Kate Hudson

Talk about symmetry! 25 years ago Kate Hudson burst onto the scene with her Oscar nominated performance in ALMOST FAMOUS. Now she's back in the Oscar race thanks to her role in SONG SUNG BLUE. She joins Josh to chat about her beginnings and the road that led to this career re-defining moment. SUPPORT THE SHOW BY SUPPORTING OUR SPONSORS! QUINCE -- Go to ⁠Quince.com/HAPPYSAD⁠ for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. NordVPN -- EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ ⁠https://nordvpn.com/hsc⁠ Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee! Saily -- 🌎 Get an exclusive 15% discount on your first Saily data plans! Use code HSC at checkout. Download Saily app or go to to ⁠https://saily.com/hsc⁠ Check out the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Happy Sad Confused patreon here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! We've got discount codes to live events, merch, early access, exclusive episodes, video versions of the podcast, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:31Speaker 01

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• 0:59Speaker 02

  Cameron and I, where we get along and where we will always love each other and see each other, you know, when you meet, know people and you're like, I feel seen. It's, it's the happy sad. You know, we talk about it a lot. Like, happy, sad, together is, that's the magic. And that's life. Like, life, that's what it gives, that's what it gives us. It's, can be real happy and it can get real sad. And if you can, in those moments where it's happy and sad at the same time, it's like, it's like movie gold. Or literature gold.

• 1:33Josh Horowitz?

  Kate, you know you're doing the best promo for this podcast that's called Happy, Sad, Confused.

• 1:37Speaker 02

  I know. Yeah, well, you had to add the confused part.

• 1:42Josh Horowitz?

  Well, that's just me. That's my, that's my go-to.

• 1:46Josh Horowitz?

  Prepare your ears, humans. Happy, Sad, Confused begins.

• 1:54Josh Horowitz?

  Hey, guys, it's Josh. Welcome to another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. Today on the show, a first-time guest, an Oscar nominee, one of our brightest stars, the one and only Kate Hudson, on the show today, talking Songs on Blue and her entire career. Thanks, guys, as always, for joining me on Happy Say Confused, whether you're listening, watching on YouTube, watching on Spotify, however you're doing it, I appreciate you guys. Remember to subscribe to the podcast. 12 years, about 700 episodes. We keep on cranking with amazing guests after amazing guests. I do my best on my end and hopefully you guys get a kick out of what I do. Today's a real treat. Kate Hudson is not only one of the most charismatic movie stars, actors we've got on the planet, but also just a delight as a human being,

• 2:36Josh Horowitz?

  a charisma machine and a really enjoyable chat. This is a fun one. Before we get to Kate, as always, a reminder, check out our Patreon, patreon.com/happy say confused. If you enjoy what I do, you get all the early access and the discount codes to our live events. You get merch, all sorts of bonus features. Check it out. Patreon.com/happy say confused. It keeps the lights running over here and lets me make more fun stuff for all of you. So, check it out if you are so inclined. As for Kate Hudson, only thing to say really is, of course she is on this songsung blue train, which has been going since about Christmas and actually earlier when she started doing press. But this is a really a great film from director Craig Brewer,

• 3:18Josh Horowitz?

  who back in the day did Hustle and Flow. And this is telling a remarkable, crazy, true story, based on true events, about a Neil Diamond tribute band, played by the likes of Kate Hudson and Hugh Jackman. And it is their love story. It has highs and lows. It is tragic. It is funny. It is sweet. Wears its heart on its sleeve and it's a great piece of work. And Kate really shows off what she can do in this. Not only the singing, but the dramatic stuff, the comedic stuff. It kind of shines a light on all that she can do as a performer. So, it is justifiable that, and appropriate, I think, that she's getting the accolades that she's getting. She is an Oscar nominee this year and it's been a blast to see her like on this award circuit.

• 4:03Josh Horowitz?

  I got a chance to moderate an event with her and Hugh and Craig Brewer that was introduced by Goldie Hawn, her mom, Kurt Russell, her stepdad. That was a trip. And, but to hear Kate talk about her childhood and her parents and the way they Brought her up and and put a level head on her shoulders and taught her work ethic and taught her some perspective despite being the ginormous stars they are is is a great lesson, I think, for all of us. So I really enjoyed this chat. I know you will too. Without any further ado, please enjoy my conversation with the one and only Kate Hudson. Kate Hudson, you're finally on the podcast. Long overdue, but this is for a good cause. Thank you for the time today.

• 4:48Speaker 02

  I am so excited.

• 4:50Josh Horowitz?

  So it's been it's been kind of both a marathon and a sprint, I guess, promoting this movie, putting it out into the world, spreading the good word, a lot of Q and A's. Are you are you living a real life right now? Are you back to the TV show?

• 5:03Speaker 02

  I don't know what I'm living.

• 5:06Josh Horowitz?

  What is life like right now? Post Oscar nom during, I guess, post-production or production on the TV show? Like, what's happening?

• 5:13Speaker 02

  A lot. You know, I just try to tell everybody that I need like a certain period of time in the day where I could be with my kids. If it's at all possible, and then I just tell my kids that this will be over very soon and that I understand that it's hard that I'm not like as present as I normally am. But but we're also all having so much fun and enjoying it so much, you know, just because it's such a awesome time and experience. And so I feel like my kids are kind of enjoying it with me because they know it's special.

