< Home / Interview / Critic / Bio / My articles in Japanese >

Meet Monica Velour

Coverage by Nobuhiro Hosoki

Story : An awkward teen (Dustin Ingram) makes a road trip to see his favorite porn star (Kim Cattrall) in person, and finds that reality is much different than fantasy.

Opens April 8, 2011 (Limited 4/8)

 

Interview with Actress Kim Cattrall

 

(Q) : DOES IT REMIND YOU OF YOUR EARLY DAYS IN YOUR CAREER WHEN YOU WERE DOING THESE KIND OF MOVIES? 

(Kim Cattrall) : Yeah, it does. But I never wrote a film and directed it and all that he's done. I mean this was such a labor of love. And he's so good at what he does. He's so smart and funny and lovable. He really is. I adore him.

(Q) : YOU HAD MADE MOVIES IN THE '80S. SO DID IT REMIND YOU A LITTLE BIT OF THE HAIR DOS OF THOSE DAYS?

(Kim Cattrall) : Oh, God. Yeah. I mean it's real case of arrested hairstyle, you know. And just to put so many- we had so much fun hair and makeup wise. And also gaining the weight was just the best possible thing. And not exercising for two months was amazing. All those kind of treats. And that's what I love about being an actor. You can kind of transform yourself in that way.

And it's kind of easy to diet or get off a diet when you've got a juicy role to play. So, no, it was fun. I met Keith. They sent me the script and he was seeing quite a few actresses. And I met with him at a little Thai place on 52nd and 7th. And we hit it off pretty much from the first two or three minutes of talking. Basically just about films.

We talked about the character a little bit but mostly about films from the '70s. Because he's a huge film buff. And he's really smart. And so we had a lot to talk about. And laughed. And I said, 'Look I want to take this to the next step which is I want to read through the script with you. I have a lot of questions.' Which we did about a week later. And then I said, 'I want to get a little rehearsal room so we can go through the script and just,' and he said, 'Yeah, let's do that.' And then he put me in touch with some people. He said the voice of Monica was very specific in his head.

So I spent time with this woman. And she didn't know that I was listening. And so it was also this physical thing that we also talked about. I think my biggest contribution to what he has on paper is I said to him, 'I think what we really need and what's missing a little bit is the connection to the daughter'. Because I feel that this is really a story about a woman fighting for the right to have her daughter with her. The custody battle. And everything stems from that. And he said, 'You're right.' And we changed a few things, which I think really helped with the conflict and with Monica and stabilized from there where she was and who she was. So that was terrific.

(Q) : WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO PLAY CHARACTERS THAT SHOW OLDER WOMEN HAVING A RIGHT OT SEXUALITY AND NOT JUST TEENAGERS?

(Kim Cattrall) : Because I am an older woman who has a right to my sexuality at any age. It's my choice. And I feel sometimes and in some ways like Linda Romanoli, Monica Velour. I feel marginalized because I'm in my fifties. I mean if you went online and you look at some of the blogs, which one can do on a lonely night, it's pretty startling what people will say about you just because you're in your fifties.

And I'm on the early side of fifty and I've had a whole life of Jane Fonda tapes and dieting and exercise and all the rest of it. So I just sort of think how is it going to get any better if this is where it is now? I mean thirty was one thing. Thirty-five. Forty I felt, in 'Sex & the City' and shows like 'Sex & the City' we've been able to push the barrier back. But fifty, it comes with disgust and anger and marginalization.

Which is really pathetically sad. And I think part of it, it's rampant in North America. It's in Europe, yes, a little bit. But nowhere near. I think that's why I've been working a lot over there because they celebrate it. Here they don't know what to do with it. It's scary. It's threatening. I don't know why.

(Q) : IN A WAY THIS MOVIE IS LIKE THE FLIP SIDE OF 'SEX & THE CITY' IN A SENSE THAT 'SEX & THE CITY' IS SORT OF TRYING TO PUSH THIS WHOLE THING. THIS IS THE DOWNSIDE OF IT IN A WAY, TOO.

(Kim Cattrall) : I don't see it that way.

(Q) : WELL, I DON'T MEAN DOWNSIDE. BUT IN OTHER WORDS, AFTER YOU'VE MAYBE GONE TO SOME DEGREE OF EXCESS, IF YOU DON'T HAVE IT MANAGED PROPERLY, THIS IS WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN WHEN YOU STEP BACK AND YOU LOOK AT YOUR LIFE.

