Caffeinated Clint
Ashley here. Had a lovely conversation with two of the stars of the new romantic comedy “Something Borrowed” a couple of days ago. One needs no introduction, the other might. Kate Hudson is, of course, the daughter of screen queen Goldie Hawn and has herself carved out a nice career for herself starring in the likes of “Almost Famous”, “How to Lose A Guy in Ten Days” and “Nine”, newbie Colin Egglesfield hits the big screen after a short-lived stint on the – well, everyone’s stint on it was short-lived – doomed “Melrose Place” reboot that aired last year. In the film, based on the book of the same name, Hudson and Egglesfield play a to-be-married couple who, er, aren’t really suitable – for one, one of them is in love with someone else.
Kate you appear to have so much energy from start to finish, not all of its good.
Kate Hudson : But nonetheless, its really the glue that sort of moves the energy forward [Laughter]
Who do you see Darcy as then?
KH : I see her as an enormously self-centered young woman who doesn’t really recognize how self centered she is. She’s just kind of one of those girls for whom everything just comes her way easily and never had anybody sort of tell her that she needs to… Tell her down, you know? And I saw her as similar to a couple of people I know where they’re always fun to have around. You kind of love having them around because they make for a good time, they’ll be funny or they’ll say something crazy and they’ll say the things that you would never say, but at the end of the day they’re not your dependable friend. That’s how I see Darcy.
What are the qualities that you guys are looking for in a friend? Of course this is a movie about friendship and heartache but mostly about friendship too because… So what are the qualities that you guys are looking for in a friend and which are the boundaries that are, I mean, need to be kept?
Colin Egglesfield : Don’t sleep with her fiancé [Laughs].
KH: Don’t sleep with your fiancé’s best friend. Yeah.
And then what else?
CE : What makes a good friend? Truth, honesty…
KH: Yeah… Truth, honesty.
CE: Someone you feel you can depend on.
KH: Dependability. Yeah.
CE: Someone you vibe with.
KH: Yeah. Consistency.
CE : And that what’s so…
KH: Humor.
CE: Yeah. Exactly. But that’s what so depressing in this movie is that these two best friends, you see their friendship, you know, about to unravel because of what one did to the other. I mean it’s essentially stabbing one in the back, but it’s like, you know, that’s what this movie poses. What’s more important, your friends or your true love. And that’s… I don’t know if there’s an answer to it. I think it just depends on the relationship, the people… And in this case I think we did a very good job of realistically depicting what could happen in this situation. So its not your typical romantic comedy in the sense that these characters are rooted in I’d say more reality than your typical romantic comedy and I think a lot of people are going to be able to identify with these characters because I think this happens. It may not…
More often than people like would like to…
KH : Yeah. At least are thinking about it or you know, it’s like…
CE: I know a couple that ended up ten years married, the couples, both of them, that the wife of one couple with the husband of another ended up having an affair and leaving the couples and… . “Oh my god, how long has this been going on?” I think it happens more often than people like to admit. Unfortunately.
Didn’t Shania Twain?
KH: Oh I don’t read the tabloids. I have no idea what that’s all about. I don’t know. [laughter] I don’t know what that…That’s… Wow. I didn’t know that’s what was… Is that real or is that just a story? Wow!
CE: See, I think, I’m 38 years and I think that’s why I haven’t gotten married because I’ve been in certain… A couple of relationships where its gotten close, but there’s been that little bit of doubt where I haven’t been able to make that leap of faith because for me, I’m not the kind of person who can jump into something and say “Let’s just see how it goes. Let’s give it a shot.” I kind of feel like I need to have that feeling where, okay, this is the person who I want to spend the rest of my life with, and maybe I’m being a little too picky but I keep playing this character where you’re with someone who… I’ve been in that situation where I’ve been in a relationship with someone and I knew it was going on longer than it should have been, but because you’re so entrenched, you know each other’s families and you’ve gone on vacations and it’s just, you’re kind of like going with it, hoping that, you know… Well, maybe this is just the way it is. But for me life is too short for me personally and I can’t just settle because I do not want to be in this situation that Dex found himself in, where he’s like thinking it could be better with someone else. So…
KH: What is that thing? [laughter] That is like the weirdest contraption ever. It’s like you’ve got some setters…
It’s a Geiger counter.
KH: Oh, it’s so funny. What do you call this zoo?
It’s Q3.
KH : It’s kind of cool.
So it says you can do flip stuff on it, but you can get good, better sound.
KH: Yeah.
KH: Nice.
