There’s a stock question that interviewers frequently ask actors: What role have you always wanted to play? When I asked this of Maria del Mar, she thought for a few moments, then replied, “Katie Sampson is pretty damn close to it.”
Because Del Mar (24, The Pentagon Papers) stars as Sampson in the 10-part Canadian series Terminal City, premiering March 6 on Sundance Channel, a cynic might think she is merely doing her part to promote the series. But any woman who sees del Mar’s stunning portrayal of an outspoken woman diagnosed with breast cancer, who becomes the star of a true-life hospital series, will immediately recognize how difficult and rewarding this part would be to play.
Sampson is a woman who defies stereotyping. When her doctor calls to give her a diagnosis, she refuses to pick up the phone. Instead she goes into the backyard of her hillside home and begins driving a bucket of golf balls onto the houses below.
Sampson finally admits she has cancer to a television crew shooting live at the hospital, then asks if they want to see her lump — then shows a lot more and in doing so creates a moment of candor that is heartbreaking, hilarious and brave.
The way Sampson reveals her condition is understandable to del Mar. “When I’m faced with something very big or scary, I tend to put it aside until I’m ready to deal with it,” she explains. “And usually the way it comes out is with a complete stranger. I think somehow that’s more therapeutic or more comfortable because they don’t know you, because you walk away.”
In Terminal City, Sampson runs from pity — though in one crucial scene before her treatment begins, she holds open her robe and tells her husband, “Look at me.” As she does, she is also telling him: You may not be looking at the same body in a month or two; you may not be looking at me at all.
I asked del Mar what she felt at that moment. “Complete vulnerability. Complete terror. Complete fear of rejection. I think all of us, simply as women, feel that.”