(Kim Cattrall) : I don't think it's a cautionary tale. I think it's what we all fight against. I mean the problem with her is she has no skills. She has no way out. And that's the saddest thing about it. And no one has any use for her. She's kicked aside. And that doesn’t mean that she's not smart and she couldn't do anything. But she can't get a five-buck an hour shampoo job in this town.

Nobody will hire her. She's been marginalized not just because of her age but because of what she did when she was younger and pretty and nubile. And she was just trying to make the best she could, you know. I mean that's what she did. So where do these people go? Where do these women and men go? They disappear.

They just get further and further down the scale of what their life is and how- it's very sad. It's very sad. I mean she thinks what she did was, she was good at it. There's a pride about. You see that in her. And for a moment, you see this little moment, this little glimmer of her in her heyday and then it's gone again.

(Q) : DID YOU DO ANY RESEARCH INTO MEETING WOMEN LIKE THAT? BECAUSE YOUR PORTRAYAL IS SO MULTIDIMENSIONAL.

(Kim Cattrall) : Oh, thank you.

(Q) : AND IT HAS DIGNITY TO IT.

(Kim Cattrall) : Thank you. I didn't meet any porn stars. What I did do is watch a lot of seventies porn. And I watched a lot of documentaries about pornography. And what was so frightening about it is that these young girls, basically, I think they come from all over the world to come to Hollywood and they want to be stars. And then suddenly they realize that they don't know how to act. And they're pretty but there's a lot prettier women.

So then they're sort of relegated to answering ads in the back of newspapers where they're looking for live models. And then nude live models. And then pornography is just right there. And they become stars for a period of time. And then they marry. And if that turns out okay, in some porn stars, even after a certain age they'll charge a certain amount for somebody to spend the night with them as an escort, whatever it is. And that's the way their sort of life evolves until there's nothing left.

(Q) : BEYOND THAT TYPE OF RESEARCH AND JUST THE PHYSICAL TRANSFORMATION, WHAT OTHER KIND OF PREPARATION DO YOU LIKE TO DO? MAYBE IN TERMS OF SCRIPT BREAKDOWN OR, I KNOW KEITH SAID HE HAD A BACK STORY FOR MONICA, TOO.

(Kim Cattrall) : Yeah.

(Q) : DO THINGS LIKE THAT HELP A LOT?

(Kim Cattrall): Oh, yeah. When we got together and we were in those rehearsal rooms I asked him so many questions. And he had a lot of great answers. And some of them he said, 'I don't know. Let me find out.' Or, 'Let's find out together.' Or, 'What do you think?' That, again, my major contribution I felt, as a woman, was that need to protect and to have my daughter with me. And he had written it and understood it but that was a real heartbeat for me. Understanding her, that she would do anything that she needed to do to get her daughter back. That was the major conflict.

Q: HOW DID THAT COLLABORATIVE NATURE CARRY OVER ONTO THE SET? WAS THE SCRIPT STILL KIND OF FLUID WHERE YOU COULD TALK ABOUT THINGS LIKE THAT BEFORE YOU WERE ABOUT TO SHOOT SOMETHING?

(Kim Cattrall) : No, we had worked so much beforehand. And we had such a great communication. And it felt- there was nothing unsaid. There was nothing unexpected. I mean within doing the scenes, I mean, there's stuff that I do that's not written. I mean the whole stuff with the bikers. I mean those are real bikers. And to make out with a real biker is something that you only need to do once in a lifetime. I mean, as far as I'm concerned. Those guys were so sweet and they were so lovely but, you know, it's a different kind of guy. So he just let those things happen. So there was a real trust and communication. And Dusti was complexly free. He would go with wherever you were going in the scene. Which is just his- he doesn't have a lot of experience but that's just his talent as an actor.

(Q) : I IMAGINE ALL THAT PREPARATION WOULD HELP WHEN YOU HAD SUCH A SHORT SHOOT, TOO.

(Kim Cattrall) : Oh my God. It was crazy. I mean we shot- my stuff was six weeks. And that was a lot. And there was quite a few scenes that they didn't need. He overwrote it. You didn't need in the film. So we had to shoot those, as well. At the end there was originally a very long conversation with both of us on the phone, which you didn't really need. We'd already parted ways.

