The Hugh and Kate hype train gets going

Song Sung Blue, directed by Craig Brewer and starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson as a husband-and-wife Neil Diamond tribute band, opens in theatres Christmas Day, the kind of tear-jerker, crowd-pleaser that’s perfect for that time of year. 

The film premiered at AFI Fest last night, finally. And I say finally because for a couple of months now, Kate’s been showing up on all kinds of Oscar predictions lists, even though no one had seen the movie up to that point. And some people were side-eyeing this. After all, while Kate Hudson is regular at awards shows – few people love opening an envelope as much as she does – it’s been a long time since she was a serious award show contender. (We’re going to hear a lot about Almost Famous in the coming months. Can’t wait for TikTok to discover this movie and act like they’re the first generation to appreciate it.) Needless to say, her campaign has been working behind the scenes to get her into the Oscar discourse. 

First reactions coming out of the screening last night are largely positive for both Hugh and Kate. Many are saying this is the best performance of her career. If you believe the conspiracy theorists on Reddit, though, it’s giving payola – as in Peske owned media all pushing her as a contender. I don’t know if that’s fair, and besides, I trust Kristy Puchko at Mashable, who gave Song Sung Blue a glowing review. That said, Kate is in no way a frontrunner here, the nomination would probably the win, considering Jessie Buckley in Hamnet, right now, seems like the one to beat at this stage in the race. All the more reason for Kate to really get out there and hustle – and I don’t mind it. She won’t be pretending she doesn’t want it and I’d much rather that than the alternative. In fact, she and Jennifer Lopez should get together for an SNL sketch about this. Oscar thirst, make it funny, put it out there, for all the try-hards of the world. 

Here are Kate and Hugh on the carpet last night. She did not wear blue, for Song Sung Blue, but she did match her dress to the poster.