Carry on Kim
Beloved children’s books get the big screen treatment with Horrible Histories: The Movie – Rotten Romans, starring Hollywood’s Kim Cattrall. The Sex And The City star tells GEORGIA HUMPHREYS the film harks back to classic British comedies... and that’s fi
IF THERE’S one word to describe Horrible Histories: The Movie, it’s “fun”. Based on the hugely popular children’s book series by Terry Deary, it hilariously and vividly brings the Roman period to life.
The historical jumping-off point for the plot is the story of the Emperor Nero, and the troubles he faced with Boudicca.
We follow two teenage protagonists, the Roman teenage soldier Atti – banished by Nero to Britain – and Orla, a young Celtic girl who desperately wants to become a warrior. When Orla kidnaps Atti, it’s just as Boudicca is rounding up her troops to repel those rotten Romans from Britain for good...
For Sex and the City’s Kim Cattrall – who plays Nero’s mother Agrippina – the time on set was an absolute hoot.
“I really had a blast,” says the Liverpool-born star, 62, who shares that the work reminded her of “British comedies from the 30s, 40s, 50s”, which she’s a big fan of.
“I still have the Carry On films – I have the whole box set,” she reveals.
Describing how, these days, she wants the work she chooses to do “to be fun”, the actress says Horrible Histories: The Movie “really was such a great recipe for that”.
And she adds thoughtfully: “It [the set] was very welcoming. I was only there for a short period of time, and sometimes that can work against you but I felt right at home right away, which was lovely.”
Deary’s books, the first of which was published in 1993, have
inspired millions of children to get into history, and in 2009, a Horrible Histories TV show started on CBBC.
It is comedy that grown ups can enjoy too though and has become such a hit that a repackaged version aired in a primetime slot, with Stephen Fry as the host.
While the film is obviously a different kettle of fish – on TV it’s a half-hour sketch-show format, and for the silver screen, it needed to be a traditional three-act story – it also appeals to a wide audience.
“That’s the great thing,” notes softly-spoken, but lively, Kim, “There’s a little bit for both [adults and children] – it’s not like taking your kid to see a show that you’re not going to be entertained by or have a good laugh.”
A lot of Kim’s work in the movie film is alongside Submarine star Craig Roberts, who plays her son Nero.
Their characters have what can only be described as an unconventional mother/son relationship.
“I didn’t know Craig until we met, in the make up trailer,” recalls Kim of their time filming together.
“There was a real freedom on the set, it was really funny. Dom [Brigstocke], our director, was very allowing and encouraging for us to come up with ideas and fun things. And it was just so well written and well researched.
“We both of course knew the level of comedy, based on Horrible Histories, but also based on the cast that was there – they were so good and so fun to play with.”
Some might think this seems like a surprising role for a Hollywood star like Kim to take on.
But the effervescent actress, who trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, has had a wonderfully varied career.
In the 80s, she was known for comedies including Porky’s, Police Academy and Mannequin.
Her defining role came later, as the sassy Samantha Jones in the Sex And The City franchise (the TV show aired on HBO from 1998 – 2004, followed by films in 2008 and 2010); she won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for the part in 2002.
When that series finished, she went down the theatre route, starring in shows such as Antony And Cleopatra at the Liverpool Playhouse and Private Lives in London.
Horrible Histories came about because the actress happened to be in London during the shoot and was keen to get involved.
Having moved to Canada as a baby, Kim holds dual citizenship, but it was moving back to Liverpool for a year aged 11 that made her fall in love with acting.
Would she like to do more work in the UK?
“Yeah, I do,” she enthuses.
“I love to read scripts and most of them are pretty bad. So it’s nice to get something that’s well written, has a great track record, has an audience built in – and (you can) have fun.”
Asked to expand on what is bad about those scripts she reads, the actress doesn’t hesitate.
“I think that they’re carbon copies of something I’ve seen millions of times, especially the way the women are portrayed,” she suggests. I’m very much interested in playing women who are not just strong, but who are doubting but also enjoy their life, or are going through some kind of challenge, whatever the story is or the conflict is.
“But this for me, there was a conflict, but it was also so joyous.” ■ Horrible Histories: The Movie - Rotten Romans is out in cinemas on Friday July 26.
I love to read scripts and most of them are pretty bad, pretty awful. So it’s nice to get something that’s... well written, has a great track record, has an audience built in – and have fun Kim Cattrall on Horrible Histories