(Q) : DUSTI AND YOU HAVE AMAZING CHEMISTRY IN THE FILM. DID YOU ACTUALLY BLOCK IT OUT BEHIND THE SET BEFORE YOU ACTUALLY SHOT THE SCENE? TO SORT OF GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER?

(Kim Cattrall) : No, we didn't. Keith didn't want us to spend any time together. And when we first started rehearsals, which were very light, he said to me, 'I don't want you to be so nice to him. You're being too nice to him.' I said, 'But he's so adorable.' And he said, 'No, I don't want you to get too close.' Which I think was really a great idea because there was always a feeling of him trying to impress her. And I think that if I had- because Dusti's a very young actor, I think that might have led to some kind of relaxed relationship which is not onscreen. There's always a separation between the two of them.

Q: TO CLARIFY A LITTLE BIT ABOUT MY FIRST QUESTION, WHAT I WAS MEANING BY THE FLIPSIDE IS WHERE AS YOUR CHARTER IN 'SEX & THE CITY' IS IN CONTROL AND SHE'S FIGURED IT OUT AND SHE KNOWS HOW TO MANAGE THAT TRANSITION, THE PORN STAR OFTEN LIVES IN THE MINUTE AND THE MOMENT IN WHATEVER THEY'RE DOING. AND IT'S INTERESTING TO SEE HOW YOU- BY THAT I MEANT ONE IS THE FLIPSIDE OF THE OTHER IN TERMS OF TWO SAME LIFE MOVING WITH TWO VERY DIFFERENT SETS OF CHOICES. AND IT'S INTERESTING TO SEE HOW YOU'VE EXPERIENCED BOTH AND UNDERSTAND HOW TO GET INTO THE HEADS OF THOSE CHARACTERS. WAS THERE ANYTHING THAT YOU USED FROM YOUR EXPERIENCE OF THAT CHARACTER IN 'SEX & THE CITY' THAT WAS SORT OF THE OPPOSITE OF THIS THAT INFORMED YOU IN ANY WAY?

(Kim Cattrall) : No. Absolutely not. It was a complete separation in so many ways. I think the only crossover is that they're very strong women. But Monica doesn’t have any of the tools that Samantha has at her disposal. Just none. And some of the things that are said about Monica to her face and doing that strip, we had to do that strip forty times to get everybody's reactions. And first of all doing the strip and then hearing those comments time after time after time, I don't know anybody who can withstand that. And you see, I chose for her to be dead.

She doesn't hear it. And it's kind of like a place where she could be. Whereas, Samantha or other characters that I've played are so engaging. They're seductive almost in their engaging. And they're very powerful at it. She's never been able to go there. She's been so pigeon holed into a sex object and so abused and used because of that. And also made a living out of it, that she doesn’t know how to relate to anybody in any real way. And when she talks about her relationship with her husband it breaks my heart. It's not about any kind of equality. He wanted a maid.

(Q) : ONE OF THE THINGS I LIKE ABOUT YOU, AS A PERSON, THE TIMES THAT I'VE MET YOU IS THAT YOU'VE FIGURED OUT HOW TO MANAGE YOUR LIFE AND MOVE FORWARD.

(Kim Cattrall) : Hey, fooled you.

(Q) : ALL RIGHT. LET ME SAY, YOU'VE FOOLED ME WELL. BUT IN THAT SENSE, ARE YOU GOING TO MOVE MORE INTO PRODUCING AND DEVELOPING MORE PROJECTS? BECAUSE YOU SEEM TO HAVE HAD SO MUCH FUN IN DOING THIS KIND OF FILM AND GETTING THE SCRIPT AND MEET PEOPLE AND EXPERIENCES THAT YOU WOULDN'T NORMALLY.

(Kim Cattrall) : I do. I totally do. I'm an actor, though. If I'm producing I'm not acting. And it's such a long road to get anything off the ground. I'm working with a writer now in England about a project between a mother and a daughter, which I'm really excited about. But I don't want to produce it. I don't want to direct it. I would like to act in it. Because that's what I do. That's what I love to do. I don’t want to be in boardrooms talking about hiring, hairdressers, and minivans. I don't want to do that. It's just not what I do. I'm not good at it and I don't like to hire and fire people. I hate that. It's horrible Job.

