NEED TO KNOW
Kate Hudson stars as real-life musician Claire Sardina, of Neil Diamond cover band Lightning & Thunder, in Song Sung Blue
Michael Sardina Jr., son of Claire’s late husband-bandmate Mike, recently claimed the movie is “all lies,” calling Hudson and Hugh Jackman “monsters”
Hudson was asked about it, saying, “out of respect for our filmmakers, I’m not the right person to speak to it”
Kate Hudson is responding to a detractor of her new film Song Sung Blue.
The movie from writer-director Craig Brewer tells the story of real-life Neil Diamond cover band Lightning & Thunder, a.k.a. Milwaukee musical duo Mike and Claire Sardina, played by Hugh Jackman and Hudson, 46.
In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the Actors Award- and Golden Globe-nominated Hudson reacted to comments from Mike’s son Michael Sardina Jr., who claimed in a recent Daily Mail interview that the biopic is “all lies” and that he was “purposely cut out of the film” after being paid to consult on it.
“Honestly, I don’t even know — out of respect for our filmmakers, I’m not the right person to speak to it,” Hudson told THR.
Sarah Shatz/Focus Features
Kate Hudson as Claire Sardina and Hugh Jackman as Mike Sardina in ‘Song Sung Blue’
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Michael Jr. and his sister Angelina Sardina became step-siblings to Claire’s two children, Rachel and Dayna, when Claire and Mike married in 1994. Mike died in 2006, two years before the couple’s 17-year-long career and 12-year marriage was profiled in the documentary Song Sung Blue from Greg Kohs.
While Angelina, Rachel and Dayna are portrayed in Brewer’s adaptation (by King Princess, Ella Anderson and Hudson Hensley, respectively), Michael Jr. appears in neither the narrative nor documentary film.
He told the Daily Mail that his father would be “rolling in his grave right now,” blaming Hudson and Jackman, 57, for not contacting him to “try to get more information” about the late Mike.
“Every interview that those monsters have been on national television don’t even mention my existence at all, even though I was the most prevalent force in my father’s life,” he claimed.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Hudson reiterated that she “got to know Claire, who’s such a wonderful woman, and she’s so happy with the movie.”
Hudson also reacted to the awards nominations she’s received for her work as Claire. “When you’re younger and this happens, there’s a different feeling to it — it’s more of a shock entrance, or invitation, into this world,” she said, reflecting on her Oscar-nominated breakout in 2000’s Almost Famous.
Taylor Hill/FilmMagic
Kate Hudson and Hugh Jackman at the New York premiere of ‘Song Sung Blue’ on Dec. 11
Now, the buzz is “inspiring,” she added. “It gets me excited about the things moving forward that I want to be doing. … You’re always only one part away from the experience reinvigorating itself.”
Song Sung Blue is in theaters now. Among Hudson’s other upcoming projects is the second season of her Netflix comedy series Running Point, expected this spring.
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