• 5:51Speaker 02

  And and so I'm just like, so basically, in short, I mean, it's insanely busy. It is. It is the longest sprinting marathon I've ever done. And I think I got, I think for me, it's a little bit extra because we started promoting this movie for a Christmas movie.

• 6:08Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 6:09Speaker 02

  So it's like I stopped filming Running Point and then we went right into promoting. And then it's just been like nonstop since, you know, about October.

• 6:20Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah, so the cadence is a little different than like, you know, a lot of the the early festival stuff, like they do it and they go away and hibernate and live their life and then they come back around. But for you, it's kind of been nonstop.

• 6:30Speaker 02

  It's been nonstop.

• 6:32Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah, and it's all, look, I mean, you know as well as I do, like, it's rare when it all kind of lines up, right? And like, you know, you were kind of spoiled on that, like, experience and Almost Famous right out of the get-go. And I'm sure as the like, years go by, you're like, oh, wait, I knew that was special, but like, every year that passes, like, oh, that was really, really special.

• 6:51Speaker 02

  Yeah, and because I was so young, like, I hadn't really spent many years professionally acting, you know? I was, I was like, two years in, or I mean, not even really, like, a year and a half in. And, and so, you know, it was more like this, I call it like a big invite to the industry

• 7:15Speaker 02

  on like steroids.

• 7:17Josh Horowitz?

  Totally.

• 7:17Speaker 02

  You know, like, welcome to the movie business, you know? And, and so the whirlwind was more like discovering something new versus like, knowing all of the people that were there and really understanding and having people that you've worked with and that you've shared so much time with over the years. And now it's such a different feeling, because there's so many people that I love to see at these events. And there's like so many people in the room that I've had, like, shared months of our lives with and and best friends in the room, you know? It's like, it's a whole different experience and.

• 8:00Josh Horowitz?

  And also, I mean, you mentioned family, you mentioned the kids, it's also like, I was privileged enough, I've done a bunch of Q and As for like, all the exciting films this season. But I did a Q and A for you guys in New York, and there was Curt and Goldie introducing that screening in New York. And like, I can only imagine how surreal and lovely and bizarre that is for you. I mean, for me, I'm geeking out, like, oh, my gosh, but like, what's it like to see it through their eyes? Yeah.

• 8:25Speaker 02

  It's pretty great, because there's two parts of it, you know, which is that they're my parents and so all of the. You know, therapy sessions that go with anybody with parents are, there's no perfect parent, right? You know, we are, we all complain about mom or complain about dad. So we have that like, you know, I, I feel like I have the best parents in the world, but it's still parents. So there's the personal part of that, which is, you know, um, that those relationships and all of the things that we've went, been through as a family and how close we are and how much we like, love our unit. And then there's like me being able to separate myself as an adult

• 9:09Speaker 02

  to see everything that they went through when we were kids growing up. Their work, their business, their like talent. Um, them as their own individual people as artists. You know, I, as the older I get, the more I honor that in them, you know?

• 9:29Josh Horowitz?

  Totally.

• 9:30Speaker 02

  It's like, you don't, you don't, you know, as a kid, you don't see that. You know, as an adult, you start to really see the full picture. And I think that we're in this like sweet spot of life where you really like honor each other's, you know, like if, if you have a really good relationship with your family, I think you really like, the support system is so huge. And then I can also look at them and be like, yeah, and they're also some of my favorite actors. I've, I know.

• 9:59Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 10:00Speaker 02

  Maybe I'm biased, but I don't think so.

• 10:03Josh Horowitz?

  No, no, this is accurate, this is accurate.

• 10:07Speaker 02

  It's real. And, and, and then to see them as like professionals, not just my parents, sort of be up there talking about my work or honoring something that I've done. It's like, it's like supercharged feeling of, you know, support and, um.

• 10:28Speaker 02

  It's an interesting thing because you know what goes into putting the work in when you do it, you know, because it does take you away from your family. It is like a very demanding job when it comes to hours and things like that. And it's also incredibly rewarding. And but it's nice to be seen that way from your parents. Like they don't have to not under they really understand this, you know? And I feel very seen in that, which is which is interesting.

• 11:00Josh Horowitz?

  No, it's a beautiful thing. And I and I've heard you also talk and I and I find this. I totally connect with this, like having covered movies throughout my career, like how everything that does need to line up and how there are like good versions and bad versions. You go into everything with the best of intentions. And like your concern going into this was, yeah, we've got Hugh and we've got Craig and we've got the right team. But if this doesn't work, this really isn't going to work. So what in your head, like, what's the what's the version you were concerned about falling into?

• 11:30Speaker 02

  First John SUNG Blue?

• 11:32Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 11:33Speaker 02

  I mean, I think that also just comes with like, you know, once you've been in the business long enough, you know, you know, you know how hard it is to get a movie made, let alone a good movie made. You know, you're there's so many elements you're up against, right? For this movie in particular, there was there are there are so many things. First and foremost, mine was if the love story doesn't work and you don't believe the love story, the movie's not going to work. And so there's that and that's huge because huge.

• 12:08Speaker 02

  Every time I think huge, I think of Hugh and our movie Dream Huge.