(Q) : YOU STUDIED IN DRAMA SCHOOL IN NEW YORK. HOW ABOUT DOING A PLAY IN THE FUTURE? BECAUSE YOU'VE DONE A LOT OF WORK IN TV AND FILM. ARE YOU INTERESTED IN ACTUALLY DOING A PLAY?

(Kim Cattrall) : Well, in the last five years I've done five plays. Mostly in the West End of London. Last year I did two plays. I did Noel Coward's 'Private Lives', which was a huge hit. And also I did, I played Cleopatra in a production of 'Antony and Cleopatra'. Which was directed by Janet Suzman who played it famously in the '70s. No, that is an amazing place to work is the theater. First of all, the classical theatre that I'm interested in doing has great women's roles in it.

So there's no better role than Cesar's, than 'Antony and Cleopatra' written by Shakespeare. It just doesn't get any better than that. It's genius. So I'm constantly trying to continue to grow and to be curious about how far I can go. And there seems to be a lot of people who want to join me and work with me, luckily. 

(Q) : SO YOU'RE NOT FOCUSING ON YOUR PRODUCTION COMPANY THAT'S MENTIONED HERE IN THE PRESS MATERIAL?

(Kim Cattrall) : No, I have that script which I'm getting, hopefully, written and produced. But I have a partner and she would deal with the production aspects of it. But for me, what I find more interesting is just playing terrific roles that other people have had to sweat and worry and sleepless nights about. Because I like getting on the set and just concentrating on my work. 

(Q) : I WOULD LIKE TO SEE HOW MAYBE YOU'D MAKE FILMS OUT OF SOME OF YOUR BOOK PROJECTS.

(Kim Cattrall) : Well, we did.

(Q) : I KNOW. I KNOW. THAT'S WHAT I'M SAYING. I WANT TO SEE MORE. 

(Kim Cattrall) : 'Sexual Intelligence.' Yeah. Well, thank you. Thank you. Well, you will. The last book I did was for young women and that's why I'm interested. I mean I'm a woman. I want to explore where I am and I think there's other women who might want to watch that. Not just in the 'Sex & the City' way. I mean in a way that really reflects more of what real life is about.

(Q) : I WANTED TO TOUCH ABOUT HOW EVERYONE'S WIGGLING THIS AS AN ANTI SAMANTHA ROLE. WE'RE USED TO SEEING YOU AS NEW YORK'S LATEST FASHIONISTA. AND HERE WE SEE YOU DRESSED AS A NORMAL PERSON. 

(Kim Cattrall) : Not even just a normal person. Yeah.

(Q) : UNDERNEATH IT ALL. THROUGHOUT ALL THE FLAWS, SHE IS A VERY STRONG, INDEPENDENT WOMAN RAISING A CHILD ON HER OWN. SO IS THIS SOMETHING YOU LOOK FOR CONSIDERING THE SCRIPT? AND HOW DID YOU HELP PREPARE FOR THIS TYPE OF ROLE?

(Kim Cattrall) : Well, there's something about Monica that scared me because she is so hopeless. She's strong but she has no tools to change her situation. So I also wanted- I don't have children. And to really personalize that and fight for your own. I mean in the scene where he brings her and she could lose her court case because he's taking her outside of the parameters of what the custody arrangement is, you see her like a mother tiger. She's just, 'Roar', you know.

And that's something that's very exciting to play and to get behind. But she doesn’t live any lifestyle of convenience. Everything is a hardship. It's a struggle. It's a sacrifice. And there's no bright lights, big city. There's no posh job. There's no great fashion statement to hide behind. It really is. And those characters on 'Sex & the City', people blow them up but there were some really crucial moments, especially within the series where these women felt pretty helpless and lost, too. So was it dealing with it on a level that Monica is?

No. But it was still dealing with a lot of challenges that you have as a woman who is in the world. And put on top of that, aging and feeling in that hopeless state. It's heartbreaking. But when I was a young actress, Jack Lemon said to me, 'Do stuff that scares you.' That's how he chose his projects. And I thought, 'That's a great way to look at it.' Because then you're constantly changing You're getting stronger. Hopefully.

