Copyright Variety
Kate Hudson doesn’t often cry when she screens her own movies — she’s too busy critiquing her work — but watching her latest film, “Song Sung Blue,” was an exception. She was sitting in a darkened room with her mom, Goldie Hawn, and her “pa,” Kurt Russell, Hawn’s longtime partner. Instead of nitpicking details of her performance opposite Hugh Jackman, Hudson found herself getting lost in the true story of two Milwaukee tip-jar performers whose love of music helped their blended family navigate life’s trials and tribulations. “There were a lot of tears,” Hudson recalls of that screening. Russell compared the inspirational tale to the classic underdog movie “Rocky.” Hawn was a mess. “There’s no frills in this movie,” Hudson says. “It’s not glamorous. And there are some shots where my mom saw me as a middle-aged woman. That made us all think about what it is to get older and to come into yourself.” We’re sitting in the hair and makeup trailer on the set of her Netflix comedy series “Running Point,” discussing how music was Hudson’s first love — she grew up wanting to be a singer-songwriter — but movie stardom arrived first. She was just 19 when she starred as the head “Band-Aid” Penny Lane in Cameron Crowe’s 2000 drama “Almost Famous,” for which she won a Golden Globe and earned a best supporting actress Oscar nomination. Then came the quintessential rom-com “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days,” which further raised her stock. But knocking it out of the ballpark with two of her earliest roles meant the dream of being a musician fell by the wayside. “I was always waiting for the director who wanted me to sing in the movie,” says Hudson, now 46, sitting cross-legged in the salon chair. “And then you realize that waiting for things to happen is a really bad idea.” During the COVID lockdown, Hudson began to feel dissatisfied with her creative output. Even though she’d scratched her musical-theater itch with the showstopping number “Cinema Italiano” in “Nine” and had a recurring guest spot on “Glee,” she never pursued anything more substantial. But she’d grown up watching her mother fight to build a career she believed in, and win, so Hudson knew it was time to take action. “Thank God I had a mom who said, ‘Make your own way,’” Hudson says. “When you become successful in the arts — and what I mean by ‘successful’ is when you’re making other people a lot of money — people really like to put you in a box. But nobody becomes an artist to be put in a cage,” Hudson manages to keep one eye on me while her makeup artist draws on lip liner. “As you get older, you realize you’re the only one who makes the decision not to allow yourself to be in that cage,” she goes on. “It means having to make fearless and risk-taking decisions that are really, really hard to do when you have a status quo that’s safe.” So in 2021, Hudson began writing songs, knowing that music would soothe her soul. And last year she finally released her debut album, “Glorious,” and headed out on tour. While promoting the project, Hudson sat for an interview with “CBS Sunday Morning.” Both Jackman and “Song Sung Blue” writer-director Craig Brewer happened to be watching. “I’m a big believer in trying to find actors that are experiencing something comparable to what the character is going through,” Brewer says. “To see Kate in this interview talking about how she was getting sick of waiting for Hollywood to make up their mind about her, and that music was her thing to take charge of her life, I was like, ‘Holy shit, that’s what I’m making this movie about.’” Then Hudson teared up as she talked about her eldest son, Ryder, then 18, leaving home for college; Brewer was struck by her vulnerability. “I remember thinking, ‘Wow, this is a very unique time in Kate’s life that some actresses try to hide,’” the filmmaker says. Other actresses balk at the very idea of aging, Brewer says, but Hudson clearly embraced the lessons learned in the years that span marriages, divorces and raising children. “In this moment of watching Kate cry, I was like, ‘There’s that woman all of us fell in love with in “Almost Famous.”’” Brewer and Jackman texted each other almost simultaneously: Hudson would be perfect for their movie. “Song Sung Blue,” out Christmas Day, stars Jackman and Hudson as cover artists Mike and Claire Sardina — she a little country, he a little rock ’n’ roll. The film follows the Sardinas as they form a Neil Diamond tribute band and become local superstars in ’90s Wisconsin. (The duo were so popular that they once performed with Pearl Jam.) “Kate’s singing is amazing to watch, because she’s not just singing a song; her face is this ever-moving, ever-evolving vessel of the emotion that she’s communicating,” Brewer says. Yes, be warned: For all the movie’s feel-good times and “Sweet Caroline” sing-alongs, the Sardinas also weathered a surprising number of intense storms, giving Hudson ample opportunity to show off her range. “I feel so grateful that Hugh and Craig trusted me to take on all these sides of Claire, because people don’t usually see me as this,” Hudson says. That is, a skilled dramatist. Her hairstylist is running the blow-dryer, so Hudson holds my tape recorder to her mouth and says, “That’s the dream as an actor; I got to use a little bit of everything.” Multitasking like this is nothing new for Hudson. “She’ll be decorating her home, on FaceTime with her son in New York, running a business and writing a song in her dressing room while doing a