• 12:13Josh Horowitz?

  He should really trademark that. He should make that his thing.

• 12:15Speaker 02

  Seriously.

• 12:18Speaker 02

  But but like if Hugh and I didn't work, it would be like, who cares? You know what I mean? And and so that for me was the first thing that I was really like, I really just want to make sure that that connection that we feel comfortable and that we can pull that off, you know?

• 12:38Speaker 02

  And then after that, I mean, we're talking about.

• 12:42Speaker 02

  A very specific tone. Something that Craig Brewer does really well, like it's in his wheelhouse. It's like it's his, it's when he's in his pocket, you know, when he, he underst- I knew he understood how to make a movie like this. Like, how do you take this, these people, a Neil Diamond tribute band, who really lean in hard, these artists who believe in their artistry, be very easy to make a mockery of of people who dedicate their life to something like this. But, but Craig and none of us see their life that way. And so, you know,

• 13:23Speaker 02

  there's a tightrope that you have to walk with the sequins and the commitment to this experience and their life that if we didn't get it right, um, you know, it could have just missed.

• 13:41Josh Horowitz?

  It's, it's also kind of counter in the best possible way to kind of like our times. I mean, you're looking at like the most stereotypical, like cynical New Yorker, but like I love, I love like movies that wear their heart on its sleeve, right? Earnest films and like films that like aren't afraid to kind of go to emotional places. And this is a film that I think really like rewards you going into the cinema with an open heart.

• 14:06Speaker 02

  Yeah, without being like sentimental or too, or too, you know, without going leaning so far in that you kind of, it becomes sappy, you know? And I, I, I think like,

• 14:20Speaker 02

  I think that, you know, life affirming is a great word. It's that thing of like, life is beautiful. Even in its hardest moments. And when, th- those are my favorite kind of movies, like the movies that I, that sit with me, that I could sit in a theater and just cry and cry and cry. You know, they, they range in, in style, but they all have a similar kind of thread of hope and And like life like like that make you look at your own life and go like life can be really good if we choose to make it good, you know?

• 14:56Josh Horowitz?

  What what what kind of movies are you I'm thinking like James L. Brooks, that kind of vein when you when you say that.

• 15:01Speaker 02

  Or Cocoon or like Cocoon, Parenthood, Terms of Endearment, Moonstruck, Her. I loved, you know, I think that was a life-affirming movie is as depressing as it was about love, connection, the importance of it.

• 15:25Speaker 02

  You know, it's a beautiful mind.

• 15:31Speaker 02

  I could go on, but there's this sort of this thing where you have these struggles and life is hard and it comes at you and there's tragedy. But what is the threat of hope and what is it that keeps you wanting to connect to the the fundamentals, the thing that like the things that make us feel fundamentally alive, which really at the end of the day is love. And making movies like that, I think, is, you know, hard to get like right in the sweet spot.

• 16:04Josh Horowitz?

  But when you hit it.

• 16:06Speaker 02

  Yeah, I really feel like I felt that when I saw it for the first time, I was like, oh, my God, these are the movies that that like move me to the point where I want to continue creating movies, I want to make movies, I want to be in them. It's like what inspires me to be an artist.

• 16:26Speaker 02

  And then when I hear from people that have that that watch this movie and they just can't stop crying, it like hits something in them, whether it be something in their own life or their own tragedies or their own like struggles or their own sadness and depression that has been hard for them to get through, you know? That you kind of like, you're like, oh, yeah, there's movies that we make that are just fun and that we like lean into and we love it because we're playing these wild characters. And then there's movies that we make because you really want to move people and how the art form can actually like make a difference in someone's life. And that's what this movie feels like for me. It's very and it doesn't happen very often, you know?

• 17:16Speaker 00

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• 17:46Speaker 04

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• 18:19Josh Horowitz?

  You mentioned, you know, obviously it's all about that chemistry, that love between the characters that's embodied by you and Hugh. I mean, I feel like I'm like, you know, co-president along with 10 million other people of the Hugh Jackman Fan Club. I mean, he's the nice, he's the real deal. He's like absolutely what he needs.

• 18:34Speaker 02

  He's the greatest human being ever. Like it doesn't, like it's almost like impossible. It almost like doesn't feel real, you know? You're like, how is this, how is this real?

• 18:45Josh Horowitz?

  He does seem like, he's, he is that guy that has found what he was meant to be. And like, he's so comfortable in his own skin and is living the life, the dream in the best possible way. And I'm wondering, like, I mean, do you in some ways like relate to that? You, you strike me as someone that, that feels like very comfortable in their skin. Like you know what you want, you know what you love, you know what you're born to do.

• 19:09Speaker 02

  Yeah, and we're not dissimilar. Like we know, and we also know how to take a punch. You know, I think like, if you're gonna be an artist, and and we're also good at at saying that that the punch might have hurt a little bit. And, you know, so I think like, if you're gonna be in the entertainment industry, and you're gonna put yourself out there like Hugh does, if and like I do, and just like, wear it, wear it out there, and do the best you can, you know, you have to be able to gracefully take those punches, you know, too. As much as you can, as much as you gracefully take the reward sometimes, there's as many punches as there are rewards, you know.