Not every experiment works. But I don't do roles to say, 'Oh, well, wow that was great.' I do it because I can't not do it. It's so exciting. When Keith said to me, 'Are you really interested in this?' I was like, 'Yes, but I'm scared.' He said, 'I'm scared, too. We're all scared.' Because when you step outside of what is considered your comfort zone it's- and it's also, you know, I'm a woman. I want to look good. I want to feel good. And then I look at the stills or I look at some of the scenes in the movie and it's right in your face.

(Q) : IS THERE A CERTAIN REGIMEN THAT YOU HAD TO PREPARE FOR AS FAR AS-

(Kim Cattrall): I had to eat and not exercise. Which is a pretty great.

(Q) : WHAT DID YOU GET TO EAT?

(Kim Cattrall): Milkshakes. Bread. Pastas. Just everything I could possibly want. Creamy sauces. Just French food. Any kind. Just on and on and on. And drink what I wanted to drink. I could eat fast food or I could eat a really great steak. Béarnaise with potatoes on the side. Just went on and on and I didn't have to go to the gym. And I didn't have any guilt because it was for my work. It was for my work. 

(Q) : YOU REALLY SEEM TO BE ENJOYING THE THOUGHT OF THIS.

(Kim Cattrall) : Oh, it was amazing. And then it was over and then on the horizon I had the Polanski film and I was like, 'Oh, God. Okay. I've got to start again.' Get on the treadmill. Get on the diet.

(Q) : YOU'RE NOT IN ANY SCENES WITH HIM. DID YOU EVER GET TO WORK WITH BRIAN DENNEHY?

(Kim Cattrall) : No, I've never worked with him. No. 

(Q) : I GUESS YOU FINALLY MET HIM?

(Kim Cattrall): No, I've met him. I've met him. Christopher Plummer I know and he's done quite a few plays with him. I met him up in Canada a few years ago. Yeah, he's a wonderful actor. I'm sorry I missed him on this.

(Q) : AND '80S, SINCE THIS HAS IT'S ROOTS IN THE '80S AND YOU'VE HAD YOUR EXPERIENCE IN THE '80S. DO YOU HAVE FAVORITE FILMS AND SONGS OF THE '80S. BECAUSE THEY ASKED KEITH.

(Kim Cattrall): Oh, my God.

(Q) : JUST MADE ME THINK ABOUT THAT BECAUSE I REMEMBER SEEING SOME OF YOUR EARLIER FILMS.

(Kim Cattrall): Well, I'm actually more '70s and '80s. I love the movies, as he says in the film, 'The best music, the best movies are in the '70s.' I agree. And that's what I love about this film is that he was brave enough in this era of so much distraction and nobody can sit still. Not even a camera can sit still. That he, in those scenes, in the campfire scenes, in the scenes with Monica and Tobe, they're just talking to each other. And you really get relationship.

And you get character and you get story. There's no special effects. The music cues are minimal and they're quirky. And I just think he's really made a film about people for people. And it's a love story of sorts. And one of my favorite films was 'Harold and Maude.' And anything Hal Ashby did, I loved. 'Coming Home'. I mean all of those great films, which were people in rooms talking. You know there weren't even great locations.

They were just about human interaction, which I don't think you find a lot in American movies. I mean they're so frightened your attention is going to be drawn away. But there is just too much going on. And I think when you see movies like this, for me, it's just a respite. And you get to spend time with these characters. And those are the kind of movies that I like to see.

(Q) : AND MUSIC?

(Kim Cattrall) : Oh, my God. Well, it's Joni Mitchell and it's Leonard Cohen and it's Neil Young and, my God, of course. It's all of that music. Yeah, that's part of my- it's the Beatles, of course. Van Morrison. You know those are my heroes. Miles Davis. Those are my heroes. That, for me, that music is timeless. 

(Q) : I NEED TO ASK YOU THE REALLY OBVIOUS QUESTION. IS THERE A 'SEX & THE CITY 3' THAT THEY'VE TALKED ABOUT?

(Kim Cattrall) : I am not the right person to ask. 

(Q) : AND THEN I WANTED TO COMMEND YOU ON OUR WORK FOR LIGHTHOUSE FOR THE BLIND.

(Kim Cattrall) : Oh, my great pleasure.

