Kate Hudson

Posted on 6 November 2023by Tony CrawleyCategories:Actors

AJ Langer, Escape From LA, 1996. Kate turned down playing the rebellious daughter of US president Cliff Robertson because the hero was Snake Plissken aka Dad, aka Kurt Russell. “I didn’t want to be professionally associated with my dad. I just wanted to see if I could do the audition.” Russell’s son, Wyatt, did not mind – he was given a walk-on with Pa.
Mena Suvari, American Beauty, 1998. Welcome to Hollywood…! For his first LA movie – for a producer called Spielberg! – UK stage director Sam Mendes saw all the current young Hollywood babes for Kevin Spacey’s Lolita-esque infatuation (she was even called… not Haze, but Hayes). And he was turned down by Hudson, Kirsten Dunst, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Alyson Hannigan, Katie Holmes, Brittany Murphy, Leelee Soboeski – and Tiffani Thiessen lost her audition. That’s not Mena on the poster, though; the hand and stomach belong to actress-model Chloe Hunter.
Jennifer Aniston, Office Space, 1998. Auteur Mike Judge didn’t want stars – so bye-bye Matt Damon. But Fox,having ordered Car Wash in an office, wanted at least one recognisable being. Kate was seen but Jennifer became Joanna (her own middle name). As she also starred in Horrible Bosses, 2010, she could be the called the midwife of both office satires.
Kelly Rutherford, Scream 3, 1999 Hudson won Christine Hamilton – and then lost it to a to a Vegas-born Vegas dancer who said (of course, she did): “You can take the girl out of Vegas, but you can’t take Vegas out of the girl.” Also in the mix were: Jennifer Connelly, Shannen Doherty, Alyssa Milano, Denise Richards, Keri Russell, Rachel True, Liv Tyler and Kate Winslet.
Brittany Murphy, Girl, Interrupted, 1999. One Flew into the Cuckoo’s nest… stems from Susanna Kaysen’s memoir. She committed herself to a psychiatric institution and was kept there for two years, although she was quite sane. Chicago critic Roger Ebert said Winona Ryder) (also exec producer) and the support Oscar-winning Angelina Jolie – as Susanna and the sociopath Lisa – were the reasons to see the film, although “their work here deserves a movie with more reason for existing.” Most other patients were teenage girls, played by rising young Hollywood actresses in their 20s – Angela Bettie and Jillian Armenante even played 22 at age 31. Why? Because, said Rose McGowan, “It’s the only decent thing out there that doesn’t involve taking your clothes off.”
Zooey Deschanel, Almost Famous, 2000. During her Christmas college break, Zooey read for the casting director, got a call-back, did an improv with writer-director Cameron Crowev and… zilch. Hudson won Anita, the hero’s sister. Then, Sarth Polley dropped out and Hudson ) persuaded Crowe that she, too, could be the “Band Aide” called Penny Lane. “They were frantically trying to find Anita. Cameron went back through his tapes…. called me back in…. didn’t even know that Kate Hudson and I went to high school together. She was a year older than me. We had a couple of classes together.’
Angelina Jolie, Lara Croft, Tomb Raider, 2000.For the girls, Lara Croft is their James Bond. Well, more of a sexy Indiana Jones. And 22 hopefuls wanted to bringther sassy, video-game adventurer to life. Demi More was, perhaps, the most keen, but who was simply disregarded. Christina Applegate, Drew Barrymore, Victoria Beckham, Sandra Bullock, Cameron Diaz, Nicole Eggert, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Kate Hudson (!), Elizabeth Hurley, Ashley Judd, Jennifer Lopez, Gwneth Paltrow, Anna Nicole Smith (a joke, surely), Catherine Zeta-Jones were considered. Fairuza Balk, Natalie Cassidy, Kirsten Dunst and Milla Jovovich auditioned while Denise Richards, Charlize Theron, Uma Thurman and Liv Tyler simply refused. And Lara’s guy (who fled the sequel) was Daniel Craig – complete with a Walther PPK pistolthat he would use again as 007 in Casino Royale, 2005.
Kirsten Dunst, Spider-Man, 2001.
Anne Hathaway, The Princess Diaries, 2001. Among 22 youngstars (Jessica Alba to Reese Witherspoon) rejecting the awkward San Francisco teenager being groomed (by Julie Andrews!) to inherit the Genovia throne – after director Garry Marshall’s (rather surprising) first choice of Juliette Lewis quit. And so, Hathaway made her first movie.