fitting,” says Brenda Song, Hudson’s “Running Point” co-star. “She does it all. And does it all so well.” The two play best friends on camera, and Hudson has become one of Song’s closest confidants in real life. “When I met Kate, I was at a crossroads in my life, figuring out the balance between motherhood and work, and where I fit in this industry,” Song says. Then Hudson shared some wisdom: “For you to be the best mom and the best partner, you have to be the best you.” Song says, “It resonated with me because I realized that Kate hasn’t lost herself in her work or in motherhood. Kate is very, very good at making sure that she takes care of herself so she can take care of everyone else.” Hudson is proud of putting her family — her kids, Ryder, now 21, Bingham, 13, and Rani, 7 — first, but she doesn’t downplay the give and take. “There are sacrifices I’ve made along the way to be at home, a lot of opportunities I had to say no to, which came as an easy no,” Hudson says. “But as Rani started to get older, it was time to start making career decisions that I felt like I could make. And I got really lucky that I could make them not based on money.” With “Song Sung Blue,” Hudson was drawn to Claire’s “fighting spirit,” and she relished that the role was a career risk. “You don’t know if you lean into this character and put those rollers in your hair and put on the Wisconsin accent and sing Neil Diamond music in an ’80s sparkly dress, if it’s gonna work or it’s not. You just have to believe.” About that accent: Hudson blended the real Claire’s unique dialect with a voice she’s known since childhood — that of her Wisconsin-native longtime assistant, Kathy Heller. Heller first worked as Hudson’s nanny from the time the actress was 9 to when she turned 15. “When my life got really crazy and I didn’t know who to trust, I called Kathy and said, ‘Will you help me figure out how to organize my life?’ And she goes, ‘No,’” Hudson recalls, laughing. Heller ultimately acquiesced and agreed to assist Hudson for one year. “Kathy ended up being on my team for 27 years. She retired last year and moved back to Wisconsin. I can’t wait for her to see the movie.” The project has also catapulted Hudson back into the Oscar race. Of course, she’s excited about the prospect of having another gold statuette with her name engraved on it, but having grown up in the industry, she knows how the game works. “I felt lucky that I knew the peaks and valleys of this roller-coaster ride,” Hudson says. “One minute you’re the hot ingenue and you’re up here, and then the next minute you’re wondering why you’re not in the conversation for certain things that you know you can do. It’s never been something that has defined my value.” She holds on to advice Russell gave her early on: “‘Love what you do because you love it; don’t love it because you rely on it.’ Because it’s so hard to rely on this business — it’s going to throw you all over the place.” As Hudson plans her next act, she wants to direct, but she’s primarily focused on songwriting. She’s written loads for a sophomore album, inspired by her family’s experience evacuating their Palisades neighborhood as wildfires swept through Los Angeles in January. Most of all, Hudson is embracing this next phase of her career — one in which she’s taking more chances and feels more fulfilled. “The person I was in my 20s is very different than the person I am in my 40s, and the person I am now in my 40s is very different than the person I’ll be in my 60s,” Hudson says, grinning that gleaming movie-star grin. “I just hope I get to keep making movies and telling stories and writing music and being a part of what I see as the great connector.” Charity Spotlight: World Food Programme For a decade, Kate Hudson has worked with the World Food Programme to support the 300 million people facing severe hunger globally. Hudson was introduced to the organization by her longtime friend, designer Michael Kors, who enlisted her help raising funds for WFP’s school meals program, which provides students with food during the school day and with rations to take home to their families. “Then they said, ‘Do you want to come on this field trip to Cambodia?’” Hudson says. In Cambodia, she met both the students who benefit and the smallholder farmers, all of them women, who grow the food. “These kids want to be astronauts, lawmakers, police officers, presidents of their countries. They want to do good with their lives,” says World Food Program USA president and CEO Barron Segar. “But if they’re not in school, those dreams are extremely hard to achieve.” (Food has a massive impact on attendance.) Segar says Hudson’s support for the cause — she became a Goodwill Ambassador in 2018 — has been invaluable: “It’s been over a decade, and Kate’s turned her voice, her significant platform and her heart into a megaphone for global hunger.” Hudson, though, reserves her praise for the 16,000 people who execute the organization’s global mission. “All those people in the field trying to get food into Gaza risk their lives every day,” she says. “Whether it’s the Sudan or Myanmar, we need foundations like the World Food Programme. When you see these mommies not able to feed their children, it’s just a no for me.” Styling: Sophie Lopez; Styling assistant: Thanda Gibson; Makeup: Debra Ferullo/Tracey Mattingly; Hair: Tanya Abriol; Fashion Credits: Dress: The New Arrivals Ilkyaz Ozel; Pumps: Black Suede Studio; Earrings: Nancy Newberg; Rings: Jacquie Aiche,Selim Mouzannar & EF Collection
