Hollywood superstar Kate Hudson has another hit under her belt with new Netflix movie Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. The actress oozes glamour in every scene of the film, and the hilarious role has made us fall in love with her all over again.
With Kate, 43, planning a big year in 2023 – after she made the surprise announcement that she’ll be releasing her first record – we were overjoyed when we were invited along to meet her and talk to her about her life in the limelight. Especially all the tales about what it was like being brought up in such a famous household.
The star – who is mum to Ryder, 19, Bingham, 11, and four-year-old Rani Rose – is the daughter of actress Goldie Hawn and singer Bill Hudson, but she was raised in a home with Goldie and her partner of almost 40 years, actor Kurt Russell. Her brothers Oliver, 46, and Wyatt, 36, are also actors – with Oliver starring in Rules Of Engagement as Adam Rhodes and Wyatt appearing in a series of Marvel movies.
So it’s perhaps no surprise that Kate herself got into acting when she was young.
“My dad said something to me when I was about 16 and it stuck with me,” she says, as we catch up with her on a whirlwind promotional visit to London.
“[He asked me] ‘What if I told you that you’re going to do community theatre your whole life in Ohio?’
“I looked at him and said, ‘Well, then I’ll be in Ohio doing community theatre, that’s what I’ll do,’ to which he replied, ‘Then you should be an actor.’
“My parents were very clear about how tumultuous the career is, that you really need to love it. The dips and valleys of it can be quite extreme, and if you don’t really love it then you’re searching for something other than the good work.”
Kate, who’s engaged to actor and composer Danny Fujikawa, started out in local theatre, but soon had her eye on the big screen.
“I was a musical theatre girl. I just wanted to dance and sing. I loved it,” she laughs.
“I remember really early on, my dad was doing his movie Escape From LA and they couldn’t find a girl to be in it. We were at breakfast one morning and Dad just said, ‘I can’t find the girl, you want to come audition for this?’ That was my first audition.”
Kate had her first major movie breakthrough in Almost Famous in 2000, which led to a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress, a BAFTA win and an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. And the rest, as they say in Hollywood, is history.
A string of roles followed, with Kate becoming the world’s “go-to” actress for rom-coms such as Bride Wars, How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, My Best Friend’s Girl and Something Borrowed.
But although she made it on her own, Kate says growing up around her famous parents did help her make the right career choices.
“Because I grew up reading my parents’ scripts, you know a good role when you read it and you know the roles that you’re like, ‘Maybe I could make something out of that,’” she says. “I got sent the Almost Famous script when I was 19. It was magic on the page. When I got the part, I felt like I was ready for it.”
Since then, life has come full circle for Kate, who now has her own children poking fun at her movies.
She laughs, “The other day, Ryder was saying that all the girls he follows on TikTok are doing this How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days thing. He’s like, ‘Mom, it’s kind of annoying.’ And I was like, ‘Wow, this movie still has such a life.’”
While Kate says she doesn’t regret capitalising on the rom-com genre, she admits she’d welcome the chance to star in a Marvel movie, like her brother.
“If it was right, I would love it,” she says. “I think I’d have a lot of fun doing a Marvel.
“My brother Wyatt is Captain America and I remember him calling me, going, ‘You got to do a Marvel,’ and I think I’d be open to it for sure.”
For now, Kate can be seen alongside Daniel Craig in the Netflix murder mystery film Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, which plays out on a fictional remote Greek island.
It’s Craig’s first part since signing off as James Bond in No Time To Die, and Kate says she found it intimidating at first coming face to face with the 007 star on her first day on set.
“I’d never met Daniel and I was like a kid going to camp,” she says. “But immediately it was just such a joyful and great working experience.
“What was fun about meeting Daniel for the first time was the house that he was staying at in Greece overlooked the water. It was beautiful and I believe I was the first one to arrive.
“It was like the movie Annie when Daddy Warbucks comes down the stairs and every actor in the movie walks down the stairs when they arrive.
“Daniel was so lovely right away. He was goofy and silly and wanted us all to have a good time. He set a lovely, generous tone right off the bat.”
Kate was inspired to take a leap of faith and accept her comedic part in the film after watching Paul McCartney headline at Glastonbury last summer. She says his performance encouraged her to think differently about her choices in 2023.
“I had this weird moment at Glastonbury last year. I got so emotional after watching Paul McCartney. Maybe it’s because he’s the same age as my mom and it just defines this time, the sort of innocence of The Beatles and how iconic they were.
“They just changed the face of rock’n’roll and they believed in something. I started to get emotional about how different it is now. Like art, and what is art? What does it mean now? And it hit me that we just have to keep making art, good art.
“We have to believe in the things we’re putting out there and take risks and not always make people happy.”
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