Tell us about your character for both of you, what really resonated with you when you read the script. What did you respond to?
KH: Well, for me, honestly in this movie, not much. For where the character was going in this movie. I thought the script was very good. And I loved the… For what will inevitably be cast as a romantic comedy, I felt like this is so far from a romantic comedy because this doesn’t have the same… I mean, cute. It’s actually like a subject matter that people are usually a little bit afraid to touch. And I don’t think they’re afraid of touches because it was such a successful book. And I think, it’s only people actually will walk out of it and kind of go like, ask the questions. And it becomes a fun conversation piece that will probably end up being an argument between boyfriend and girlfriend. [chuckle] You’ve seen the movie. But for my character for me, it was really about the two books, and where the next book were in Something Blue where Darcy and Ethan end up going. And I thought, what a great basis for a character. And it was good enough in one movie for me to sort of bet on it and hope that we get to do the next one. Because if all those readers go out and see this movie, we’ll get to do that next one. And that’s where Darcy sort of does a complete flip turnaround. And that’s, I think, that will be really, really fun. I’ll never have done that before, sort of taken that character and having a catharsis based on hormones and pregnancy and losing all your friends and ending up in a foreign country and trying to reinvent your life. And so that will be, hopefully, for me, that’s what really attracted me to the character.
Okay. What about you Colin.
CE: Because he ends up with the girl. [laughter] No, I mean, as an actor, you’re always looking for those roles that just have… Me personally, that right amount of realistic drama that where I feel like I’m going to learn something from doing this character, having that experience of living in this guy’s shoes and really finding out why he’s doing the things that he does, and through this whole experience and through most of their characters that I played, that’s why I love acting so much. It’s because I usually gain some insight that has helped me in my personal life, and to be able to… I mean, Emily has written such an amazing story, laid out such a great screenplay, that I just knew when I was reading it that this was something special, had the potential to be, hopefully, what we all hope it’s going to be.
Kate, you mentioned the book being the foundation for the characters and so forth. And I think about, How to Lose in 10 Days, that…
KH: Book. Yeah.
And this one. When you’re working… When you have the source material, does it give you more latitude to be creative? Or do you internalize it a different way?
KH : I think it depends on what you do, which were kind of book and what kind of character and stuff and the director. This one, I feel like it’s one… I mean, this one, when you read it, it’s pretty specific. And the following is just quite a devout following. You don’t really want to let them down too much. I think, we did take a different take on the character. Because you kind of… You’re condensing a 200-plus page book or 300, into an hour and 50 minutes. And you do have to take some license to sort of… You can’t give them everything. And sometimes, it doesn’t make for the best movie. So we kind of did… I mean, Darcy in the book is a much nastier character. She does nastier things, and I think that for the sake of the movie, we sort of made the decision and the choice to make her a little bit more likable so that it makes for a more interesting movie, rather than making it so easy for them to have the affair. You do… You still want it to be a little bit more challenging for the audience to go… And I think I did a pretty good job of that, the hard thing to do. Because you can really hate everybody, you know what I mean?
Yeah, just like in the book, Dex and Rachel end up sleeping together a lot more…
KH A lot more.
CE: Than in the movie. No one is that likable when you really look at… [laughter]
KH: But it does… I mean, again, when what I was saying, that does repose the question, which I liked about after we saw it and we were all talking about it, is that, you know, it’s kind of nice because, just because people do have… Or doing something that is morally incorrect for some people, which like myself, does it make them a bad person? And if they’re following their heart, it does kind of bring like if it’s really true love. If these two people end up going home to the rest of their lives and have a happy beautiful family, and you know, does it make them… Does that mean that… What would have happened if they didn’t break the rule? You know, you mean. Does that make it okay? Will Darcy one day realize that it really wasn’t, they really weren’t good together. It’s a funny thing because it does happen all the time you know.
Did it happen to you?
KH: No. I’ve never been in that situation.
There’s a 30th Birthday Party in the movie… were you excited turning 30 yourself?
