{"id":274765,"date":"2026-01-08T21:15:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T21:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/274765\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T21:15:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T21:15:08","slug":"song-sung-blue-star-returns-to-the-oscars-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/274765\/","title":{"rendered":"Song Sung Blue Star Returns to the Oscars Race"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\u201cAre we having a cocktail?\u201d The way Kate Hudson<\/a> slides into our corner table at Hollywood\u2019s Sunset Tower Bar with an ebullient, slightly mischievous grin implies she\u2019s already answered her own question. Wearing a sleek black turtleneck, the actress is on a break between industry Q&A panels for her Oscar-contending film, Song Sung Blue<\/a>, running on what seems to be a campaign<\/a> adrenaline rush. She\u2019s eager for a drink. \u201cWe\u2019re both going to do martinis,\u201d she orders. \u201cI\u2019m going to do a Chopin straight-up, super cold, super dirty, blue cheese olives.\u201d I ask for my drink a little more basic, with a twist. \u201cThat\u2019s like my brother,\u201d she says with a laugh.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tHudson appears in a celebratory mood. The 46-year-old star has been on the circuit for the last few months in support of Song Sung Blue, which has offered her a rare prestige-showcase role and her first shot at an Oscar nomination since her breakout part from 25 years ago, in Cameron Crowe\u2019s Almost Famous<\/a>. Already, she\u2019s up for best actress in a musical\/comedy at this Sunday\u2019s Golden Globes, and just received a key lead-actress nod from the Actor Awards (formerly the SAG Awards) on Wednesday. \u201cWhen you\u2019re younger and this happens, there\u2019s a different feeling to it \u2014 it\u2019s more of a shock entrance, or invitation, into this world,\u201d Hudson says. \u201cBut when you\u2019ve been in it for 26 years \u2014 I was 19, acting in Almost Famous \u2014 it\u2019s a completely different relationship to the kindness and outpouring of positivity. It feels just so warm. It\u2019s a very nice feeling, and also inspiring. It gets me excited about the things moving forward that I want to be doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tKate Hudson in Song Sung Blue<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFocus Features\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\n\tI first met Hudson a few years ago, as she made the rounds for Rian Johnson\u2019s Glass Onion, all but stealing the Netflix mystery film with a brashly comic supporting performance. That felt like a turning point for her, after she\u2019d spent years slowing down her acting career due to a lack of offers outside of her established lane \u2014 that of broad rom-coms, which she came to dominate in the aughts following Almost Famous. \u201cMy last agent \u2014 he\u2019s since quit the agent world \u2014 said, \u2018I don\u2019t know why I get more upset about the parts you don\u2019t get than you do,\u2019\u201d Hudson says now. \u201cBut I\u2019ve never personally felt underestimated. I understand how the business works. You\u2019re always only one part away from the experience reinvigorating itself.\u201d If Glass Onion, which came from an Oscar-nominated filmmaker and was stacked with a decorated cast, set her on that course, then Song Song Blue has marked a kind of destination.<\/p>\n

\n\tNot that it sounded that way on paper. The movie tells the true story of amateur musicians Mike (Hugh Jackman<\/a>) and Claire (Hudson) Sardina, who meet and fall in love at the Wisconsin State Fair before forming the Neil Diamond tribute duo Lightning and Thunder \u2014 and rise to improbable success. \u201cThere was a real risk \u2014 for me it was like, this could either be really great, or go really wrong,\u201d Hudson says. The film takes a tragic turn at its midpoint when Claire is severely injured after getting hit by a car in her front yard. Hudson\u2019s performance kicks into a surprising dramatic gear, the actress\u2019s playful Milwaukee accent settling into a relatively somber key, grappling with dreams dashed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMy mom is so funny \u2014 she has a hard time even talking about my performance in this movie without crying,\u201d says Hudson, referring of course to parent and fellow actor Goldie Hawn. \u201cWhen you\u2019re close to someone, it must be hard to see them go through all the things I did.\u201d Hudson, for her part, felt liberated. Previously unwilling to leave her three kids for an extended period of time for work, this time she gave herself the permission, with support from her partner, Danny Fujikawa.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019ve been a mom since I was 23 \u2014 I had [my oldest child] Ryder really young, and I\u2019ve had kids my whole adult life \u2014 and here my daughter was turning six and it was the first time I didn\u2019t have a really very young child, and I was able to work on my craft,\u201d Hudson says. She\u2019d leave for two and a half weeks, come back for a weekend, and rinse and repeat: \u201cIt makes me think about mothers who make these decisions to leave their family to go make movies like this. It takes a lot. You need to give yourself permission to be okay not being 100 percent present for them for 100 percent of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tHudson with Hugh Jackman<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFocus Features\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\n\tHudson has, in many ways, been working toward this project for her whole career. As acting took a backseat some years ago, she started pursuing music professionally \u2014 long a dream of hers \u2014 for the first time, releasing the album Glorious in 2024. Director Craig Brewer<\/a> and Jackman saw her singing on a CBS morning show, a key moment in the decision to cast her in the part. She gained weight for the role, played around with her real hair to capture Claire\u2019s unique look, and noticed during filming how she felt different than on past projects. Some major successes happened between her breakout and this moment, but it has still felt full-circle \u2014 particularly in the awards-campaigning department.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s a pretty interesting reflection at 46, realizing I left high school, I got Almost Famous, and then I got pregnant and had a baby and had kids really fast,\u201d Hudson says. \u201cThe campaigning is extensive and exciting now, but it\u2019s been a long time \u2014 it\u2019s changed a lot since Almost Famous \u2014 and I am surprised by how many things there are to do.\u201d She speaks of her commitment to the Oscars<\/a> circuit not unlike her commitment to the character in Song Sung Blue: \u201cIt\u2019s been kind of nice. It\u2019s like, \u2018Me time!\u2019 I\u2019m doing this for myself.\u201d Hudson has heard from studio heads, producers and other past collaborators praising her work. \u201cIt really does feel humbling,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I was saying to my mom the other day, \u2018People talk about age and I don\u2019t even think about it.\u2019 I don\u2019t think about time backwards. I don\u2019t long for anything behind me. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s just my nature, but my mom\u2019s very similar.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tSong Sung Blue<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFocus Features\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n