• 19:47Speaker 02

  And and Hugh is so able, and so humble in all of it, you know, and and has things he loves in his life, and his children, and, you know, he, and theater, and he, so he, he's able to delve into other things and not like, you know, take it on too much.

• 20:10Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 20:11Speaker 02

  Yeah, and and and and he also, I think where we're also very similar, is we really understand the experience really is the thing that you hold on to.

• 20:21Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 20:22Speaker 02

  You know, that that experience of making it, and putting your effort into it, and putting your all out there, that's like what, that is what it's really about. And then the hope is that whatever you're making becomes something that you can gift other people. But you don't always win at that, so you just don't know.

• 20:40Josh Horowitz?

  It's the only thing you can control at the end of the day. You can control your effort.

• 20:42Speaker 02

  Yeah, and and and and he also doesn't take himself too seriously. I think like, I grew up with like, you know, take the, take the craft seriously, but don't take yourself too seriously, that you can't enjoy the craft, you know, it's like, or the process. So it's like, you know, I knew that, you know, the second you start believing your own hype, like, you're so screwed. Um, and, and so I grew up like, very, with a very like, humbled understanding of how, you know, what my relationship should, what my relationship should be to the industry. And Hugh has that, you know, innately.

• 21:24Josh Horowitz?

  You talk about growing up in the industry and understanding kind of the ups and downs, probably through the prism of your parents, like every other actor that seemingly has had just. Ups and ups and ups, but has had, you know, everyone has the moments in between. I'm curious for you though, like growing up, you don't strike me as somebody that ever went through an awkward phase. What is peak Kate Hudson awkward phase?

• 21:47Speaker 02

  What was my awkward phase?

• 21:49Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah, like what years am I talking about where like, oh gosh, she's, she's.

• 21:54Speaker 02

  You know what's funny? I was kind of a loner. Now, what I mean by that is that

• 22:00Speaker 02

  I felt like I, I felt like when I was young that I was like a hundred years old. So, so it was always hard for me to relate to kids my own age when I was younger. I don't know if part of that was that I grew up like traveling a lot with my parents and being around a lot of grownups. My parents weren't like, you know, we lived a very grown up life.

• 22:25Speaker 02

  I, I don't, so I don't know if that's why, but I always felt like it's like I came out, I knew exactly what, where I wanted to be and what I wanted to be doing. And it was always like a, a discipline, whether it was dance or singing or theater or sport. Like I was always, so I never felt like I belonged to one crew. And so I think my entire

• 22:54Speaker 02

  like educational experience was awkward.

• 22:59Speaker 02

  I had friends and like some people would be like, no, that's ridiculous. Like she was popular, right? But internally I didn't feel like I connected really to anyone, you know? Like in the years where people were partying, I was not partying. I was like designated driver, you know, super like, people would think I would probably have been a party. I was the opposite. I was like, you know, in dance class and, and like theater conservatory and.

• 23:29Speaker 02

  Um, you know.

• 23:31Josh Horowitz?

  Was was any of that connected, you think, to kind of like the baggage, good and bad of having the parents that you did to kind of like, oh, I have to like, I need to prove myself. I need to show that I'm not coasting on someone else's name or career.

• 23:44Speaker 02

  I mean, if I'm being really honest with you, I grew up in L.A. where I saw kids coast by with parents who gave them everything.

• 23:51Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 23:51Speaker 02

  And I had the opposite parents. I think maybe because we grew up, like, they moved us to Colorado when we were really young, that that might have, in that being said, it wasn't like we were in like, you know, you know, the Colorado, like, back country, like, we were right outside of Aspen, Colorado.

• 24:08Josh Horowitz?

  Sure.

• 24:09Speaker 02

  Clearly privileged kids, you know? But I do think that my parents were so adamant about how none of it belonged to us, like, that we didn't earn it, that like, in order to get a life that we were living, we had to earn it ourselves, that that would never be available to us unless we had the same kind of work ethic. And so I think in school, when you grow up and you're in an L.A. kind of, you know, private school environment, you really do look around and you're like, wow, there's a, there's, there is, I was very aware of the privilege, just based on how adamant my parents were.

• 24:48Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 24:49Speaker 02

  So for me, you know, I really took that to, I was like, no, I can't, I will never rely on my parents. And that was my big thing, was like, I will never take a job because of them. I will, I won't, I don't want anybody knowing they're my parents. You know, when I first started, I was so happy my last name was Hudson.

• 25:13Speaker 02

  It was like, really, really important to me. You know, my parents, like, you know, you grow up and you see kids get cars that you're like, whoa, like, I, we were the kids and we're privileged and we're like, wow, I can't believe their parents, like, bought them a, a new car. Like, my parents just raised us the opposite, like, how they were raised.

• 25:34Josh Horowitz?

  Well, again, and again, it seems like, and, yes.

• 25:37Speaker 02

  Well, but I think that with that came, like, this thing where it's like, we were just, it was almost like, beat into us that if you really want to do this, if you really want to act, like, you have to, you have to, like, put in the discipline. And I loved it and wanted to do it so much that I just that I was just very, very, very disciplined. Which when you're young, I don't think kids really like that, you know? You're not like considered like the cool, the cooler one, you know? Cause you're like always doing things. You're so, you know, active and doing things all the time and.

