Striking it big in an epic role as a character with many fans is the dream of many struggling actors, but as Kim Catrall can tell you, typecasting can be a frustrating business.
So much so that the actress has fled to England, where she says it’s far easier to work and not be seen eternally as the tough-talking, man-eating Samantha Jones off Sex and the City. 54-year-old Catrall says that she has a few irons in the fire in the UK, free of her Samantha connections:
“In England they aren’t interested in casting me as Samantha. Across the pond they see me as an actress who plays many roles, so I am interested in continuing to work in television and I have a project with the BBC which I am producing,” she told PopEater.
Catrall says that it’s not the first time in her long career she’s struggled with shaking off a theme or genre:
“My early career was supporting my theatre habit and there was no way I could pay a loan, never mind my rent on what I was making in theatre,” she explained.
“Movies became a way for me to do that and I didn’t take it quite seriously.
“For basically four or five days’ work in Porky’s I made enough money to live over an eight month period. I needed the money, I was broke and I made that choice for survival. I didn’t want to go back and be a waitress again.”
Among Catrall’s new SATC- free roles was playing an aging porn star in Meet Monica Velour , a role for which she put on 20 lbs. She gushes:
“They asked me to gain 30 but I didn’t want to make myself sick,” the 54-year-old star said. “We made a deal saying I would gain 15 lbs. before the film and 5 lbs. during. But I did enjoy grabbing my stomach and feeling what that extra weight felt like.”
