Oscar nominee and star of the upcoming “Song Sung Blue” Kate Hudson was honored by the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation at its annual charity dinner on Wednesday, where she received the organization’s Pioneer of the Year award.
Started over 75 years ago, the Pioneer of the Year dinner has served as an annual fundraising gala for the benefit of the Pioneer Assistance Fund, which provides financial aid and assistance to entertainment industry workers in need.
Now run by the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation, the dinner has honored leading Hollywood figures such as Bob Hope, Donna Langley, Alan Horn, Barbara Broccoli, Michael G. Wilson and most recently, “Barbie” director Greta Gerwig. This year’s event raised $1.3 million for the foundation.
Hudson first rose to prominence 25 years ago in Cameron Crowe’s “Almost Famous” as veteran groupie Penny Lane, winning a Golden Globe and getting an Oscar nomination for her work.
Crowe spoke at the event, held at Beverly Hilton, about how he initially cast Hudson for another role in “Almost Famous,” but then suggested she audition to play Penny after the actor slated for that role left. Not only did she audition four times for the role, she stayed with the film even as agents and studio execs suggested she take other opportunities because “Almost Famous” was at risk of completely stalling.
“‘No,’ said Kate. ‘I want to be in Cameron’s little music movie.’ And she stuck with us,” Crowe said.
Crowe also told the story of how he invited the legendary director Billy Wilder to “Almost Famous” before its release. For much of the film, the then 93-year-old filmmaker behind comedy classics like “Some Like It Hot” remained completely silent.
“For 90 minutes, the raging silence of Billy Wilder watching our comedy grew more painful,” he said.
But then came a key moment where Hudson as Penny discovers that she and her fellow groupies — “band aids” as she called them — had been sold to another band for fifty dollars and a case of beer.
Holding back tears, Penny puts on a brave smile and asks, “What kind of beer?” Crowe did an impression for the Beverly Hilton attendees of the laugh Hudson got out of Wilder from that line, which he compared to a “coyote across the canyon … a howl of delight.”
“Afterwards, Billy asked who Kate was, and when I did, he said, ‘Kate Hudson … you keep her around. You keep her close … for my next picture,’” Crowe said. “She made Billy Wilder laugh. This is like getting the Sphinx to shed tears.”
Hudson also stars in the Netflix sports comedy series “Running Point” as a former party girl who gets the chance to prove to her family of moguls that she belongs when she is left in charge of the family’s pro basketball team. Co-creator Ike Barinholtz said he “couldn’t believe” he got to give direction to an actor like Hudson, but what he admires most is the empathy she brings off set.
Barinholtz recounted how Hudson, a resident of the Pacific Palisades, took the time to speak to many of her neighbors who lost their homes and possessions in this past January’s wildfires.
“Kate loves her neighbors so much and I know how deeply affected she was by the fires; she was lucky enough to make it out that night but a lot of friends of hers lost a lot, and she has been doing so much to help that community and to help her friends get back to normal,” he said. “She is able to feel people’s pain but not succumb to despair and cynicism, and that is a radical action in this day and I am so grateful to be friends with someone like that.”
This Christmas, she will star opposite Hugh Jackman in the musical drama “Song Sung Blue,” about a pair of struggling musicians who form a relationship by starting a Neil Diamond cover band.
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In her acceptance speech, Hudson credited her mother, Goldie Hawn, and her stepfather, Kurt Russell, with teaching her the importance of paying it forward.
“Thank you for teaching me to think not about what I will do in my life, but who I’m continuing to become and to live with purpose and compassion,” she said. “Pa, thank you for raising me in your vibrant world, for keeping me grounded and reminding me of the power of narrative and the importance of building character — and not just in the roles that we play, but in life and in the home.”
“And I want to thank my mom and my pa for being an example of true love and what commitment is — and for having the courage and the confidence and the discipline to have the same hairstyles for 40 years.”