KH: I was excited about it. Yeah. I thought 30 was an exciting birthday. My 20s, I’ve done so much in I’m 20s. I like charades, so I sat down and I remember writing about, before my 30th birthday, writing about the decade and you know writing about how I… All of the things I had done, and all of the things I’ve been through in my 20th and I was like shocked. I thought, “Wow, what an interesting time in my life.” That time is tumultuous and exhilarating and you know, difficult and… And so 30 to me, I felt that I don’t know, sort of calming to me for some reason. I felt like “Okay, I’m understanding more what I’m doing here now and what my focuses are and what makes me happy in all that.” So 30, to me, was exciting, but then again I’m going in to 30 of having a child and having been married and having had that experience already, you know, not work out the way you think it’s going to work out. And so you’re not, I’m not looking for the “Oh my God, I’m 30 and I don’t have a kid and I’m not married.” You know, I have a lot of girlfriends a few in their 30’s still have not been married and don’t have kids, and it’s difficult for them because do they really want a family? For me, it was like “Oh, I’ve got a family.” I’ve figured this out and I’ve got a happy family and you know, I felt like I kind of had a lot of experience, and I was ready to sort of relaxed in to that. But for most girls it’s kind of weird time. I think 40 was a little bit of a bigger birthday for woman. Yeah.
After 30 they all are.
KH: Oh, really?
Yeah, I’m going to be 32 on Tuesday.
KH : Oh.
Yeah. And I was like 32? What a boring birthday. It’s a non-birthday.
CE: You’ve kids. So, so it’s like… That’s what’s special
How old were you when you had your first baby?
KH: I got pregnant at 23. I had him…
How is it like marrying, now 10 years later. So how is that different? Like when you were 23 and now you’re 32.
I didn’t feel young when I had Ryder. You know, it was like I was having a baby young, everybody was. You know my friends I was the first one, my family, first grand kid. But to me, it just felt normal. As I started getting older, as he started to get older, and I was like 28, 29, I was like “Wow, I’m a young mom.” You know, it started hitting me. Now I have a little boy who is just his own person and he is just you know, he still has a little bit of a baby, but the baby is starting to go away. And now I really was a young mom. [laughter] You know, most people are having babies now, and it’s like… They become… It’s… That was a big realization for me with Ryder was I really recognized. And I’m so happy that I have a child so young. I mean he is my buddy. Like a real buddy and… It’s pretty interesting. When I look at him he’s like “This is my son.” And you are a big boy. And I’m like you know it’s like… It’s interesting.
Colin, was there anything about this movie that you think will help you maybe as you get married…. or not.
CE: Yeah, you know. I think through this whole experience ending up with Kate who talked so much about honesty and communication. She’s been my Oprah through this…
KH : It’s true!
CE: Yeah, so true.
KH: Just start with the… Put your worst foot forward.
CE: Yeah.
KH: You can’t go wrong.
CE: Even though it may… You may think that it’s going to hurt someone’s feelings, I think in the long run, it is better to just get it out in the open and get it on the table, because then you know what you are dealing with. Because there’s nothing worse than having this divide between when you’re in a relationship where you know that there’s… You know if you just said it, and cleared the air. As soon as I usually do that, it’s not as bad as I thought it was going to be. And then that goes for relationships not only with romantic relationships, but I feel like… Especially as I’ve gotten older, I just got more open with communicating with my parents and my mom hung up on me a couple of weeks ago because I told her that she talked too much [laughter] and hurt her on the phone. And it was like, I was like I will call her and she would like answer, “da-da-da-da.” And then she was like, “So, how was your day?” I’m going to say, “well, I had another audition”. “Well anyway, you have see the Bio channel blah blah blah.” and she will just go on this rants. And I will be like, “Mom, listen. Can I just talk for a second? Just hold on one second. Just hold your breath. I love talking to you and I love you to death, but whenever we talk it’s more like you talking and I am just sitting there in my car like anti because I’m like waiting to pull into my driveway and it’s like I’ve got to sit there and listen to you talk. And every time I try to talk, you interrupt me and it doesn’t feel like we’re having a conversation. It feels like you’re talking”. “Well, you know I’ve got so much going on and blah blah blah. You know I just can’t do this right now.” And she hung up on me. And I was like, “Okay. She just hung up on me but you know what, I feel good.” [laughter] I finally was honest about something and then she called me back the next day and she was like “Honey, I thought about it and you’re right. And what is it you wanted to talk about?” And so right now, we have this great conversations. Where I was afraid to… I was like, “Mom, you know what? Listen, I got to go.” And there was really no real like open communication and now its cool.
KH: It’s like the key for everything, which is being open, being available. I think people are taught and programmed very early on depending on their families to not talk about certain things. And that is the basis of any good relationship.
CE: Yeah, absolutely.
KH: Thank you. Feel light now. But it’s true. It’s really hard to be honest. Like it’s hard to tell somebody…
Yeah, it is.
KH: But when you start doing it, it’s so… It feels so good. It’s like a weight off your shoulder. “I really don’t like you.” To be honest, truth.
