On a rainy afternoon in an East Village noodle shop, Kate Hudson is swearing me to secrecy. “This is my favorite place,” she says as we sit down in an establishment that I agree to keep nameless. “Don’t tell anybody. Just call it a ‘mysterious favorite.’” As she settles in, pulling a thick off-white sweater over her head, she explains that she’s been a regular here since she lived in the neighborhood years ago; they bring her a Perrier before she even requests it. Though she’s based in Los Angeles, she’s almost always had a place somewhere in Manhattan — Gramercy, King Street, a grimy Chelsea loft with ex-husband Chris Robinson (a real-estate memory that delights her when I bring it up midway through our lunch). “Every time I go a couple years without a home base here, I feel a little off-center,” she says.
We’re here to talk about Hudson’s Best Actress Oscar nomination for Song Sung Blue, in which she plays Claire Sardina, a real-life Milwaukee hairdresser with big dreams who started a wildly popular Neil Diamond tribute band with her husband, Mike (played by Hugh Jackman). She landed the role after she appeared on CBS Sunday Morning to promote her first album, Glorious. Jackman saw the segment and texted director Craig Brewer, and Hudson signed on shortly after. It’s her first Oscar nomination since 2000’s Almost Famous — she was nominated at 21 for playing Penny Lane in the Cameron Crowe dramedy — and it’s being heralded as a comeback for the actress.
