Kate Hudson – This Had Oscar Buzz

282 – Music (Patreon Selects)

On top of all the horrors of the pandemic, let’s not forget that that time also gave us cringe cinema directed by Sia. This week, we come to you with another Patreon Selects, where sponsor listener Stuart has tasked us with that very film. Initially shot in 2017, Sia’s Music cast Kate Hudson as a troublesome drug dealer tasked with taking over the care of her younger autistic sister, played by Sia protege Maddie Ziegler. The ill-conceived film earned a deserved firestorm of outcry for Sia not casting a neurodivergent performer and the singer’s initial dismissive reactions to the controversy, but then earned two shock Golden Globe nominations in the Musical/Comedy categories.

This episode, we unpack all that makes this our presumed worst film we have yet to discuss. We also talk about supporting star Leslie Odom Jr.’s presence in the film in the same season as his dual Oscar nominations for One Night in Miami…, Hudson’s newfound music career, and the films that the Globes could have sensibly nominated in Music‘s place.

Topics also include whatever the hell Mary Kay Place is doing in this movie, Hudson and Odom Jr. in Glass Onion, and the current hideous Globe statue.

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100 Years, 100… Snubs! – Part Four

The penultimate episode of our May miniseries is here! And this week, we are returning to a few repeat boot victims and some of our favorite oft-discussed films and performances. This round of snubs and boots includes terrifying bundles of sticks (cough), being 4′8″ and dying, codpieces, visions of the afterlife, lump twins, Mike Leigh performers, Spike Lee performers, horror movies, the upcoming live action The Little Mermaid, and lots more!

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205 – The Four Feathers

Long-time listeners of the podcast will recognize this week’s episode as one promised from the very beginning! In 2002, The Four Feathers arrived with major Oscar follow-up and star-on-the-rise pedigree. The film was Shekhar Kapur’s directorial follow-up to the Oscar anointed (and Cate Blanchett launching) Elizabeth, and starred three of the biggest young would-be megastars in its love triangle: Heath Ledger, Wes Bentley, and Kate Hudson. But on top of being one of many cinematic versions of A.E.W. Mason’s, the film bored critics and audiences when it world premiered as a TIFF gala, and fizzled entirely upon release a few weeks later.

This week, we talk about its three headliners at critical points of their careers: Ledger being foisted onto traditional leading man roles, Hudson following her Almost Famous Oscar nomination, and Bentley trying to escape that floating plastic bag. We also talk about Kapur’s dual Elizabeth films, the film’s supporting male cast of recognizable faces, and the film’s apolitical stance post-9/11.

Topics also include sideburns, the film’s brownface makeup, and Ledger’s final stretch of roles.

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106 – Dr. T and the Women

This episode, we’re returning to the career of Robert Altman for one of the most bizarre films we’ve ever discussed. With a stacked female cast surrounding Richard Gere as a beloved Texan gynecologist, 2000′s Dr. T and The Women baffled audiences straight to its well-earned F CinemaScore. Erased from our memories one year later by the Oscar success of Gosford Park, this film lacks Altman’s distinct touch and interesting characters before it (literally) drives into a bizarre conclusion.

With a cast that also includes Helen Hunt, Kate Hudson, Tara Reid, Laura Dern, and a nude Farrah Fawcett frollicking in a mall fountain, Dr. T makes good on little of its promise. We look at Richard Gere’s screen persona prior to his near-nomination for Chicago, Altman’s stint in director jail post-Popeye, and how this film factored into the year’s narratives for Hunt and Hudson.

Topics also include the brief life of Artisan Entertainment, rich lady mall culture, and assassination tours.

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092 – Le Divorce (with Bobby Finger) (Naomi Watts – Part One)

We kick off our Nao-May miniseries this week with contemporary Merchant Ivory misfire Le Divorce. After missing out on a nomination for Mulholland Drive, Naomi Watts’ first foray with prestige filmmaking was this literary adaptation about two American sisters in Paris caught in the cultural crossfires of French perspectives on love and legality. Opposite the shared Oscar potential of Kate Hudson, the film’s marketing promised a fun and sexy romp and delivered a dull and fangless mild satire. Watts would go on to earn her first Oscar nomination later in the year for 21 Grams, leaving this film as a footnote to her success.

Returning guest and Who Weekly co-host Bobby Finger joins us to discuss how Le Divorce fails to serve Watts’ growing screen career and how her work in The Ring is underrated. We also look back at the career of Kate Hudson and the 2003 Best Actress race that had two heavy-hitting frontrunners that likely left Watts in a distant third place.

Topics also include handbags with history, recommendations while working at Blockbuster, and “Cinema Italiano”.

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