Kate Hudson has confirmed that she turned down the role of Mary Jane Watson in the 2002 Spider-Man film, which was eventually played by Kirsten Dunst.
Responding to a fan asking if it was true that she almost played the iconic role opposite Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man, the How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days star said: “Yes, I did.”
“And now that I look back... it's one of those things where I look back like, ‘That would have been nice to be in a Spider-Man movie,’” the Almost Famous star told Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live on Monday.
Directed by Sam Raimi, Spider-Man was the first in what went on to become a trilogy about a teenager named Peter Parker (Maguire) who gets bitten by a genetically engineered spider and gains superhuman abilities. Mary Jane Watson (Dunst) is Parker’s neighbour and love interest.
The films did very well at the box office, with the first grossing over $825m worldwide.
“But at the same time, I did a movie called The Four Feathers. I got to meet Heath Ledger who became a very good friend and I got an experience that I would have never had,” said Hudson.
“A part of me is like, ‘Life happens exactly the way it’s supposed to,’” Hudson said. “And so, I’m grateful for it. But I do look at it and I’m like, ‘Aw, it would have been fun to be [Mary Jane].’”
The Four Feathers, starring the late Heath Ledger, Wes Bentley, Djimon Hounsou, and Hudson released the same year as Spider-Man, and was an adaptation of the 1902 novel of the same name by AEW Mason.
The film followed a young British officer (Ledger) who resigns his commission just before his regiment is sent to battle, and receives four white feathers from his friends and fiancee (Hudson) as symbols of what they view as his cowardice. The film received mixed views from critics and did poorly at the box office.
Hudson ended: “When people say these things, it doesn’t feel good to talk about it, because the people who are in the movie are the right people, right? And your circumstances in life happen the way they happen.”
On the topic of other films she wishes she had been in, Hudson shared earlier this year that she had something in mind for a project with her mother, Oscar-winner Goldie Hawn.
“Nothing so far has felt right,” she told Variety in November this year. “People have tried, but the material hasn’t fit. I’d love something in the spirit of Postcards From the Edge, but that kind of role hasn’t been presented to us. We’d probably have to create it ourselves.”
Released in 1990 by director Mike Nichols, Postcards From the Edge starred Meryl Streep as a recovering alcoholic who struggles to maintain her sobriety when she goes to live with her mother (Shirley MacLaine). Dennis Quaid, the late Gene Hackman, Richard Dreyfuss, and the late Rob Reiner also featured in the comedy-drama.
Hudson will be seen next in Song Sung Blue opposite Hugh Jackman, where the two play a pair of down-on-their-luck performers who form a Neil Diamond tribute band.
Hudson’s performance is being touted by some critics as a comeback. Watching the film for the first time with her mother, the Bride Wars star remembered: “It was emotional for them. Maybe because they’ve seen how long I’ve waited for a role like this – one that lets me really do what I love.”
Song Sung Blue will be released in theatres this Christmas.