Scarlett Johansson, Girl With A Pearl Earring, 2003. “She pursued us for this,” said producer and Brit director Mike Newell chose her opposite Ralph Fiennes’ Vermeer. They both followed when Mike had to quit the project. Scarlett was painted by Colin Firth.
Bryce Dallas Howard, The Village, 2003. When Kirsten Dunst split to Cameron Crowe’s (weak) Elizabethtown, auteur M Night Shymalan started a revised Ivy wish-list: BDH, Hudson, Jessica Biel. And when Ashton Kutcher quit being Noah due to an overcrowded diary, auteur M Night Shymalan started a revised wish-list: Brody, Christensen, Aaron Eckhart, Thomas Jane. Brody had something the others didn’t. An Oscar. (Plus a tendency to over-act).
Christina Ricci, Monster, 2003. Rejected a cracking role – lesbian lover of Charlize Theron’s Oscar-winning transformation as Daytona Beach hooker-cum-serial killer Aileen Wuornos.
Kate Bosworth, Superman Returns, 2005.
Jodie Foster, Inside Man, 2005. Kate rejected Spike Lee’s invite with good reason. She’d read the script, Chicago critic Rogert Ebert saw the film and still didn’t know who or what Madeleine was. “She is never convincingly explained, and what she does is not well-defined. She’s one of those characters who is all buildup and no delivery” in a a thriller “that’s curiously reluctant to get to the payoff.”
Jacinda Barrett, The Namesake, 2006. Both Kate and Natalie Portman were talked about to join Bollywoodienne Tabu – by India’s sole international film-maker, Mira Nair.
Amanda Seyfried, Mamma Mia! 2008. Goldie Hawn’s daughter tried out to be Meryl Streep’s… Oh, Hollywood!
Olivia Wilde, Butter, 2010. Hudson suddenly preferred Something Borrowed, and Wilde took over as hooker Brooke Swinkowski in a dark comedy about, of all topics,… butter sculpting. No, really
Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn, 2010. Obviously the toughest casting of this memoir about the making of The Prince and the Showgirl in London, 1956, was not Laurence Olivier (like Kenneth Branagh,who else?) but the mythical Marilyn. Candidates included Hudson, Amy Adams, British Laura Haddock, Tennesse’s Elaine Hendrix and Scarlett Johansson.Williams was Oscar-nominated superb! But for Kate, what came after MM. You’ll be surprised…
Amanda Seyfried, Lovelace , 2011. Now they wanted Goldie Hawn’s daughter as Linda Lovelace!!! But no, Kate proved pregnant – and Olivia Wilde (who had earlier subbed Kate in Butter) proved doubtful about the biopic of the star of Deep Throat, the surprise 1972 porno-chic phenomenon attracting millions to screenings – including Hollywood gentry Warren Beatty, Johnny Carson, Sammy Davis Jr, Jack Nicholson, etc. Film centered on Linda (ex-Borman) and her abusive “manager”-husband, Chuck Traynor who, she maintained, forced her into porn – at gunpoint. On divorcing him, she became an ardent anti-porn crusader. Throat cost peanuts and made a global $600m-plus, probably the most profitable movie ever produced. Seyfried and Peter Sarsgaard played the couple – killing off a rival biopic, Inferno, planned for Malin Akerman and Matt Dillon. Seyfried dutifully watched Deep Throat for research. “What surprised me was the amount of pubic hair!”
Nicole Kidman, Grace of Monaco, 2012. From Marilyn and Linda to Grace Kelly… now there”s a stretch! Also in the frame for Hollywood’s serene princess were: Hudson, Amy Adams, Elizabeth Banks, Emily Blunt, Jessica Chastain, January Jones, Gwyneth Paltrow, Rosamund Pike, Charlize Theron, Reese Witherspoon. But not Christina Applegate, the young Grace on TV in 1983 when Cheryl Ladd was the older. None of them resembled Her Serene Highness, but then nor did Tim Roth look like Prince Rainier.
Amy Adams, Big Eyes, 2013. The true tale of the US painter Margaret Keane and the husband who claimed credit for all her work (Colette’s husband Willy did the same about her books) was first aimed at Kate Hudson-Thomas Haden Church, then Reese Witherspoon-Ryan Reynolds and, finally, Amy Adams and the German double-Oscar winner, Christoph Waltz. Their director, Tim, Burton, was a Keane art collector and commissioned portraias from her of his lovers, Helena Bonham Carter and Lisa-Marie.

Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 21

WELCOME

to the films the stars did not make. The movies that never were. The most definitive collation of casting stories. Check up on all the films - of yesterday, today and tomorrow - that your favourite stars never made... A cast of thousands - 8,063 actors - to click on... More than 40 years in the making! And 2,777,633 words of spirited text.

The ultimate in movie trivia ... Better! Exactly the kind of history that Hollywood deserves. Back to front. Upside-down. Inside out. Full of flashbacks, close-ups, tracking shots (and, alas some badly edited sequences - sorry about that!) forming a fascinating, new and often bizarre flip-side perspective on your treasured movies and stars

HE SAID

“They’re doing stuff, but not with me. I’m not doing any more.” – Adam Driver on no more Kylo Ren/Ben Solo ... Or is it that there will be no more Star Wars?

“I’ve been acting for 42 years and then you make one cocktail…” – Stanley Tucci on his new fame as a TV food and cookery expert.

"The point is it's very hard work and you have to really want to do it. It has to be something that you're burning to say." – Martin Scorsese on directing at 80 and thinking “possibly only one more”.

“Whether you are a competent actor, or an artist, is incidental. The main business is: you’re product. I had a hard time steadying myself against that stuff.” – Robert Redford.

“I’ve never done the same thing twice and how many people can say that?” – Tom Hanks… forgetting his two successive Oscars.

“I was so excited when I got the script for Silent Night. There’s no dialogue in the entire movie! I thought this would be very good for me because it lets me use my gifts for telling a story visually. – John Woo on his Hollywood comeback at 77.

“I’ve gotta be nice about Marvel movies, because I named myself after a Stan Lee character named Luke Cage. What am I going to do, put Marvel movies down? Stan Lee is my surrealistic father.” – Nic Cage.

“The man who invented mornings was no Christian.” – Peter O’Toole.

“The moustache did the acting.” – Anthony Hopkins on Howards End.

“It’s very difficult to get 100 million people to watch anything,” – writer-director Joe Russo.

“I gave him a little part in Looper, where he got to be shot in the face by Bruce Willis. He was just so overjoyed… like a little kid.” – director Rian Johnson on his father.

“I'm not an actor - and I've got 64 films to prove it!” – Victor Mature.

“If you cast it right, you don’t have to tell the actors what to do.” – John Huston.

CCC CLIPS

>> Name Game. James Spader really started something with his Blacklist series. He played – remember? – Reddington. And now we have Austin Butler and, Emma Stone are in making Eddington… and newbie Glenn Powell is Huntingdon, his tenth gig since Top Gun: Maverick. Perhaps it’s time to re-issue Carrington… with, among others, Steven Waddington!

>> Christopher Nolan says “No, sadly no – no truth to those rumours.” About making the next Bond. So, no Cillian Murphy as Jimbo, then?

>> Rolling Stone. Those Poor Things, Emma Stone and Willem Dafoe, are – naturally – in the next release of their Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos. It’s Emma’s third Yorgos collaboration. Most likely she’ll be in his next one, too, a re-make of the South Korean hit, Save the Green Planet. That was a comedy. But one can never categorise a Lanthimos experience. After all this one was first titled… And.

>> Taylor Swift’s guy, US football superstar Travis Kelce, is making moves on movies. To be as famous as Dwayne Johnson. Although people are now beginning to ask: Dwyane Whosis?

>>Brandon Routh was Superman back in the day. Today he’s in…Ick.

>> A star sure was born! Lady Gaga now getting $10million for Joker 2…

>> Sean Ono Lennon says Emma Stone should play his dad. Now there’s a thought. After all, Cate Blanchett played Bob Dylan…

>> Sly Stallone has come this far without bothering with serial killers but that’s what he’s chasing in The Epiphany. He plays a retiring cop - what else at 78?

>> Thirty years after the first, Neve Campbell returns in Scream 7. She refused #6 over a money row…

>> Beatles director Sam Mendes made Skyfall and Spectre and another actor who has played John Lennon, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, might yet be the next 007…

>> Ryan Gosling tipped to be join the Marvelverse. (They need him more than he them). Henry Cavill may follow – so definitely no Bond then. Not after Argylle. If anyone witnessed that accident, could they call the appropriate authorities.

>> Will Smith comes back (or so he hopes) in an almost suicide squad blasting drug dealers in Sugar Bandits… while Colin Farrell settles for just Sugar – back to his usual smoothie looks after The Penguin…

>> White Lotus 3 resurrects Parker Posey, Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Charlotte Le Bon, Scott Glenn and introduces Patrick Schwarzenegger. But which one is going to flash…something?

CHAMPION'S LEAGUE

The battle for the top spot between Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson has – I think – come to an end. Recently, we‘ve seen Marlon leading Jack by one or two movies – and then, almost immediately, vice-versa. The gap is much wider now between the former Mulholland Drive neighbours. Latest research dug up more titles for Jack - Mr Mom, A Christmas Story, Striptease, The Bicentennial Man, Expend4bles – so that he is now safe (?) at the top of league with 177 films he chose not to make compared to Brando’s 172. But you know - you never know…

(The full list of their huge lists of bypassed films are not on their pages for now - one of the hassles being tackled in our - yes, very slow! – restructuring).

