{"id":245564,"date":"2025-10-28T04:31:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T04:31:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/245564\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T04:31:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T04:31:18","slug":"kate-hudson-salutes-neil-diamond-at-song-sung-blue-afi-premiere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/245564\/","title":{"rendered":"Kate Hudson Salutes Neil Diamond at ‘Song Sung Blue’ AFI Premiere"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tNeil Diamond didn\u2019t make the trip to Hollywood for the world premiere of \u201cSong Sung Blue<\/a>,\u201d about the Milwaukee couple who formed a tribute band to the \u201cSweet Caroline\u201d crooner in the \u201990s, but he still made an appearance on the red carpet \u2014 via FaceTime. Diamond\u2019s wife, Katie Diamond, rang up the 84-year-old music legend to chat with the film\u2019s stars Kate Hudson<\/a> and Hugh Jackman<\/a>, as well as director Craig Brewer<\/a>, before they debuted the movie at the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood on Sunday night. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhat a privilege! Getting to know Neil and Katie has been really something special for me. I wish he could be here,\u201d Hudson told Variety after the call. \u201cThat\u2019s why we make movies: We have these connections with artists and sort of fall in love with each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAbout watching the movie for the first time with an audience, Hudson added: \u201cI\u2019m so excited. I\u2019m nervous. I can\u2019t wait. I just have a good feeling that people are gonna love the way this movie feels.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tKatie Diamond and Kate Hudson on a FaceTime call with Neil Diamond at the premiere of \u201cSong Sung Blue\u201d during AFI Fest<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEric Charbonneau\/Focus Features via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tKate Hudson and Hugh Jackman pose on the red carpet.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGilbert Flores for Variety<\/p>\n

\n\tIndeed, \u201cSong Sung Blue,\u201d which is based on a true story, is a movie about the power of connection. Jackman and Hudson portray Mike and Claire Sardina, two tip-jar musicians whose love of Neil Diamond\u2019s music spurs them to form a tribute band called Lightning and Thunder and follows as they live out their rock star dreams and navigate the trials of life with their blended family. The special screening of the Focus Features film was the closing night presentation for AFI Fest, but Brewer wasn\u2019t nervous about the audience\u2019s reaction or looming critics\u2019 reviews<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\n\tWhy? He\u2019d already gotten a rave from Diamond himself.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s a dream come true,\u201d Brewer said about Diamond\u2019s support. \u201cWhen I heard that Neil was watching the movie, I thought to myself, \u2018This is really the only audience I care about.\u2019 His music means so much to me, and my hope is that all the people who love his music will love it. But my big hope is that I\u2019ve helped add some fans of his music.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tJackman and Hudson lead an ensemble cast that includes Jim Belushi, Fisher Stevens, Ella Anderson (who was recently named one of Variety\u2019s 10 Actors to Watch<\/a>), Mustafa Shakir and Hudson Hensley \u2014\u00a0and everyone has a Neil Diamond connection.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI did the Blues Brothers for 25 years, so I have an appreciation for every skilled lyricist and musician,\u201d said Belushi. \u201cI\u2019ve always appreciated Neil Diamond for his simplicity of language and how quickly he could get to the heart. He\u2019s a beautiful writer and a singer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tStevens revealed that he shares a name with a Neil Diamond impersonator from Australia. \u201cI used to get calls to perform because they thought I was him, so it\u2019s such a weird coincidence to get this movie,\u201d he said with a laugh. Though Stevens had grown up listening to Diamond with his dad \u2014 whose favorite song was \u201cSong Sung Blue\u201d \u2014 and would sing a some of his songs for karaoke, he never took any of the callers up on the gig. \u201cI wasn\u2019t, like, an authority,\u201d he joked.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\u201cSong Sung Blue\u201d cast and crew \u2014 (L to R) Mustafa Shakir, producer John Davis, Ella Anderson, Hugh Jackman, Hudson Hensley, Kate Hudson, writer\/director\/producer Craig Brewer, Jim Belushi and Fisher Stevens \u2014 at the film\u2019s AFI Fest premiere.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFocus Features via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\n\tBut what makes the movie \u201cSong Sung Blue\u201d so powerful, Stevens explained, transcends beyond Diamond\u2019s lyrics. It all comes down to who the Sardinas are. \u201cPeople who have a dream, and they don\u2019t let people shit on their dream, and, no matter what, they do it, it\u2019s very moving,\u201d he said. \u201cThese two characters, who they are, is so unique.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd it took a special pair of actors to portray them. \u201cThey are two spectacular people and I couldn\u2019t imagine anyone else,\u201d Anderson said of Jackman and Hudson. \u201cThey immersed themselves this story, and I saw them give everything that they had to make sure that they were accurately rendering these people. That\u2019s what I love to do, so being in a space where other people were passionately doing so and had a love for this story, I feel like I was able to do that as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBelushi also heaped praise on the film\u2019s leads. \u201cKate is a lioness of an actress. It\u2019s a very important performance for Kate Hudson,\u201d Belushi said, alluding to the critical kudos she\u2019s received for her emotional turn thus far. \u201cEvery actor needs a chance, and you can see the actor in Kate in this movie. Craig Brewer brought that performance out of it, because it was always in her.\u201d About Jackman, Belushi added: \u201cHe can sing, he can dance, he can smile. I had a ball with both of them!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSpeaking of Jackman, the song-and-dance man had the last word when Brewer and the cast introduced the screening and he dished about his conversation with Diamond on the red carpet. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI told him that I might mention that we had spoken, and [asked] do you have a message for everyone,\u201d Jackman told the crowd about chatting with the music master. \u201cHe said, \u2018Tell everyone I love them, and to keep singing.’\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tHugh Jackman and Sutton Foster make their red carpet debut at the \u201cSong Sung Blue\u201d AFI Fest premeire. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGilbert Flores<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tKate Hudson and fianc\u00e9, musician Danny Fujikawa, on the red carpet.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGilbert Flores<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tCraig Brewer (second from left) on the red carpet with Focus Features\u2019 Jason Cassidy, Kiska Higgs, Peter Kujawski and Niels Swinkels.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFocus Features via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\u201cSong Sung Blue\u201d artisans \u2014 (L to R) executive music producer Scott Bomar, music supervisor Trygge Toven, costume designer Ernesto Martinez, cinematographer Amy Vincent, production designer Clay Griffith and editor Billy Fox \u2014 attend the world premiere.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFocus Features via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tKate Hudson poses with her brother Oliver Hudson at the \u201cSong Sung Blue\u201d after party at Mother Wolf in Hollywood. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFocus Features via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tCraig Brewer reunites with Samuel L. Jackson, who starred in his 2006 film \u201cBlack Snake Moan,\u201d at the after party.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFocus Features via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tBrenda Song, Hudson\u2019s \u201cRunning Point\u201d co-star, and Macaulay Culkin attend the after-party.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFocus Features via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tKate Hudson poses with \u201cRuning Point\u201d co-creator Ike Barinholtz at the after party.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFocus Features via Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Neil Diamond didn\u2019t make the trip to Hollywood for the world premiere of \u201cSong Sung Blue,\u201d about the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245565,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[140536,64,63,447,145212,134,36597,16127,145213],"class_list":{"0":"post-245564","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-afi-fest","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-celebrities","12":"tag-craig-brewer","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-hugh-jackman","15":"tag-kate-hudson","16":"tag-song-sung-blue"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}