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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Cynthia Nixon: ‘We don’t need another Sex and the City’ | Cynthia Nixon: ‘We don’t need another Sex and the City’ |
| (1 day later) | |
| Hi Cynthia! Your new film, Ruth and Alex, makes quite a few references to how much Brooklyn has changed over the years. Are you a fan of artisanal cheese? | Hi Cynthia! Your new film, Ruth and Alex, makes quite a few references to how much Brooklyn has changed over the years. Are you a fan of artisanal cheese? |
| Brooklyn has really become an incredible mecca and we have a lot of friends who live there so we are often out there on the weekends going to wonderful restaurants and festivals and having fun with our little ones in Dumbo [a neighbourhood in Brooklyn]. It’s complicated. Gentrification is such a big issue. | Brooklyn has really become an incredible mecca and we have a lot of friends who live there so we are often out there on the weekends going to wonderful restaurants and festivals and having fun with our little ones in Dumbo [a neighbourhood in Brooklyn]. It’s complicated. Gentrification is such a big issue. |
| The central couple in the film are only separated by nine years which is pretty close in Hollywood standards. There’s been this recent debate about older actors being paired with younger women, especially with the Maggie Gyllenhaal controversy (1). Do you think it is still a problem? | The central couple in the film are only separated by nine years which is pretty close in Hollywood standards. There’s been this recent debate about older actors being paired with younger women, especially with the Maggie Gyllenhaal controversy (1). Do you think it is still a problem? |
| I definitely do. All the time, we have leading ladies who are 20 years younger than the men they are linked to and it’s not a plot point. It’s just sort of taken for granted. | I definitely do. All the time, we have leading ladies who are 20 years younger than the men they are linked to and it’s not a plot point. It’s just sort of taken for granted. |
| Related: Maggie Gyllenhaal: At 37 I was 'too old' for role opposite 55-year-old man | Related: Maggie Gyllenhaal: At 37 I was 'too old' for role opposite 55-year-old man |
| You spend a lot of your time on stage (2). Do you think there’s a wider variety of roles for women in theatre than in film? | You spend a lot of your time on stage (2). Do you think there’s a wider variety of roles for women in theatre than in film? |
| I think theatre has always been a great place for women but so has television. For whatever reason, women have always had really juicy roles on TV, particularly in the half-hour form. | I think theatre has always been a great place for women but so has television. For whatever reason, women have always had really juicy roles on TV, particularly in the half-hour form. |
| I read a piece you wrote for Variety about continuing to fight for LGBT rights in the wake of the recent marriage equality ruling. How do you feel about the variety of gay characters in films today? | I read a piece you wrote for Variety about continuing to fight for LGBT rights in the wake of the recent marriage equality ruling. How do you feel about the variety of gay characters in films today? |
| Of course we have a long way to go but I’m just astonished by how far we’ve come. We’ve gone from having mostly straight characters with a very effeminate gay man who is the butt of the jokes to Orange is the New Black. I mean, talk about a variety of roles for women. Such a mix of ethnicities, ages, sizes and characters who are gay and lesbian. | Of course we have a long way to go but I’m just astonished by how far we’ve come. We’ve gone from having mostly straight characters with a very effeminate gay man who is the butt of the jokes to Orange is the New Black. I mean, talk about a variety of roles for women. Such a mix of ethnicities, ages, sizes and characters who are gay and lesbian. |
| Are you surprised that there are still so few openly gay actors in the industry? | Are you surprised that there are still so few openly gay actors in the industry? |
| It’s a very particular thing being a film star because so much of it is sexual and about people desiring you. For me, as a bisexual, it’s really important that it doesn’t always have to be this impenetrable border between gay and straight. It’s not like two different countries. | It’s a very particular thing being a film star because so much of it is sexual and about people desiring you. For me, as a bisexual, it’s really important that it doesn’t always have to be this impenetrable border between gay and straight. It’s not like two different countries. |
| Related: Rupert Everett: being gay stifled my career | Related: Rupert Everett: being gay stifled my career |
| But what you do find is that there are few openly bisexual male actors ... | But what you do find is that there are few openly bisexual male actors ... |
