Inside Kim Cattrall’s show Glamorous & how it’s taking on Sex And The City sequel amid feud with Sarah Jessica Parker
THE long-running feud between Kim Cattrall and her former Sex And The City co-stars is set to be reignited as she launches an eerily similar show.
With Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon resuming their roles in series two of Sex And The City spin-off And Just Like That, the 66-year-old actress will star in Netflix series Glamorous — released on the same day.
And her lead role of Madolyn is a spit of Samantha Jones, who she played opposite the other ladies in the hit TV show that ran from 1998 to 2004 and its follow-up films.
Just like Sam, Madolyn is a single New York professional with a sharp wardrobe and even sharper tongue.
After years of the cast fighting, Sex And The City fans probably thought the sniping was over when Kim was offered a small cameo in the second series of And Just Like That, which drops on Thursday on Sky.
But that ceasefire could end when the Brit’s former co-stars see their rival’s simultaneous release.
A TV insider said: “They probably believed they’d extended an olive branch by allowing her to return to Sex And The City — one which would have smoothed things over.
“But Kim isn’t the sort of person to hang around waiting for favours or be grateful for what she’s given.
“She knows she’s a big star who still has pulling power.
“Many fans were delighted when they thought she was returning to the Sex And The City sequel, only to be disappointed to learn it would just be a cameo and not a scene shared with Sarah, Cynthia or Kristin.
Kim had best lines and stole scenes
“On top of that there is still no guarantee she’ll be asked back to be a full-time character on And Just Like That.
“So Kim has gone off and done her own thing, which has a lot of similarities to Sex And The City — only this time she is firmly the leading lady.”
It was the constant clamouring for the spotlight on Sex And The City that created tension with Sarah, who was supposed to be the star of the show.
But as the more mature, sex-mad PR executive Samantha, Kim tended to deliver the best lines and stole almost every scene she was in.
In 2008, Clifford Streit, the inspiration for Carrie’s friend Stanford Blatch, claimed issues arose because it was obvious that Kim was “a natural comedienne and a scene-stealer in the best possible sense — the camera went right to her”.
Kim also felt she was not getting paid enough, and that her character became increasingly one-dimensional.
She said: “I felt like I was now cast as a cougar, which became not as positive as other aspects.”
Those wrangles never reached a resolution, which is why the “fab four” have not been seen together on screen since the Sex And The City 2 movie flop of 2010.
Last year saw the launch of And Just Like That, a continuation of the ladies’ world of lunching and love-making in Manhattan, but one that only starred Cynthia, Kristin and Sarah, who was once again the main star.
That meant enough was enough, regardless of the fall-out between the stars.
Kim was also ready to grow up and move on from Samantha, including waving goodbye to sex scenes and stripping naked for the camera.
She told Variety: “I don’t want to be nude any more. I’m 65, I’m in great shape, but I’m just not interested.
“I feel like I filled my quota on that one, and without an intimacy coach.
“It’s great wisdom to know when enough is enough. I also didn’t want to compromise what the show was to me. The way forward seemed clear.”
Nonetheless, there is something about Samantha that will always be carried forward, most notably in new characters such as Madolyn.
Liverpool-born Kim added: “Parts of Samantha are with me. I played her, and I loved her. I felt ultimately protective of her.”
In Glamorous, Kim is now centre stage playing Madolyn, an ex-supermodel who lasunches Glamorous Cosmetics in the Big Apple.
The story is swept along by the twentysomething and thirtysomething New Yorkers in her family and on her payroll.
One main character is Gen Z wannabe Marco Mejia, played by YouTube star Ben “Miss Benny” Pierce.
“Gender-non-conforming queer” Marco manages to bag a job with his idol Madolyn after a chance meeting in a store.
Naturally, Madolyn’s a diva. And with her power-dressing and Technicolor wardrobe, the parallels between her and Samantha Jones are obvious.
Patricia Field, the guru who styled the women on Sex And The City, was hired to create the looks on Glamorous.
Talking to The Sunday Times this month, Kim said that before she met Patricia, she was, “used to costume designers reading the script, taking my measurements and giving me a rack of clothes, and then trying all those on.
“But she [Patricia] has such an incredible visual connection to you and the characters, she wants to find a way that expresses that individuality of not just the character but me.”
Kim, who turns 67 in August, appears entirely untouched by time, and clearly is not trying too hard to lose her old Sex And The City look.
She still sports Samantha’s signature side-swept bangs and lightly curled blow dry, as well as delivering her trademark withering glances.
As for her incredible complexion, Kim says it is not all just clever make-up and lighting.
She said: “I’m in my sixties now and I’m all about battling ageing in every way I can.
“There are so many other alternatives now, treatments that stimulate your own body to fight ageing..
“There are fillers, Botox. There’s so many different things that you can try and see if it’s for you.
“But yes, if you have the money and, more importantly, the right surgeon . . . It can’t be emphasised enough, you want to look like you!
“But I want to look like the best version of myself. So, whatever I can do . . . because thankfully I have the funds to do so.
“It’s not just a vanity thing. I play a certain kind of woman who looks a certain kind of way.
“And professionally I am looking after myself.”
The creators of Glamorous will probably dismiss the similarities between Samantha and Madolyn as coincidental.
‘I play a certain kind of woman’
But there is no denying they are trying to conjure up some of the old magic of New York that made Sex And The City a multiple award-winner when it aired on Channel 4.
The trailer for Glamorous, which will run for ten episodes, includes long shots of the sun shining over the familiar cityscape of Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridge.
It is almost the exact same section of skyline that was used in the opening titles of Sex And The City.
As Madolyn, Kim even seems to have pinched one of the love interests from her old show — in the form of handsome actor Mark Deklin, 55.
In Sex And The City he played Ship Officer Matt Cook, who met up with Charlotte on one of her many dates and shared a smooch with her in the 2002 episode Anchors Away.
In Glamorous he reappears as the love interest of Madolyn. Just as hunky, he’s gained a beard and a head of silver hair over the past two decades.
Quite where the rivalry between And Just Like That and Glamorous will leave the relationship between the four women remains to be seen.
When they heard Kim was returning in And Just Like That, devotees greeted it with jubilation.
Then they discovered she would only be in one small scene and would not be seen alongside Sarah, Cynthia or Kirsten.
But that did not stop them — nor industry insiders — speculating that this was the start of Kim being brought back into the Sex And The City fold.
Somehow that seems less likely now.
- And Just Like That is available on Sky Comedy and Glamorous is available on Netflix, both from Thursday.
