Kate Hudson and Hugh Jackman got the band back together at AFI Fest on Sunday night, debuting their new film Song Sung Blue, in which they star as two down-on-their-luck performers who form a Neil Diamond tribute act.
It’s a real-life story of a couple who never let the dream die, as the two actors tapped into their musical sides. Hudson praised her scene partner on the red carpet, telling The Hollywood Reporter, “It’s hard not to feel magic with Hugh; he’s a magical, sparkly man. He’s got this very youthful spirit, and his generosity of spirit is wide and large. So I feel like it’s hard not to fall in love with him; he’s really wonderful.”
Recalling when the pair sang together for the first time, Hudson said, “We got in there and I think it was like finding the vibe because it’s one thing to record for a recording, it another thing to record for live, which is what we were doing; it was kind of fun to find the imperfections and what we were going to be doing on the day. It was a great way to get to know each other for us too because we’re in the studio for hours — before we got to go on set and play this very intimate married couple, we got to spend good time together” working on the music.
Writer-director Craig Brewer added his perspective on that day, remembering, “That was magical, it really was. Getting them into the studio for the first time, watching them sing harmony for each other, it was just beautiful.”
Brewer continued that when they got to shooting the film, “the whole crew just said the same thing — they were like, ‘This is what we wanted, we just didn’t know we wanted it.’ And it was just infectious; everybody on the set every day would just gather around the screens and just see this chemistry between the two of them.”
Song Sung Blue hits theaters Dec. 25.
Tiffany Taylor contributed to this report.