| There is no question that when the straight world looks at a lesbian woman, there is a certain level of titillation. I also think there are far fewer men who are bisexual. It’s much more of a female “genre”, if you will. | There is no question that when the straight world looks at a lesbian woman, there is a certain level of titillation. I also think there are far fewer men who are bisexual. It’s much more of a female “genre”, if you will. |
| I’m sure you’re sick of it being brought up but there are always rumours of a third Sex and the City movie (3) or a reboot of the TV series. If it was to go ahead, what would you actually like to see happen to the characters? | I’m sure you’re sick of it being brought up but there are always rumours of a third Sex and the City movie (3) or a reboot of the TV series. If it was to go ahead, what would you actually like to see happen to the characters? |
| I’m grateful I don’t have to be the person who decides what happens to them next. We have had so many great guest stars over the years, and it would be fun to see some of those come back. I’m doing a play out in Massachusetts and Blair Underwood is here and it makes me miss him so much. I’d like to bring Blair back into Miranda’s life again. | I’m grateful I don’t have to be the person who decides what happens to them next. We have had so many great guest stars over the years, and it would be fun to see some of those come back. I’m doing a play out in Massachusetts and Blair Underwood is here and it makes me miss him so much. I’d like to bring Blair back into Miranda’s life again. |
| Are you often accosted by crazy drunken fans? | Are you often accosted by crazy drunken fans? |
| I was in Antwerp doing a film (4) and I got accosted in a restaurant by some women out on a hen night. They wanted to me to talk into their cameras and give them marriage advice. I was like, “I’m having lunch now.” There has been no new Sex and the City material for so long but it just does still seem to keep going – I don’t even understand how that works. | I was in Antwerp doing a film (4) and I got accosted in a restaurant by some women out on a hen night. They wanted to me to talk into their cameras and give them marriage advice. I was like, “I’m having lunch now.” There has been no new Sex and the City material for so long but it just does still seem to keep going – I don’t even understand how that works. |
| Given the number of shows that have tried to copy the format (5), why do you think there’s still a lack of shows about women talking about sex and relationships in the same way? | |
| With something that is such a success, it’s very hard to know what all went into us capturing that moment. We don’t need another Sex and the City because we learned the lesson of the show: marriage isn’t the be all and end all in women’s minds any more, and women are friends with each other in a way that rivals their romantic relationships. | With something that is such a success, it’s very hard to know what all went into us capturing that moment. We don’t need another Sex and the City because we learned the lesson of the show: marriage isn’t the be all and end all in women’s minds any more, and women are friends with each other in a way that rivals their romantic relationships. |
| Finally, would you actually be a Miranda? | Finally, would you actually be a Miranda? |
| I would totally be a Miranda. I’m really not like the others in any way. | I would totally be a Miranda. I’m really not like the others in any way. |
| Footnotes | Footnotes |
| 1. Maggie Gyllenhaal recently spoke out over an audition which saw her classed as “too old” to play the love interest of an actor 18 years her senior | 1. Maggie Gyllenhaal recently spoke out over an audition which saw her classed as “too old” to play the love interest of an actor 18 years her senior |
| 2. Nixon has starred in a variety of stage productions, directed her own and won a Tony in 2006 | 2. Nixon has starred in a variety of stage productions, directed her own and won a Tony in 2006 |
| 3. The most recent rumour was inadvertently started by Sarah Jessica Parker who teased a shoe collection a bit too cryptically | 3. The most recent rumour was inadvertently started by Sarah Jessica Parker who teased a shoe collection a bit too cryptically |
| 4. She is starring as Emily Dickinson in a new biopic directed by Terence Davies | 4. She is starring as Emily Dickinson in a new biopic directed by Terence Davies |
| 5. After the show ended, failed copies included Lipstick Jungle, starring Brooke Shields, and Cashmere Mafia, starring Lucy Liu | 5. After the show ended, failed copies included Lipstick Jungle, starring Brooke Shields, and Cashmere Mafia, starring Lucy Liu |
| Ruth and Alex is released in cinemas in the UK and on demand on 24 July. | Ruth and Alex is released in cinemas in the UK and on demand on 24 July. |
| • This article was amended on 24 July 2015. An earlier version used the word “amount” where it should have said “number”. |