The actress is a Golden Globe and Actor Award nominee for her performance in the movie.

Kate Hudson opens up about her Song Sung Blue role: ‘She’s incredibly resilient, but she really does struggle’

The actress is a Golden Globe and Actor Award nominee for her performance in the movie.

By Gerrad Hall

Gerrad Hall is an editorial director at **, overseeing movie, awards, and music coverage. He is also host of *The Awardist* podcast, and has cohosted EW's live Oscars, Emmys, SAG, and Grammys red carpet shows. He has appeared on *Good Morning America*, *The Talk*, *Access Hollywood*, *Extra!*, and other talk shows, delivering the latest news on pop culture and entertainment.

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January 11, 2026 3:11 p.m. ET

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Kate Hudson in 'Song Sung Blue'. Credit:

Focus Features/YouTube

Kate Hudson couldn't believe what she was reading as she turned the pages of the *Song Sung Blue* script.

"I was like, there's no way this is a true [story], this has happened. And all of the things that happened to them feel almost impossible," the Golden Globe and Actor Award nominee says on the latest episode of *The Awardist* podcast about Mike and Claire Sardina, who she and Hugh Jackman portray in writer-director Craig Brewer's movie (in theaters now). "You could never write a fictional script about it. And so my first question to Craig was, 'Is this all true? Did you embellish any of this?'"

Admittedly, that wasn't the first thing she thought as she read about the Wisconsin couple, who started the Neil Diamond tribute band, Lightning & Thunder.

"My first reaction was, I hope they're going to really want me to play this part. Meaning, I haven't been able to do any of this all in one movie," she says. "It is so amazing. Her story is incredible."

Kate Hudson and Hugh Jackman in 'Song Sung Blue'.

Sarah Shatz/Focus Features

Not only does Hudson get to sing — a skill she's shown off a bit with roles in the movie-musical *Nine* and on the TV series *Glee* — but the story also gave her the chance to showcase a later-in-life relationship with Mike, as the two pursue their music dreams. The blue-collar couple, though, isn't without their challenges: Mike has a heart condition that he doesn't disclose to those closest to him; and Claire is involved in a horrific accident that stops the music and leads to depression and dependency on pain medication.

"This family has been through it. But playing a part like that is a thrill for an actor," Hudson says. "That's kind of why we love the challenge of getting inside of characters that are so full, that bring so much for us to be able to tackle. There's certain versions of it that you get, but this one was like, wow, you get to run the spectrum."

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While it's not technically her first time working with Jackman, it is the first thing audiences have ever seen of them together. The two did a workshop for a musical that "never ended up getting on Broadway," she says, though they did get to sing with each other. Despite that, she says the two didn't really know each other prior to making *Song Sung Blue*, but she felt the movie "lives and dies on our connection, on our chemistry, and if you believe us as this couple."

They didn't have any problems in that department. In fact, for their first scene where they sing together as Mike and Claire, Hudson admits they felt something special happening.

Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson in 'Song Sung Blue'.

Courtesy of Focus Features

"It sounds weird to say yes, it sounds like we knew something, but it did feel wonderful," she says of the sequence in Claire's house where they perform "Cherry Cherry" and "I'm a Believer." "Those were pretty much live, so our vocals what we're doing is pretty live. So it felt like we were in our pocket, and that's always a good feeling. But it kind of felt that way throughout the movie. I think Hugh and I really understood these characters and really understood what drove them and could relate to it. And then at the same time, loved this story of these people. So then we felt that responsibility to get it right."

She continues, "There was something going on with Hugh and I that was working. It felt like it worked, and it made the more challenging sequences and scenes wonderful, because there was so much freedom and openness with each other. I never felt in any way that I couldn't make mistakes or be uninhibited or go far and go deeper into something and maybe him not being there to hit it back."

***Check out more from EW's *The Awardist*, featuring exclusive interviews, analysis, and our podcast diving into all the highlights from the year's best in TV, movies, and more.***

Hudson had the benefit of meeting the real Claire Sardina, who visited the set — "the whole crew showed up and just cheered for her, and she cried and everybody clapped," Hudson recalls. But she says there are still aspects of her that, while there wasn't time to include them in Brewer's script, were important for her to convey in her performance.

Kate Hudson and Claire Sardina at the New York premiere of 'Song Sung Blue'.

Taylor Hill/FilmMagic

"One of the things about Claire that was so important for me to get right is that she fights so hard to choose to power through things. And she is a real fighter. She's incredibly resilient, but she really does struggle," Hudson says. "So her whole life, she's had to fight to see the optimism. And even though we didn't really use that as a storyline, that is her constant fight. And so for me, that was so important before we go into the darker places, that she's still powering through what she's experiencing – she just can't anymore, because that's her survival nature."

Listen to Hudson's full interview on *The Awardist*, below, where she talks about why she considers herself a character actor and hopes this role leads to more roles where she gets to transform herself, and she clarifies her work on *Home Alone 2* and looks back on her work in *Nine* and working with Daniel Day-Lewis.

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