as I love my job, I also very much love my life! So, yes, I’m serious about my work, but I have learned over the years to let it go. Do you read what people write about you? People can say wonderful things about you and you feel ter- rific and then they can say mean, horrible things about you and you feel a little upset or frustrated. That’s part of life. You ride the waves. My upbringing very much prepared me for that in any profession I would have [pursued], but I think even more so in this profession because there’s so much fantasy involved. What’s the most important thing you learned from your parents? I’m very lucky to still have both of them. They come from Liverpool, England. They’re very much, “There’s no reason to think that you’re better than somebody else in Liverpool.” And if you do, there are huge consequences! It’s usually done with humour, reality check, and honesty—sometimes abruptly. We were four children. We all had our different interests and talents and intellects. Nobody was better than anybody else. Everybody had a voice about what they wanted to do or what their opinion was. You’ve never seemed afraid to raise your voice… I owe this to my parents, too. If someone asks me what I think about something, I try to be as honest as I can. I think it’s very important not to lose sight of people in the public eye as being human, flawed and real, and crying and being upset, and also managing. And sometimes, being heroic in © Kenzo Triboullard/AFP/Getty Images Triboullard/AFP/Getty © Kenzo any way you can, or helpful. I’ve always raised my voice, even when it got me in deep trouble with some of the other cast Kim Cattrall arrives for the screening of ‘Meet Monica Velour’ presented members or the press. at the 36th American Film Festival, in Deauville, France, in 2010. | L’actrice Kim Cattrall sur le tapis rouge du Festival du film de Deauville, en France, en 2010. Continued on page 26 // 24 // Vous êtes donc une femme sérieuse? J’aime à penser que je le suis au travail. Je me sens responsable de divertir le public par la représentation plaisante d’une histoire. Je pense que je m’y investis à fond et que c’est un super boulot. Mais je ne néglige pas pour autant mes amis ni ma famille. J’aime bien mon travail, mais il n’y a pas que ça dans la vie! Alors c’est vrai que je m’absorbe au travail, mais j’ai aussi appris à m’en détacher.