• 26:13Josh Horowitz?

  I've, I've heard you, you say, you know, you spent some time invariably on some of the, their sets as a kid. I, I was privileged enough, I've, I've had Kurt on the podcast a couple of times. One of the few posters I had someone sign for me was my big trouble in Little China poster. That's I, so you were on that set.

• 26:29Speaker 02

  Best set of all time, best set. That's, this, yeah.

• 26:35Josh Horowitz?

  Tell me something, tell me, tell me anything, what's that like?

• 26:37Speaker 02

  First of all, John Carpenter is just the best.

• 26:40Josh Horowitz?

  Right.

• 26:40Speaker 02

  He's the coolest, he's the nicest, he's so, he's such a legend. And, and this is where I see my privilege and my opportunity. I got to grow up like immersed in what I see as like the most magical industry on the planet. And I got to see it as through a little girl's eyes, watching everybody work to make it happen. Not just like my parents or like, you know, a red carpet, like that was not what I was interested in. Big Trouble in Little China was one of those sets that like every single thing was fun. I mean, you know, if you just go back and watch that, there was like, there was a slide that you had to like go down.

• 27:24Speaker 02

  Cause they had to like fall down this thing and then they all fell into all this fish, you know? And we, and there were all these rubber fish and we used to go down and slide down and go into this fish. And then we would watch them shoot the scene and we would see everything and we were very like, did, you know, my dad and my parents were very strict about us being on set. We either had to work, we had to do something uh to earn being on set. Or we had to really stay out of everybody's way, but we couldn't just hang around. So on Big Trouble in Little China, like I did all the belts, like I worked in wardrobe and I braided everything. And I'd go and I'd like put, I'd separate like the clean, you know, clothes from the dirty clothes and,

• 28:07Speaker 02

  um, so I felt like I was really a part of the crew and, um.

• 28:15Speaker 02

  But I mean, that set was, oh, and I'll never forget like Kim Cattrall and her. I remember seeing her in her costume and seeing the girls in there when they were like kidnapped and in the thing and they had that beautiful costume. They were so beautiful and I'm little like looking at them going, oh, my God, I, I can't wait to do this. And the same thing with things like Backdraft. I'll never forget being on the Backdraft set and watching Ron Howard direct just extraordinarily big sequences of fire and dangerous sequences and his, how calm he was, how specific he was, how beautifully kind he was to us as kids. And he really is a marker

• 28:58Speaker 02

  for me of like what it is to be a great artist and a human that art, you can still be the kindest, most beautiful, caring man and, and make great art.

• 29:10Josh Horowitz?

  And, and passing on again, the, the best qualities to the next generation. I mean, yeah, I mean, I did, I did, both Bryce and Ron did the podcast together last year and it's just so sweet to see like the love and the respect and everything. It's just like doing it right.

• 29:24Speaker 02

  And that's when you grow up and you really honor the industry, you know, you really want to do it for different reasons than I think how people might see it from the outside, which is okay, you know, they think it's a, maybe sometimes people think it's more about celebrity or fame or, you know, but it's actually not. It's something, it's a different drive. And when you grow up in it and you grow up with parents that really honor it, you can't help but be like, God, I hope I get to, I hope I get, I hope I'm good enough to sustain a career in this amazing industry because there's nothing more fun.

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• 31:11Josh Horowitz?

  Time is already flying by, but I want to hit some of the, your own great accomplishments. Obviously, okay, so Almost Famous, like, we could do an hour on that alone. We could do multiple hours. But what's the scene that brings a smile to your face when you think about the production of it, how it turned out? Is there one that jumps out for you?

• 31:29Speaker 02

  There's a couple. One scene was the OD scene. I loved that. I loved shooting that. There was humor in it and it was, it hit all of the notes. And even then, working on that with Cameron, doing that with Cameron, it was so beautiful. And it was, even though it was this sort of really like heartbreaking, sad moment, there was so much innocence in that scene. It kind of hit a little bit of everything. And I loved doing that. You know, I'm tired and I'm retired, that whole thing. Cameron and I still, we see each other, we do that. We do that, those lines.

• 32:14Josh Horowitz?

  Go right into it, yeah.

• 32:17Speaker 02

  I really love the hap- like Cameron and I where we get along and where we will always love each other and see each other, you know, when you meet, know people and you're like, I feel seen. It, it's, it's the happy sad, you know, we talk about it a lot, like happy sad together is, that's the magic and that's life, like life, that's what it gives, that's what it gives us. It's, can be real happy and it can get real sad and if you can, in those moments where it's happy and sad at the same time, it's like, it's like movie gold or literature gold.

• 32:53Josh Horowitz?

  Kate, you know, you're doing the best promo for the, this podcast that's called Happy Sad Confused.

• 32:57Speaker 02

  I know. Yeah, well, you had to add the confused part.

• 33:02Josh Horowitz?

  Well, that's just me, that's my, that's my go-to.

• 33:06Josh Horowitz?

  Where, where did the, where did the, um, the hand in, in, in Patrick's face, in Will's face come from? Was that scripted in the Tiny Dancer sequence?

• 33:15Speaker 02

  I think it was an ad that I did and I, I have to ask Cameron, but I think, I, I, I don't want to take credit for it because it could, I mean, I never remember, I think I remember Cameron saying that I did that. I don't, I'll have to ask him.

