Kate Hudson on breaking away from ‘good girl’ roles: Did she choose “The Skeleton Key” because it wasn’t another romantic comedy or a film where she plays the innocent girl next door? Hudson said that wasn’t really the motiviating factor in taking on “The Skeleton Key.”
“Not initially. I wasn’t looking for a thriller or something. I wanted to work with interesting people. That’s always my hope and desire. But this came and I read it and I loved the script so much. …I was shooting ‘Raising Helen’ when I read the script. I kind of picked it up, it was sent to me saying you have to read this and read it fast. I said okay and I picked it up at a lunch break and skimmed the first page. Before I knew it, I was done. I’d finished the script in probably 45 minutes.
I was shocked at the idea that it’s basically a four-hander picture. There’s five people in the whole movie and it’s a character-driven thriller that ends unexpectedly and boldly, and a Hollywood studio is going to actually make it… I thought it was just so refreshing to me. Then after the initial response to the script, I went, ‘I have never done a thriller and it will just be really fun for me to heave and pant and run and climb and break windows and scream every once in a while.’ And also it lends itself to a lot of heavier work. The scene where I run into the house and I’m tied up, it was a lot of character work that was really fun for me to be able to do. It was a real change, it’s very different.”
Kate Hudson on relating to her character in “The Skeleton Key:” “It’s funny, I guess I approach all work no matter what type of movie or character the same way. Then there are just some times you have to reach into places that are a little less familiar on a day to day basis in certain characters and others. For this character, it was actually quite accessible to play her. My fears were very accessible to tap into, very accessible to understand why somebody would move to a city because of music or because of a passion. And she’s strong minded and a little tough. I feel like she’s the kind of girl who’s okay being alone even though it might be a little lonely. She’s okay with that and I’m like that. So there’s a lot of things that I really could relate to.”
Hudson on how “The Skeleton Key” changed her view of the supernatural: “It didn’t because I’ve always believed in spirits and supernatural and ghosts. I’ve always believed in that stuff.”
Hudson confirms a few strange things happened on the set of “The Skeleton Key.” “There was always a camera broken, which was really weird. And the cinematographer would just be like, ‘This is the weirdest thing…’ We had three cameras and different ones usually wouldn’t work, pretty much every day.
The only time I felt any kind of vibe was when we were doing the spell scene with John [Hurt]. I kind of felt a little bit, especially when we were doing the master shot, the whole scene. There was a moment when he finally said cut it was kind like, ‘Wow, that was weird.’ It felt like we were calling on some kind of weird energy.”
Kate Hudson on “The Skeleton Key’s” ending: Don’t worry, this won’t spoil the film! The answer doesn't reveal the ending of the movie. Hudson simply talks about whether she believed the studio would actually use the ending they shot or if they’d make them shoot an alternate version.
“I think for everybody [there was kind of like [an uncertainty]. But the only saving grace of that - knowing and having a little bit of inkling that it could never happen - is that’s the whole movie. The payoff for this movie is the ending. If it was any different, it wouldn’t be nearly as fun. But it is bold and as I said, yeah, there was a little fear.”
In real life, would she open a secret door? “No. I wouldn’t even set foot probably in the attic stairwell. I probably would have seen that stair way and gone, ‘Hahaha, somebody else can do this because you can go get your own trillions or whatever.’ But no, I’m kind of a nosey person. If I could look into nooks and crannies of people’s lives and find out more about them, just because I like to observe people and their weird secrets and tendencies. So if it opened some kind of little box, I’d probably snoop around in the box. But not something like a door in a dark room.”
PAGE 2: Kate Hudson on Filming in New Orleans, Working with Gena Rowlands, and Being a New Mom
