Megan McLachlan talks to Academy Award nominee Kate Hudson about returning to the Oscar spotlight with Craig Brewer’s Song Sung Blue.
Craig Brewer’s Song Sung Blue not only captures the joy of Neil Diamond’s catalog but also the subculture of celebrity impersonation. Best Actress nominee Kate Hudson says she didn’t research much about this fringe group because, well, she lives it.
“I basically impersonate human behavior!” she laughs. “It’s kind of what I do, except I’m not mimicking a famous person. And I’ve seen so many impersonators.”
Hudson points to The Parrots in Japan, the renowned Beatles tribute band, and says she understands what it’s like to have the bug and want to perform, something Song Sung Blue celebrates — especially as a musician herself.
“These people who spend their lives making music are out there still doing it because they just love it. I understand what that feels like. If you find me in my late 70s, singing in some Greek bar in the Cyclades, and if you’re like, ‘Is that her?’ The answer is going to be ‘Yes, it’s me!'”
Penny Lane and Claire Sardina: Musical Muses
The last time Kate Hudson was invited to “the big dance” was in 2001, when she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Penny Lane in Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous. In that modern classic, Hudson played a groupie who loves the music as much as she loves life on the road following Stillwater’s lead guitarist.
Twenty-five years later, Song Sung Blue‘s Claire is a different take on musical fandom, with Hudson playing a former Patsy Cline impersonator, one half of the Neil Diamond cover band Lightning & Thunder with Hugh Jackman’s Mike.
Hudson considers both characters “muses.”
“Penny was definitely a fan, but she also liked to take on projects,” says Hudson. “She was also a muse. It was as much about what she inspired as it was what she supported. And Claire is similar, you know. Claire is Mike’s muse and gets him inspired, and then, she’s able to support him and lift him up and be there for him. And then inevitably, he’s there for her, too.”
I had a great conversation with Hudson about what it was like playing a character who experiences severe loss, how her own musical career got her the job, and working with Hugh Jackman and Craig Brewer.
Watch or listen below!