• 33:35Speaker 02

  But there was a couple of things that, you know, like the, you know, like the, the what kind of beer? That was a Cameron line, but that whole scene, the profile, the choices, like Cameron, we were like, you know, we were rushing against time, that scene is a great story because we didn't know if we had it or not and he went into Daily's and just was like, oh my God, like came back to me two days later and was like, we, we, we got it, like, cause we were so, that scene was so important, uh, to, to Penny, to, to the movie.

• 34:16Speaker 02

  And he was so happy, but, but, you know, it was those moments for me, Max's Kansas City realizing that I wasn't on the outside.

• 34:28Speaker 02

  Um, the, the, the scene where I'm dancing in the Palladium was, we weren't supposed to be there. Everybody had to go home. We had shot overtime. They asked if I'd push, Cameron's like, will you just go out there? And we'd done all this stuff and it looked like a disaster. And he's like, said to John Toll, he's like, can you, can we just put a camera up and just shoot this? And everyone went home and it was just me and Cameron and a couple of grips and JT. And we just, I just danced around the Palladium. And I'll never forget, sat there, Cameron played music. I'll never forget sitting on that floor. And thinking about, for me, I was thinking about the movie. I was thinking about everybody in it. I was thinking about like how much I loved the experience.

• 35:14Speaker 02

  Not just about Penny Lane, you know, and the movie. So that was a big, that was a big moment.

• 35:20Josh Horowitz?

  Ken, Ken, I'd love for you to explain to folks what's so special about, you didn't end up getting the part for Moulin Rouge, but you got the opportunity to have the audition process for Baz, which is unlike anything else. I know what he puts actors through in the best possible way. It's like you have a full-on, months-long experience, camera tests, the whole thing. Like, what do you remember about going through that process of going up for Moulin?

• 35:46Speaker 02

  I'll just never forget our work session, like the way you, he, his enthusiasm, his in curiosity into me again, like, who is this actress? Who are you? Like, how are we gonna work together? I mean, he just moves the camera around. He'd move his own camera around. We'd be, we were, you know, dancing and singing and doing different things. And it was just like, there was so much energy and so much, he gives so much life and he's so like, exuberant. And I just loved, I'll, I'll never forget it, you know?

• 36:26Speaker 02

  I'll never forget it and I love, I love the auditioning process. I got to audition for so many amazing directors and it's so nice to be able to just say like I got to have that opportunity to work with them even if it was just in for a moment, you know.

• 36:43Josh Horowitz?

  Was that where you, I don't know who you read with, whether it was, I know Jake Gyllenhaal and you and obviously ended up getting it, but Heath obviously was up for it too and you ended up working with Heath.

• 36:52Speaker 02

  I did, on Four Feathers. I got very close to Heath, yeah.

• 36:56Josh Horowitz?

  Heath comes up so, so often in my conversations with both the actors that worked with him, but also this generation now that rightfully puts him on, on a pedestal for the way he carried himself.

• 37:06Speaker 02

  He was so talented and, and, and tortured and, and I think that's such a sad thing because Heath was such a light, you know, when you knew him, you knew what a light being he was.

• 37:25Speaker 02

  And loved his family, my, loved his mom and dad and his, his, the, the whole, his siblings, like that he always talked about them and clearly came from a strong sense of like like, like big love.

• 37:44Speaker 02

  And loved the craft and, and was very, very tortured by it.

• 37:53Speaker 02

  So, you know, I think anybody who experienced working with him knew how much he cared about what he was doing and also knew the struggles that he was experiencing.

• 38:07Speaker 02

  So, but I feel very lucky that I got to have that time. I got, I have, I've had a lot of time with Heath and, you know, we were the same age. We were birth, our birthday was like, we were like, you know, birthday twins almost and.

• 38:24Speaker 02

  Yeah, you don't ever want to lose friends that early, you know? It would have been amazing to have seen what his career project, trajectory would have been.

• 38:37Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah, those kind of folks are crazy where they're kind of frozen in time for us forever, right? At that moment, it's very poignant.

• 38:46Speaker 02

  And yeah, and how we need to take care of each other. I, I think our, you know, look, we're real right brained people, you know? It's that, that brain, you know, if you don't, I'm, you know, I'm, if you don't have and the ability to be able to have structure and that structure and that support with your linear brain, which so many artists we know don't. You know, it can be really, really, really hard. And that's why I think artist communities, like we know it's, it's, it's, it's, we see so many people struggle with, you know, addiction and, and mental health challenges and, and, and I think

• 39:30Speaker 02

  that that right brain, left brain correlation is very, is very, has a lot to do with it. So, you know, it sort of highlights that we need to like, remember that artists, we are, we are fragile beings. Yeah. And I say this, not like it's just our community. I mean that in everybody, every community, you know? You might not be, you know, a Heath Ledger movie star, but, but you are a creative brain, a right brain, an artist, and that brain needs to be supported differently. And yeah, yeah.

• 40:02Josh Horowitz?

  I guess the, the, he was a special one. The, the, the irony is, I mean, I know folks who often talk to you about the, the what if of Spider-Man? If you do Spider-Man, you don't get that Heath Ledger experience. So that there, there is that.

