Interview: Kate Hudson
Veiled Threats

Kate Hudson’s new movie is filled with bouquets, engagement rings and poofy white dresses. But don’t expect to get your fix of warm wedding fuzzies from Bride Wars. While the film may look like a romantic comedy, and smell like a romantic comedy, Hudson insists this is no rom-com

Her new film Bride Wars will undoubtedly be considered, in some quarters, yet another in a long line of Kate Hudson romantic comedies.

Except that there’s really not a long line of funny love stories starring Kate Hudson — at least in the actor’s informed opinion. But if people want to think about her that way, it’s something the second generation Hollywood pro has become more than used to by now.

“It’s funny how I got that rom-com girl reputation, because I don’t see it like that,” the bubbly, 29-year-old Hudson says during an interview in Santa Monica, California. “Perhaps it’s just that I’ve done a lot of comedies. But I think, I make films like [the horror] Skeleton Key; I think of You, Me and Dupree as a buddy movie. And Bride Wars is pretty much just girls; there’s no real romance in that. But that’ll be referred to as a romantic comedy, I’m sure. So you just kind of go, okay.”

To be honest, Hudson’s biggest hit was the unabashed rom-com How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. And last year alone she appeared in Fool’s Gold and My Best Friend’s Girl, both of which could technically be considered love stories with humour.

 
But she insists that Bride Wars is an acidic satire of that staple subgenre, the wedding comedy. And lord knows the conventions of those movies could use some serious ribbing.

“This movie is a little different,” Hudson says with a “that’s an understatement” laugh. “It’s a dark comedy with Anne Hathaway. It’s sort of our version of War of the Roses, where we get to fight each other to our wedding days. We’re destroying each other’s weddings, which is really fun. We slowly, slowly get more and more intense about it.”

In the movie, Hudson’s Liv and Hathaway’s Emma are lifelong best friends whose relationship is torn to shreds when they somehow manage to schedule their respective nuptials on the same day. Sabotage and counter-sabotage, rather than trying to work things out, becomes the order of the day. It may not sound as plausible as Hathaway’s recent foray into matrimonial movies, the difficult drama Rachel Getting Married. But Bride Wars is directed by Gary Winick, whose 13 Going on 30 has a substantial and devoted cult following, so some of its nasty goings-on should be pleasing enough to watch.

 
Plus, whatever kind of comedy she’s in, Hudson has proven able to find the right tone for her performances. Unlike her mother, Goldie Hawn, Kate isn’t terminally typecast in the public’s mind. People may think she only makes romantic comedies, but they don’t always expect her to play a ditzy blonde.

 
Raised by Hawn and her long-time companion and fellow actor Kurt Russell, from an early age Hudson was exposed to a wide range of approaches to acting.

Kate Hudson in Bride Wars

“My mom’s incredible; her work speaks for itself and she’s just this iconic character,” Kate says. “But with my Pa [as she refers to Russell; biological dad Bill Hudson of The Hudson Brothers has not played a major role in Kate’s life], there’s just this effortlessness to his characters, and it’s enabled him to work forever. And that’s what I hope to be. The actors that I really admire are the ones that are sort of seamless. That’s just a matter of taste, but it’s why I love being creative. You get to work with all these different actors who do things differently from the other person.”   Hudson’s first real movie success was as the poignant groupie Penny Lane in Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous. It earned her a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination, and she followed it up with the dramas Four Feathers and Le Divorce. Even though her gift for on-screen lightheartedness has dominated since, Hudson hopes to keep expanding creatively; her next movie is an adaptation of the sophisticated Broadway musical Nine.

“Everything I work on, I try to learn,” she says. “I enjoy the craft, so as much as I don’t take myself too seriously in it, I do take the work seriously. And with that, you’re always learning or else . . . time to quit.”

Perhaps another reason why Hudson is perceived as a rom-com type is that, in real life, it seems she’s still trying to figure out the whole love thing. At age 21, she married Black Crowes frontman Chris Robinson, more than 12 years her senior. The couple separated five and a half years later and were divorced in 2007. Many blame the split on a relationship between Kate and her Dupree co-star Owen Wilson. Hudson broke up with him before his apparent suicide attempt but then, about a year ago, she and Wilson seemed to be dating again. Then she went out for a while with championship bicycler Lance Armstrong.

 
Hudson makes no apologies for her love life. She likes to describe herself as single and points out that her relationship with Robinson hasn’t really changed much over the last several years, as both ex-spouses are devoted to the care and happiness of their son Ryder, who turns five this month.

 
“It’s so funny when you become a parent,” Hudson muses. “You think that things change, but Chris and I still say that we integrate Ryder into our lives. What you are is what you teach your children. You teach your children that this is what you do, and part of what makes you happy is living your life that way.”

 
Another thing that hasn’t changed: Hudson still has trouble watching herself on screen. Getting called a rom-com queen or anything else by others is no big deal, in large part, because it can hardly compare to what the reviewer in her head has to say.

“It’s so hard to watch anything you’re in,” Hudson reveals. “It’s so weird; it’s almost impossible, really, to completely be objective. Plus, I have that very self-deprecating, self-critical thing where you just feel, uh, why did I go into this profession? That movie was fun while I was making it, but now I’ve gotta watch it.”

Bob Strauss lives in L.A. where he writes about movies and filmmakers.