Kim Cattrall Sounds Off on Aging, Sex

“Well, I have no choice,” the well-spoken beauty, 54, tells me. “I want to do it gracefully, and with class, and make choices that are challenging.”

She continues, “That’s what I continue to do onscreen, in my theater work and on television. It’s been an interesting arc since Sex and The City has come to an end. These movies aren’t made that often. First of all, for a woman to carry a movie at this age is rare in Hollywood. I applaud the producers who did The Kids Are All Right, which is another strong, motivated film for women. Somebody out there is interested in women after 40, and there is life after 40 and 50 and 60. I think we keep pushing those boundaries.”

For the thrice-wed star, what’s sexy is intelligence.

“Smart is sexy,” she tells me. “It always has been. Somebody once said to me ‘the sex is in the brain. It starts in the brain.’ That’s what has always interested me in someone – how smart they are, how they perceive the world, what they’re doing, what their passions are, what they feel that they’ve been drawn to do and why.”

Although her vampy Sex and the City character Samantha held nothing back, Kim has one word that makes her blush: Erection. Kim scolds a reporter who uses the term after her co-star Dustin Ingram tells all about their time together on set.

“I find that offensive,” Kim says, adding that the reporter should feel embarrassed.

Her temper also flared while filming when a prop guy didn’t give her what she needed.

“She’d say ‘listen, you need to do this better,' and 'I need this and that,’” director Keith Bearden says. “You have to be tough with them, and I’m a pussycat. She was tough with people when I wasn’t. That was the nice thing. Also, she’s in character. Monica would swear; Kim never swears. Monica swears like a sailor. That came out on set, and it scared people a little bit.”

Still, she can be a charmer.

“The sexiest thing about Kim is that she’s her own woman,” the director says. “She has an opinion. A woman like Kim, when she likes you, she likes you, and when you’re a man, when she’s attracted to you or likes you, it’s not stupid, it’s not shallow. She likes you because you’re really something. She has high standards. She’s lived.”

He adds, “A 20-year-old is impressed by everything; a 50-year-old woman – it takes a lot to impress that woman. Also, Kim is beautiful. Kim was beautiful when she was 20, she’ll be beautiful when she’s 60. She has a beautiful body; she has beautiful bone structure. What’s not to like?! That was the hard part about Monica Velour … she’s the best-looking 54-year-old woman in America!”