(Q) : BECAUSE THE CLOTHING YOU'VE GIVEN FETCHES THE HIGHEST PRICES THERE. SO IT RAISES A LOT OF MONEY. I ALSO WAS AT THE ONE WHERE YOU AUCTIONED OFF ONE OF YOUR DRESSES. DO YOU REMEMBER DOING THAT ON THE STAIRS?

(Kim Cattrall) : I do. I do.

(Q) : IT WAS REALLY, REALLY GOOD.

(Kim Cattrall) : Oh, yeah. It's a great organization. And not last year, the year before, I cleared out my whole closet and sold all of my clothes. It was like, it was so great. It was like get rid of it. One of those moments. And they raised so much money. Some of the stuff I had worn on the show, some I had worn to premieres. It was just nuts and bolts, get rid of it. And they were so, so pleased. So that association with them will never end. It's a great, great charity.

(Q) : SO THESE ARE THE ONLY CLOTHES YOU HAVE?

(Kim Cattrall) : That was a year and something ago. I had to go shopping. 

(Q) : OH, THAT'S WHAT IT WAS. GOOD EXCUSE.

(Kim Cattrall): You get rid, you get. But, no, it was good to get rid of them. They were like great friends. You know your clothes are, you wear them. They're on you. They're part of you.

(Q) : BOYS HAVE A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE ON THAT. 

(Kim Cattrall): They have comfort. 

(Q) : SO WHAT DO YOU HAVE COMING UP NEXT? IS IT THAT ONE THAT YOU WERE JUST TALKING ABOUT? THE MOTHER/DAUGHTER SCRIPT?

(Kim Cattrall) : No, no. That's a long gestation period. I'm doing a film in England over the spring, late spring, early summer. And then I'll be doing 'Private Lives' goes to Toronto and then comes to Broadway in November. 

(Q) : HOW ABOUT 'THE TREEHOUSE' WITH JEREMY IRONS?

(Kim Cattrall) : No, I won't be doing that film.

(Q) : YOU WON'T BE DOING THAT?

(Kim Cattrall) : No, no.

(Q) : SO YOU'VE BEEN IDENTIFIED WITH NEW YORK. YOU'VE WORKED A LOT OF NEW YORK. DO YOU LIKE GETTING AWAY FROM NEW YORK TO MAKE FILMS OR DO YOU LIKE WORKING IN NEW YORK?

(Kim Cattrall): I love working in New York. It's nice to sleep in my own bed. I mean I haven't been doing it very much the last six years. But, yeah, it's an exciting city to work in. I mean you film on the streets of New York. Back lots just don't do it. I mean it's New York. You feel it. So it's great to work there.

(Q) : IT MUST BE AN INTERESTING THING WHEN YOU WALK DOWN THE STREET YOU CAN FEEL LIKE YOU OWN IT IN A CERTAIN WAY BECAUSE YOU'RE THOUGHT OF AS A SYMBOL OF THE CITY IN A FUN SENSE?

(Kim Cattrall): Yeah. Yeah. I mean I've always had an affinity. I think that your first home away from home, which New York is for me because I went to theatre school here and moved here when I was sixteen. So for me, the place where you had your first bank account. Where you sort of had to find your own way, roots home, and neighborhoods that you really liked and restaurants. Those were my sort of primal experiences for me as a teenager. So whenever I think about my independence and my selfhood I always think about New York. So it's great to live here.

(Q) : YEAH, IT MUST BE. AND IT'S ALSO A CITY WHERE YOU CAN BE AN ACTOR AND YOU DON'T FEEL LIKE YOU'RE AS ASSAULTED BY IT IN OTHER PLACES.

(Kim Cattrall) : Well that's not really true.

(Q) : I DON'T KNOW. 

(Kim Cattrall) : It's like that in London because the culture is just so- there's kind of a reserve and respect there. But I can't take public transportation in New York. I would never get anywhere. 

(Q) : I DIDN'T THINK YOU'D BE ON THE BUS.

(Kim Cattrall) : No, no. I mean sometimes I take the subway but in England that 's the only way to get around. I take the underground all the time. And nobody ever says, 'Boo' unless they're an American tourist. 

(Q) : THOSE DAMN TOURISTS FROM AMERICA. DARN IT.

(Kim Cattrall) : Or Italy. 

(Q) : REALLY?

