Prime-time bi

While anxiously awaiting the Sex and the City movie, be sure to tune in to producer Darren Star's latest small-screen invention, Cashmere Mafia. The story of four career women (Lucy Liu, Miranda Otto, Frances O'Connor, and Bonnie Somerville) in the Big Apple juggling love, business, and the treacherous world of sexual politics may sound familiar, but Mafia has plenty of new story lines to keep the concept fresh. The first new twist: The pilot episode has one of the four leads (Somerville) falling for another woman. Somerville (Friends, Kitchen Confidential) sat down with us to discuss her character and what it means to find out later in life that you like women as much as men.

You've been in two previous Darren Star shows: Kitchen Confidential and Grosse Pointe. Did you even have to audition for the role of Caitlin? Yes, of course I had to audition. I wish they'd just called me! Darren has been very good to me, though; I am very lucky. I read the script and I actually auditioned for Lucy Liu's part first, and I didn't think it was a right fit. So I went back in and read for Caitlin, and it was just the perfect fit.

So did Darren pitch it to you as another Sex and the City? No, not at all. Actually, I think it is easy for people to say that, because it's four women and it's New York City. But I think when that show started out it was more about dating. This show is a relationship show.

It's more of a dramedy about women with a history together who help each other in life and in business. Yes. Just dealing with being friends for so long and we've all been through all this stuff together. It's kind of like you're at this place in your life where you get all the success you want and you have to juggle a million things. But people who like Sex and the City won't be disappointed. We've got Patricia Field as our costume designer, who's amazing. And it's Darren Star, so it's sexy and it's real.

How did you feel about playing a bisexual character? I didn't really think about it, and then I went in and I thought, This could be really fun because I haven't gotten to play anything like this before. The girl from Friends is not [expected to play a] bisexual on a drama. It's a great stretch for me.

In the pilot you hire Lourdes Benedicto (The Nine) and then end up with your first female kiss. What was that like? She's pretty hot. [Laughs] I mean, she's wonderful, and neither of us had ever done anything like that before on-camera, and we were just kind of like, "Let's go for it." So we had a couple glasses of wine and we shot the scene where we were making out on the street. [Laughs] We were getting a lot of hoots and hollers from people walking around in SoHo.

Bisexuality is particularly unexplored territory in prime time. Did you have any personal experience? No. But I grew up in New York City with friends in all walks of life. I have known bisexual people in my life, had friends who are. But I think this is an interesting take because in the pilot it is not this big drama. People keep saying to me, "How do you feel about her?" and I feel like I would feel if I was playing anyone. To me it shouldn't be a big deal. That's what I love about it. She has never been with a girl. She has feelings for a girl. And it just happens. I think a lot of people don't really know how they feel about something and then they wake up one day and--boom! And I like that she is just kind of going along in her life and something happens, something unexpected, but she's going to explore it.

Were you a Sex and The City fan? Oh, totally.

I feel like these shows about cliques reflect a continuation of high school dynamics on some level. I don't think we ever get out of high school. I feel like everyone will always have their role, and no matter how old you are there is always so much drama in life.

Not that the two are the same, but having been addicted to Sex and the City, I think this show may be my next fix. I think so too. I don't want to dis Lipstick Jungle or anything. [Laughs] But we are the better show.