Marlon Brando – 177
Jack Nicholson – 172
Paul Newman – 160
Cary Grant – 150
Robert De Niro – 140
Tom Cruise – 135
Dustin Hoffman – 126
Mel Gibson – 118
Sean Connery, Al Pacino – 117

Highest Brit remains, as always, Sir Sean at 117… followed by Laurence OIivier, 93; Richard Burton, 87; Peter O’Toole, 79; Elizabeth Taylor, 73; Peter Sellers, 72; Dirk Bogarde and James Mason, 68; Olivia De Havilland, 58; Vivien Leigh and Gary Oldman, 57.

Highest lady is Bette Davis, 97; Jodie Foster, 84; Michelle Pfeiffer, 81; Katharine Hepburn, 79; Julie Christie, 76; Meryl Streep, 75; Elizabeth Taylor, 73; Nicole Kidman, 72: Jane Fonda, 70; Julia Roberts, 68.

Younger Brigade: Johnny Depp 108; Leo, 75; Jim Carrey, 70; Madonna, 62; Natalie Portman, 57; Aishawarya Rai Bachchan, 40; Bridget Fonda, 36: Scarlett Johansson, Angelina Jolie, Uma Thurman, 35; Jake Gyllenhall, 33: Ben Affleck, 31.

(You'll find the full list at Champions in the Main Menu)

A BOND MISS

Is Léa Seydoux now a spy…or, to be more polite, a talent scout for Eon Productions? 007’s girl in both Spectre and No Time to Die appears to assisting the (rather quiet) search for the next Jimbo. In La bête (The Beast), one of her many new French films, Léa co-stars with Hammersmith’s George MacKay - Sam Mendes’ find for 1917. He learned French for the film, so this may not be his last Paris booking.

As Gabrielle and Louis, they work extremely well together as star-crossed lovers in three time-lines: 1904, 1914 and 2044. And he looks the business in his retro tuxedo. ‘Twould be fascinating to cast an eye over her report for Barbara Broccoli’s eyes only. On verra as Léa (and now even George) would say. We’ll see.

SHE SAID

“You need your parents to set boundaries and hold you accountable and keep you away from, like, weird people.” – Scarlett Johansson on surviving as a child actor.

“I was so deeply in love with Bella, it terrified me not to live up to her as a character. I felt like I was failing her in the first week, and failing Yorgos [Lanthimos]. ). It was just difficult. I could talk to him about it, but I couldn’t talk to her about it. “ – Emma Stone on making Poor Things, leading to her second Oscar.

“Everything was so beautiful up on that screen. That make-believe world was much more pleasant than anything I was experiencing. I didn’t like reality. I wanted to be in the movies, even though I knew I didn’t look like the other women on the screen. My mother said, ‘you better learn to type,’ but I didn’t listen. Somehow, some way, thank you God, it all came true.” – Barbra Streisand, receiving lifetime achievement honour from the Screen Actors Guild.

“If I arrive at a moment in the history of cinema where I am legally obliged to have some kind of police on my set telling me what I’m allowed to do, I would rather stop filming sex scenes completely.” – French director Mia Hansen-Løve.

“I’m not one to sit around doin’ nothin’, I would never retire, I’ll just hopefully drop dead in the middle of a song onstage, someday, hopefully one I’ve written.” – Dolly Parton.

“Playing it safe doesn’t necessarily get you anywhere. You have to take chances. especially if you’re a black woman. You have no choice.” – Halle Berry.

“The more famous an actress becomes, the less she's allowed to eat.” – Lana Turner.

“I don’t do T&A very well because I haven’t got much of either.” – Tea Leoni.

“I was an idiot in terms of career-building, but I had a great time.” – Sally Kellerman.

“As you get older, you realise your parents aren't these superheroes. They're actually people.” – Rumer Willis, daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore.

“Everybody thought I was crazy. And by the way, I thought I was crazy.” – Jennifer Lopez on spending $20m of her own money on making This Is Me … Now: A Love Story.

“It’s dangerous to repeat performances. It becomes the sole thing on your gravestone.” – Helen Mirren on playing The Queen in The Queen and on stage in The Audience.

“I think I was offered every Marilyn Monroe script ever. I was like: Is this the end of the road creatively?’” – Scarlett Johansson on surviving as a star.

WAIT & SEE...

This is such a busy year for movies that various releases have been postponed until 2025… Captain America: Brave New World, Bong Joon-ho’s Mickey 17, Games of Thrones spin-off The Hedge Knight (not about a gardener), Ke Huy Quan’s actioner With Love, John Wick’s spin-off, Ballerina, Fast X :part 2, Avatar 3, Jurassic World 4, Black Mirror 7, Mission: Impossible 8, Fantastic Four, Superman and the dreaded Michael bio – more like horror film, surely. Oh and no The Batman 2 or Harry P TV series until 2026.