It’s 11am and actor Kate Hudson is three hours into her LA day. First, some meditation. Then fruit for breakfast and, after we speak, she’ll head to the Hollywood post-production suite to work. It’s all a far cry from the gritty working-class world she inhabits in her new film Song Sung Blue, a hit fast gathering Bafta and Oscar buzz. “I will never tire of the reaction to this movie!” gushes Hudson. “I’ve been in this industry long enough to know if someone wants to say ‘Oscars buzz’ you don’t question it. Playing Claire has been a joy and also one of the great responsibilities of my career.”
Hudson stars opposite Hugh Jackman in the very unlikely-yet-true story of an American Neil Diamond tribute act called Lightning & Thunder who made a name for themselves in the 1990s.
Real-life couple Mike (Jackman) and Claire (Hudson) Sardina first met in the 1980s at the Wisconsin State Fair. Mike was a grizzled, recovering alcoholic Vietnam veteran working as a mechanic who enjoyed impersonating Diamond in his spare time. Claire was a divorced single mother and beautician who had a tribute act sideline of her own: she did a decent turn as country legend Patsy Cline.
After joining forces and roping in a Buddy Holly impersonator (Michael Imperioli) to play guitar and keyboards, Lightning & Thunder began their quest to make Neil Diamond’s music cool. That meant being booed and heckled or struggling to deploy a leaf-blower to give Mike’s hair just the right windswept Diamond look.
If all this sounds unlikely enough then wait until you see the duo get a call-up from a real-life rock god asking them to open his tour — you’ll rush to the cinema loo to google whether this can possibly be true (it is). “When I first read the script I hadn’t ever listened to Neil Diamond; he wasn’t anywhere on my playlist,” says Hudson. “I’m a 1990s rock and hip-hop girl but I’ve become a Neil Diamond fan. His music would be enough but when I read what happened to Claire and Mike I was like everyone else: can this be true?”
Hudson delivers the film’s early feel-good vibes, but when tragedy strikes, the film takes a new turn. It’s Hudson’s portrayal of a woman facing personal disaster which has got critics talking. A columnist for industry magazine Variety called Hudson’s performance “revelatory”.
That’s a bit annoying, I suggest. Why are people surprised you can do more than rom-coms? (Her CV features duvet-day staples including Bride Wars and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days).
“I’m not complaining,” laughs Hudson. “If a writer uses the word ‘revelatory’, who am I to argue? Claire’s story gets quite dark and, as a mature woman, it was the role of a lifetime.”
Hudson, now 46, was Oscar-nominated at 21 for her portrayal of groupie Penny Lane in the 2000 film Almost Famous, the coming-of-age story written by former Rolling Stone journalist Cameron Crowe. Almost Famous remains much-loved for one scene in particular: a tour bus singalong of Elton John’s Tiny Dancer. There is talk of a scene in Song Sung Blue featuring Hudson singing the Diamond classic Holly Holy equalling it.
“I’ve been so very lucky with music in my films,” says Hudson. “There’s that Tiny Dancer scene and the You’re So Vain scene (Hudson sang the Carly Simon classic to a bemused-looking Matthew McConaughey in How to Lose a Guy …) and now this. People can be cynical about why people act but let me tell you: being a part of something like that is the main reason.”