• 40:16Speaker 02

  That's true.

• 40:17Josh Horowitz?

  I mean, is, is there, i- i- is there like, when you come close to doing something like that and it becomes what it becomes? Is there like a period of mourning where you're like, I can't watch this movie? Like, I'm going to need a minute before I ever watch this movie because of what it might have been for me in my career?

• 40:31Speaker 02

  You mean, no, I'm not like that. I'm really not like that at all. I just, I'm like a big, like, like I, it's like when people say like, I don't look, I'm really not a look back person. I look back when it's affecting my, my life and the people around me. And then I have to be like, okay, where's this coming from that? Then I'll reflect. But things like that, it's just like, it's in the past. There's nothing to do, you know? I'm, I'm, I am an Aries through and through. I'm always looking for what's new. You know, like what's next? Where, what are we doing today? What's happening? I'm in, I'm right here. And I think that's why my memory is awful. Because I'm so, I just like fucking, I just forget it, you know?

• 41:16Speaker 02

  And, and I also, I also really believe that everything really does happen for a reason. And all of it is supposed to sort of take you to exactly where you're supposed to be. As long as you're like, as long as you're paying attention, not to like be like blind, you know, just to live like, you know, blindly through life and have no reflection. But, you know, I don't because I look at like, I look at where my career has gone and what, where, what I've, what it's, it's, it's so full. It doesn't, it doesn't just exist. And I love the sliding doors of life. The truth is like, you never know, like I could have done Spider-Man and, and it could have led me down a, a whole other thing that maybe I wouldn't be here today.

• 42:01Speaker 02

  Who knows?

• 42:03Josh Horowitz?

  Kate, you could have ruined the franchise. Who knows? Maybe, maybe it would have been a dud.

• 42:07Speaker 02

  Yes, exactly. I could have been awful.

• 42:10Josh Horowitz?

  No, you weren't.

• 42:12Speaker 02

  I could have been the worst Mary Jane of all time.

• 42:17Speaker 02

  But I really don't, like, I don't, I don't. And I don't think, I think I really have this thing. If a direct, you know, it's one thing if, you know, you're, there's the, there's respecting like the artistry of it. And like, I know people's egos get in the way of things because they, you know, it can. But like, if someone doesn't want me for something like that, they, they need to make exactly what they need to make. Like, there's a reason for it, you know? And so I never take it personally.

• 42:49Josh Horowitz?

  And it's also about, I mean, this tying into Song Song Blue, it's like what goes around, it comes around often. I mean, Craig Brewer, your relationship with him goes back decades. Like you were talking way back when, and the right thing doesn't happen then. It came around. It happens. It happened when it was supposed to happen.

• 43:06Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah, I feel that way about so many directors. Like, I'll see their work and like their, like some of their first stuff, and then I'll talk to them, and then I'll want to do something else, and then maybe they didn't want me to do it. Now, like, that's a great example of, like, in our industry, how ego can kind of get the best of people, you know? Where it's like, wait, I was your fan from way back when, you know? I'm, I know I'm right for this part. Why didn't you cast me for this part? But the reality is, is that just, I just love people for the work they want to put out in the world. And whether I fit into it for them in the right time is, is what it's gonna be, right? Like, still cheerleading, still being like, I just want people to make the best version of what they think what they're doing is, right?

• 43:52Speaker 02

  And I've met so many directors like that, and Craig was one of them. Like Hustle and Flow, saw that movie, was like, I have to meet this guy. He's so talented. And we loved each other, you know? But it took 20 years to do a movie together.

• 44:09Josh Horowitz?

  We're sadly almost out of time, Kate, but we're gonna end with this. We end the podcast with the happy, sad, confused, profoundly random questions.

• 44:15Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 44:15Josh Horowitz?

  For some, okay. I think, I know the answer to this, I hope. Dogs or cats?

• 44:20Speaker 02

  Dogs.

• 44:22Josh Horowitz?

  Big time, right?

• 44:23Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 44:23Josh Horowitz?

  Your dog family, the whole fam, right? Yeah.

• 44:26Speaker 02

  We have like a thousand dogs. If anybody's seen Seems Like Old Times, which is my mom, she's got a thousand, that's like how I grew up, and we're all like that, all the kids. Too many dogs. It's, it's.

• 44:39Josh Horowitz?

  Just so you know, you've done the podcast. I have just launched this week my celebrity and dog talk show. I kid you not.

• 44:45Speaker 02

  Stop it. I have four, so I'm in.

• 44:49Josh Horowitz?

  Okay. I'll hold you to it.

• 44:50Speaker 02

  I am a thousand percent in. And they're all rescues, except for one, but I consider him really a rescue. But, so that's for the other.

• 45:00Josh Horowitz?

  We'll save that conversation for the next time. Okay. What do you collect, if anything?

• 45:04Speaker 02

  Oh, my gosh. I love collecting things. I collect guitars. I love, I love guitars. And I, I collect.

• 45:15Speaker 02

  Little boxes, like Limoges boxes or little pill boxes. Anything that's little that opens, I love and I collect and everywhere I am in the world, I make sure, especially if it's a new place, that I get something from there and I do that. And I collect Armae's scarves.

• 45:35Josh Horowitz?

