‘Awards Chatter’ Pod: Kate Hudson on ‘Running Point,’ Pros and Cons of Rom-Com Success and How Sia Inspired Her to Pursue a Music Career

Kate Hudson, the Golden Globe-winning and Critics Choice, SAG, BAFTA and Academy award-nominated actress who has been a bona fide movie star for 25 years, is getting some of her best reviews in years for her recent pivot to TV with the Netflix comedy series Running Point, on which she serves as an EP and plays a version of Jeanie Buss, the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers. Last week, the inaugural Newport Beach TV Fest honored her with its Performer of the Year Award (Actress) — but first, she sat down at the fest with THR to record an episode of our Awards Chatter podcast.

Over the course of the conversation, Hudson, 46, reflected on what she learned from growing up with Goldie Hawn as her mother and Kurt Russell are her stepfather, but also how she sought to distance herself from them as she tried to break into the business. She dished about how she came to Cameron Crowe’s 2000 film Almost Famous, first in the role of the protagonist’s sister, and then, following the departure of Sarah Polley from the project, the role of a groupie. She expressed gratitude for the success of 2003’s How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days but admitted disappointment and frustration at the rom-com box into which it placed her for many years thereafter. And she credited singer/songwriter Sia, who directed her in the controversial 2021 film Music, with inspiring her to pursue a music career of her own.

In relation to Running Point, she spoke about how her attitude about TV has changed over the course of her career, to the extent that she was willing to commit to an ongoing series for only the second time ever; her long personal history with Buss, and how that has helped her to play the part; her hopes for the future of the show; plus much more.