\n\tAs a bread basket hits our table \u2014 Hudson first goes for the sourdough, buttering slices between martini sips \u2014 we get into the highs and lows of Song Sung Blue\u2019s post-release period. As to the latter: The film has been subject to sharp backlash from Sardina\u2019s real-life son, Mike Jr., who called it \u201call lies\u201d to the Daily Mail and criticized Hudson and Jackman for not contacting him in the making of the movie. (He was paid as a consultant, but does not appear as a character in the film, unlike other Sardina children.) \u201cHonestly, I don\u2019t even know \u2014 out of respect for our filmmakers, I\u2019m not the right person to speak to it,\u201d Hudson says of the situation. She did speak with the real-life Claire, in any case: \u201cI\u2019m so happy that I got to know Claire, who\u2019s such a wonderful woman, and she\u2019s so happy with the movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd when it comes to the highs: Song Sung Blue has emerged as a sleeper theatrical success story since its Christmas launch, dropping less than 20 percent in its second weekend and pulling in spectacular reactions. The Focus Features<\/a> release has a verified Rotten Tomatoes audience score of 97 percent, 20 points higher than its critics\u2019 rating, demonstrating impressive word of mouth around the country. This has fueled Hudson\u2019s awards bid, and also emerged as a bright light for midbudget movies at the box office. (It\u2019s grossed north of $30 million worldwide.) With her performance in conversation with those of One Battle After Another, Hamnet, and other movies vying for eyeballs on the big-screen, Hudson views this as the primary power and value of the modern Oscars machine.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s exciting to see people\u2019s fight for this \u2014 not as much about them and their chances as it is for getting people in the theater,\u201d Hudson says. \u201cWhen people stand on the precipice of something that could be a lost art, like the cinema experience, it does change the way you think about it. You cannot take it for granted. It makes you lean in even more \u2014 or at least it has for me. It\u2019s like, \u2018Oh right, this art form actually, really matters.\u2019 But you\u2019re always fighting commerce \u2014 art and commerce are an awful marriage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSong Sung Blue was rejected by more than a dozen studios before Focus stepped in. \u201cYou realize that there\u2019s always an uphill battle in every choice that you really believe in and has to be made,\u201d Hudson says. Last I saw her, she had told me about a few rom-coms she was developing and set to produce; in the years since, there\u2019s been no news on those, and she admits to feeling generally discouraged by the climate, though she isn\u2019t giving up on them. Indeed, her splashy Netflix series vehicle Running Point marks her only producing credit in the past decade.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe reason why I stopped doing it and didn\u2019t want to do it anymore is because it took everything out of me \u2014 it\u2019s a constant battle,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tBut today, as on most days, Hudson conveys a sunny if hard-fought enthusiasm. She raves about Sentimental Value\u2019s Renate Reinsve and One Battle After Another\u2019s Paul Thomas Anderson \u2014 \u201cPTA might be my favorite of the generation above me, he is my number one, his movies defined my childhood\u201d \u2014 and wonders whether she should start putting out \u201cmy own takes on movies \u2014 all positive.\u201d I remind her that she hosts a podcast, Sibling Revelry, with her brother Oliver \u2014 so she\u2019s got the platform. <\/p>\n

\n\tHudson\u2019s drink is not yet finished, but she has to get going soon for her next Q&A of the night, to be moderated by her old Glass Onion director, Rian Johnson. \u201cI\u2019m so excited to see him,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I want to stay and have another cocktail!\u201d Sadly, as she\u2019s learning, this awards business is pretty full-on. She gets up and heads toward her car out front, beaming as the evening rages on, and leaving behind a proudly empty martini glass. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cAre we having a cocktail?\u201d The way Kate Hudson slides into our corner table at Hollywood\u2019s Sunset Tower…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":274766,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[268],"tags":[139315,12300,434,86852,18,117,59479,21636,19,17,40406,7012,40408],"class_list":{"0":"post-274765","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-almost-famous","9":"tag-campaign","10":"tag-celebrities","11":"tag-craig-brewer","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-focus-features","15":"tag-hugh-jackman","16":"tag-ie","17":"tag-ireland","18":"tag-kate-hudson","19":"tag-oscars","20":"tag-song-sung-blue"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274765\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}