  Very nice. Do you have a favorite video game of all time, something from childhood that you played?

• 45:39Speaker 02

  I mean, I was like, I was like a Mario Brothers 90, you know, 90s kid. So that was really my, and then after that, video games weren't my thing.

• 45:52Josh Horowitz?

  What's the wallpaper on your phone, Kate?

• 45:56Speaker 02

  Right now, it's my daughter and my nephew Boom, Wyatt and Meredith's youngest.

• 46:06Josh Horowitz?

  Who's the last actor you were mistaken for, if it ever happens?

• 46:09Speaker 02

  Oh, my God, all the time. It's always a different Kate. It's, it's, I'm either Kate Blanchett, I'm either Kate Holmes, Katie Holmes, I'm either Kate Winslet.

• 46:21Speaker 02

  But looks wise, I get Drew a lot. People think I'm all the time.

• 46:30Speaker 02

  Yeah, but it's usually like Kate Blanchett and I'm like, yes, yes, I am. I would love to be Kate Blanchett today. So, yes.

• 46:41Josh Horowitz?

  What's the worst noted director has ever given you?

• 46:49Speaker 02

  I don't know, just something else.

• 46:54Josh Horowitz?

  Whatever that was, don't do that. Let's try something else.

• 46:56Speaker 02

  I'll tell you who it was, because I love this. It was the Russo Brothers and we were doing, we were doing Yumi and Dupree and it was Anthony, it was Ant. And he kept coming up and he didn't know what he wanted and it was like this silly little scene. And he finally comes up and goes, and I go, I go, Anthony, what do you, like, what do you want, though? Like, because I want to give you what you want. We've done this now like a million times. He's like, I don't know, just something else. I mean, left and I was like, what is that direction? Um, like, just give me like an adjective, like something. It was so funny. So I say that with love because it was such a funny direction.

• 47:39Speaker 02

  Um, I don't know, just something else, which meant made me feel incredibly insecure. Like, I, I can't give this. I can't give him what he needs. Um, but, uh, but those guys were really fun to work with, so.

• 47:53Josh Horowitz?

  It's worked out for, for all of you guys. And, and finally, in the spirit of happy, sad, confused. An actor who always makes you happy. You see him on screen, you're in a better mood.

• 48:01Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 48:01Josh Horowitz?

  Jumps to mind.

• 48:03Speaker 02

  Um, the first person that just popped in my head was Catherine Hahn.

• 48:10Josh Horowitz?

  Love it. She is a beam of light in the universe.

• 48:12Speaker 02

  She was like, she was the first one. I was like, she always makes me happy.

• 48:16Josh Horowitz?

  A movie that makes you sad.

• 48:20Speaker 02

  Oh, I mean Shawshank is like the ultimate sad for me. That was like the one as a kid that really was like, maybe the first one that really made me like sit and like as an adult, like cry, adult cry. Um, also, um,

• 48:46Speaker 02

  uh, Terms of Endearment, it just always gets me, that movie.

• 48:50Josh Horowitz?

  That's kind of my go-to, I always say.

• 48:52Speaker 02

  It's just, it's just like.

• 48:54Josh Horowitz?

  In a good way. Yeah.

• 48:56Speaker 02

  Oh, I just can't handle it.

• 48:59Josh Horowitz?

  Uh, and finally, a food that makes you confused. You don't get it. Why do people eat that?

• 49:03Speaker 02

  A food?

• 49:04Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 49:05Speaker 02

  Oh, oh, Marmite?

• 49:08Josh Horowitz?

  Yeah.

• 49:08Speaker 02

  Or, it's like, I'm like that, I'm like, it's so weird how you either hate it or you like love it. And it is so gross to me. And I love, I love food. Also, um, there's this Japanese, um, food, I think it's called Natto.

• 49:28Josh Horowitz?

  I don't know. Okay.

• 49:30Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's called Natto and it's like a fermented, oh, I can't even say it.

• 49:36Speaker 02

  It's and anybody I you know, listen, my partner's half Japanese. So um, you know, so any anybody who like grew up in a Japanese household knows what I'm talking about right now. It's a I think it's a fermented soybean. Yeah, NATO, N A T T O. And it's a traditional fermenting of soybeans. And it's

• 50:04Speaker 02

  I can't even like, I can't be in the same room if someone says that and it's there. It like makes me like it does it like I have like a body

• 50:12Josh Horowitz?

  I see it. I see what's happening right now. I hope there's no NATO or Marmite in the Oscar nominee gift basket this year for your

• 50:20Speaker 02

  Oh, God.

• 50:23Speaker 02

  If someone wants to like play a prank on me, that's what to do.

• 50:28Josh Horowitz?

  Um, congratulations on all the well deserved love.

• 50:32Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 50:32Josh Horowitz?

  For Sung Sung Blue. You kill it in this. Have a blast Oscar night.

• 50:36Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 50:37Josh Horowitz?

  And truly, I'm so thrilled. Finally, we got you on the pod and and next stop, the dog show.

• 50:42Speaker 02

  I can't wait. And thank you for all your support. You're the best.

• 50:47Speaker 05

  And so ends another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. Remember to review, rate, and subscribe to this show on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm a big podcast person. I'm Daisy Ridley, and I definitely wasn't pressured to do this by Josh.

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