Kate Hudson is no stranger to the romantic comedy genre, however with Warner Bros Pictures' Something Borrowed she takes on a very different character than her usual bubbly, romcom type. Hudson stars as Darcy, a narcissistic young woman who, despite her personality, is getting ready to marry a handsome lawyer named Dex (Colin Egglesfield). Her best friend, Rachel (Ginnifer Goodwin), has actually been in love with Dex for years, and as the wedding date approaches, the strain of holding in that secret is too much for Rachel to bear.
Based on the book by Emily Giffin, Something Borrowed was directed by Luke Greenfield and also stars John Krasinski, Steve Howey, and Ashley Williams.
Together to chat about the film at the LA press junket, Hudson and Egglesfield talked about taking on the lead roles of a couple who aren't really meant to be together in Something Borrowed.
On the appeal of being 'Darcy' in Something Borrowed:
Kate Hudson: "She was fun. At the time I really didn’t want to work. I didn’t want to do anything. [I] definitely wasn’t pregnant. I was not pregnant but Hilary [Swank] and Molly Smith the producer came over and were like, 'Just read the book.' I didn’t even look at it because I was like, 'No, I’m not working, I’m not working.' I started reading the book and Darcy was just such a hilarious character to me because she’s just so deeply self-centered. I’d never really played a part like that before so I kind of thought, 'Well, this is going to be fun.'” And hopefully in a sequel get to take that character and really, really turn her around."
"There’s two books. There’s a book called Something Blue. and in that she is pregnant and she goes through all these hormonal changes and loses everybody and has to re-establish what she is and who she is and who she’s been. It’s a good book, but I got excited about the character and then for this one, it was just a blast because I got to kind of just [riff]."
On why she was ready to take a break from acting:
Kate Hudson: "Because I had just finished a movie. I had just gone from doing Nine and then I went and did a film called Earthbound, and then I just came home and I was ready to be home. But they shot in New York. It was one of those things where the decisions become really about where you are sometimes, and where it’s going to take you and the family and everything. This was just one of those things where it kind of all worked out perfect."
On playing the character who gets the best lines:
Kate Hudson: "Well, she gets to say all the things that nobody else wants to say. That’s why I liked this part was because she’s sort of that. It is challenging to take a character that is just written very unlikeable. [...]It was very easy to make her the villain. Then it would make it easier for them, for Dex and Rachel. I thought it was really more real and interesting if you made all the characters who they are but somewhat likable. It makes you question the whole dilemma, I think."
On her character's attitude and lust for life:
Kate Hudson: "I think she likes to have fun. I just think it’s on her terms. She’s the kind of person that if people don’t want to go where she wants to go, she’ll sulk all night. Then she’ll be funny but talk about how much better the place that she’d want to go would be. She’s just so all about her."
On not having experienced a friend like Darcy in real life:
Kate Hudson: "Maybe because I grew up with parents who I was always watching people with my parents and I had a very good objective opinion on how people treated my parents at times, that I have a pretty good radar for bullsh**. So I don't think I’ve ever been in that situation, really. I also have that thing where I feel like any situation you find yourself in, you have to take responsibility for it yourself. If you’re in a relationship with a friend who’s using you, you have to take some responsibility for not recognizing that that’s what they were doing. I don't know, but no, I’ve never had a situation similar like this."
On the film's approach to infidelity and whether two wrongs ever make a right:
Kate Hudson: "The whole tit for tat thing? Me personally, I just say nothing’s forgivable if it’s not honest. It’s hard to forgive. I shouldn’t say forgive. It’s hard to go back to something, to trust people who’ve been dishonest. Forgiving is actually, I think, an important thing to do - but I don't know."
Colin Egglesfield: "I think it’s possible. I’ve seen it just from a relationship with married couples who have survived where one of them did cheat, and it definitely, like Kate was saying, it can’t go back to how it used to be. There’s some sort of innocence lost, but if two people are willing to talk about it and through that experience gain some sort of better understanding of each other and want to make it work, then I’ve seen where it can work."
On her dance scene with Ginnifer Goodwin:
Kate Hudson: "When we were doing it at first, it was one of those things where I thought, 'Okay, here comes that moment in a movie where we dance.' Ginny and I were like, 'Do we really feel like…if this is bad, can we please cut this out of this movie?' Then we started doing it and it brought back so many memories of doing routines as a little girl for us, for me and Ginnifer. For me it was Janet Jackson and Rhythm Nation. I remember specifically the routine that me and my friends would do to that dance and I went, 'Oh, this is so what we do.' It really is, at least for me and Ginny, girls who were little dancer-type show girls. So it did actually end up feeling right."
On her dance scene with Steve Howey who plays Marcus the womanizer in Something Borrowed:
Kate Hudson: [Pointing to Colin] "He was in that scene."
Colin Egglesfield: "I was there."
Kate Hudson: "But you weren’t the one."
Colin Egglesfield: "Well, I was the guy that she left to go over and do the sandwich. This was kind of a tricky role because you got such talented people like Kate and John [Krasinski] and Ginny. My character is kind of this guy who’s, I don’t want to say the backbone, but it seems like I couldn’t do too much because I couldn’t be too charming. Then I look like an *sshole if I’m trying to move on two girls. Whereas it was like we kind of played with it a little bit and I felt like I was giving the most muted, boring performance because I felt like I couldn’t do anything. This guy is struggling to figure out what he’s trying to do. When I saw it, I was like, 'There’s so much going on around him that it kind of balances it out. But I was kind of jealous of everyone else because it seemed like everyone else was having so much fun. I’m just standing there like..."
Kate Hudson: "Angst ridden. Like, 'Oh my God. I’m having such a hard time.''
Colin Egglesfield: "No, I’m having a great time, ugh. To be or not to be! So yeah, it was a great experience but I was also a little jealous that everyone else was having so much fun and I was in the corner."
Kate Hudson: "John and I have some good outtakes that we just would go, because the whole thing with John and I, what was fun for us on the peripheral, being that you guys were the A story, we got to actually sort of talk about what our relationships and how they were behind it. It was really fun for us because we got to go into, 'Okay, if we get to the sequel, if we get to the Something Blue book.'" [spoiler deleted]
On the possibility of starring in a Linda Lovelace movie next:
Kate Hudson: "Yeah, it’s still in the works. [...] It’s a great role. It’s a very, very, very heavy script. She had an interesting life. I think the script is really interesting because it’s nonlinear in the way it’s written. It portrays sort of an outside perspective of what she is and then it sort of takes you through a journey of what really was happening. As a real person, her life is quite controversial because you don’t really know when doing the research and looking into who she really was, she dealt with a lot of abuse and obviously a very difficult childhood which brought her into this world of pornography. But there is still that question of was she really being held at gunpoint to do this or was this really a choice of hers? She ended up doing a lot of feminist movement work with Gloria Steinem and stuff. It’s a really interesting role and I look forward to doing it."
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Something Borrowed hits theaters on May 6, 2011.
