Kristin Davis still hoping for ‘Sex’

While Kristin Davis waits for a harmonic convergence to greenlight a “Sex and the City” movie, the 41-year-old actress has settled into motherhood.

Not in real life. Davis is single and doesn’t have children. It’s on screen where she struts her maternal instincts, playing a mom in three consecutive films, including “Deck the Halls,” which opened last week.

“Not a plan at all,” says Davis, whose domestic charms were on display in “The Shaggy Dog,” “The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl” and in a TV pilot called “Soccer Moms.”

“You kind of roll with what they send you.”

The Emmy-nominated Davis, who played Charlotte on HBO’s “Sex and the City” from 1998 to 2004, says she can no longer tell whether a character is similar to her alter ego. Time has eroded her objectivity, but it’s obvious when a project sets her against type.

She recently read a script that would have her character giving her teenager alcohol to make the child popular. Um, no thanks. She’d rather play it for laughs.

“I think comedy is a strange, hard thing to do, and I like that challenge,” she says. “It’s hard for drama. The last drama they sent me, I got violently killed halfway through, and I just can’t go there. You have to feel it. I wasn’t excited about that.”

Davis is giddy in this interview at a swanky Beverly Hills hotel. Reports that the scrubbed “Sex and the City” film could be nearing a deal perhaps elevate the mood.

“I have heard the rumors, and if the movie happened it would be wonderful and I would be so excited,” she says.

Bruised feelings between “Sex” costars Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall (supposedly patched up) and demands made by Cattrall reportedly stalled the development.

Asked if she stays in touch with her former cast and crew mates, Davis replies, “I’ll answer it real short: We all keep in contact -- the writers, the producers. It’s a great thing. We’re all good friends.”

Her affection for a program that provided career high points for all four principals -- Davis, Parker, Cattrall and Cynthia Nixon -- is no secret, however.

“The job of doing a show that you love for as long as we did it is that you do get a depth you don’t normally get,” she says. “It’s hard for a movie to live up to that for me.”

Davis praises television for offering more challenges in general and for women in particular. Although she tried to develop her own show with HBO to no avail, she is optimistic about finding the right vehicle.

“You don’t see a lot of comedy where women are driving the story,” she says.

In “Deck the Halls,” the women serve as a counterbalance to their husbands’ immaturity. Danny DeVito’s salesman has dragged his wife (Kristin Chenoweth) and twin daughters to yet another town and another dream. He gets needed attention when he decorates their house with enough Christmas lights to illuminate all of Massachusetts. Neighbor Matthew Broderick takes umbrage and the two generate a lot of PG-rated high jinks.

Davis paid her dues before landing a hit. She was nudged into acting by her mother, who was concerned her bookish only child would not emerge from her shell. Mom took her to an audition of “Snow White” in their hometown of Columbia, S.C., and Davis liked the experience enough to continue.

“I didn’t even remember that, but apparently I was totally focused,” she says.

Davis, a Rutgers graduate, appeared on “General Hospital” in 1991 and spent the 1995-96 season as bad girl Brooke Campbell on the prime-time soap “Melrose Place.” She filled the gaps with guest sitcom stints and then found cable nirvana when she was well into her 30s on “Sex and the City.” The show ran 94 episodes.

For Davis and her fans, a 95th, in the form of a feature, could be the best Christmas gift of all.