(Kim Cattrall): Or Brazil. Yeah.

(Q) : BRAZIL? 

(Kim Cattrall): Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Mostly. But, no, it's just a different society in a way. There are different rules, I guess.

(Q) : ARE THERE OTHER PLACES YOU WANT OT WORK THAT YOU WOULDN'T MIND BEING IDENTIFIED WITH IF YOU WEREN'T IDENTIFIED WITH NEW YORK, LIKE BRAZIL?

(Kim Cattrall): Well, I think London and England is in my blood. Yeah. And that's where I decided I wanted to be an actor. It's where I saw my first plays. In it's own way New York and London have always been the cities. And I love Toronto, as well. That's the triangle that I have. Those three cities. 

(Q) : AND I KNOW YOU'VE DONE SPEAKING TOURS AND BOOK READING TOURS AND THINGS LIKE THAT? THE AUDIENCES THAT YOU MEET THERE, HOW IS THAT EXPERIENCE? IT'S AN INTERESTING WAY TO INTERACT WITH PEOPLE.

(Kim Cattrall) : It's very personal. You're literally shaking hands with hundreds of people. And it's very exciting to meet people who've been supporting you for all these years. It's great.  In it's own crazy way it's much more intimate than doing a film. Certainly, even doing theatre because there's an audience en mass there. You get to really shake those people's hands and say, 'Hello' and sign a book for them.

(Q) : BUT YOU'RE ALSO ENGAGING WITH THEM WITH YOUR IDEAS, TOO.

KC: Yes. 

(Q) : NOT JUST ENGAGING THEM JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE PLAYING A CHARACTER.

(Kim Cattrall) : That's fantastic. Yeah, that's great. That's great. And that's what's great about Tweeting, which I've just begun to do which is sharing some ideas. And hearing other people's ideas. And having some kind of discussion. I sort of was reluctant and a friend of mine said, 'You should do that because you should have a say in what's said about you.' And I think she's absolutely right. And she was a politician. She is a politician's wife. And I just sort of thought, 'Wow. Okay. Take note.' So I started. I'm going to try this. I'm not very good at it but Tweeting.

(Q) : ON A SIDE NOTE, WHAT WAS IN THAT HANGOVER REMEDY YOU GAVE DUSTIN. AND WHAT IS YOUR HANGOVER REMEDY OF CHOICE WHEN YOU'RE FEELING UNDER THE WEATHER? NOT THAT YOU EVER NEED IT, RIGHT?

(Kim Cattrall) : I like a drink. I like a couple of drinks. For me, personally, I try and drink as much water. If I have a drink I'll try and get a glass of water, as well, so I don't get dehydrated. I usually take four Ibuprofen or Advil before I go to bed. And then I seem to be okay the next day. But it's really important to hydrate. That's one of the questions when we were getting together. It's ginger ale, crushed Alka-Seltzer, oh God what else is in there? A little bit of Tabasco. I don’t know why. I think that's it. That's it. Yeah, that's what I'm crushing.

(Q) : RED PEPPERS ARE VERY GOOD FOR YOU, ACTUALLY, IN TERMS OF OPENING AND DILATING THE BLOOD VESSELS.

(Kim Cattrall) : Cooked or fresh?

(Q) : THAT I'M NOT SURE BUT I BELIEVE IF YOU TAKE FRESH RED PEPPERS AND IF YOU EAT THEM IN YOU FOOD.

(Kim Cattrall) : I can't eat them fresh. They come back at me like you wouldn't believe. I just like 'Oh, I don't feel good.' It's too much acid or something. But cooked, I love them.

(Q) : SO THAT'S WHY THEY RECOMMEND IT TO YOU.

(Kim Cattrall): Really? Okay. 

(Q) : IT'S ONE OF THOSE GOOD FOODS IN TERMS OF YOUR LUNGS.

KC: Oh, good to know. If I ever had a hangover.

Q: CAN WE GET A PICTURE?

(Kim Cattrall) : Men and buttons. I love the scene in the movie where Brian Dennehy's taking the picture. You know that scene in the movie where Brian Dennehy's taking the picture and it turns the camera off? I love that moment. 

(Q) : HE TURNS IT, THEN HE GOES, 'GOT IT.'

(Kim Cattrall) : I've got it. I think I've got it. It's so funny. 

End.