Kate Hudson interview: Hudson's way

KH: It's a movie about something almost everybody can relate to, which is the insanity of what happens to women when they get married. What was most important to me about this story, though, was the relationship between the two girls. Being the girls' girl that I am, I didn't want it to become what everybody might expect it to be, which is this big cat fight. We can make fun of ourselves but also tell a story about how important women are to each other, in a funny way. That's what I set out to do and I think we accomplished it.

WILL MEN GO AND SEE IT?

KH: Well, I made this joke once on the set by saying we are not making a chick flick – but then you've got two girls wearing wedding dresses in the publicity shots. Did we make this movie for men? Well, not really. But we made it fun, hopefully for guys to watch too. I think that's why the concept actually worked; men will be able to relate to the fact that the women in their lives go insane when they're getting married; look at their fiances or their wives and say, 'Ha, don't even tell me you weren't like that, because you were…' And the girls will protest, 'Oh it's not like that, ever.' That will be relatable for men, so maybe they won't kick and scream on the way to the cinema.

THE FILM IS SET IN NEW YORK, BUT YOU'RE AN LA WOMAN. WHAT'S THE CONTRAST IN LIFESTYLE BETWEEN THE TWO PLACES?

KH: Well, my family is in Los Angeles. I grew up there but I feel way more at home in New York. In terms of what I do in my daily life, I really like the New York lifestyle. It's harder with kids, though. Los Angeles is actually nice with children because they can enjoy the outdoors more. Ryder (Hudson's son, who will celebrate his fifth birthday tomorrow] can do activities all year round in California, such as soccer in the winter. On the East Coast it's harder, unless your kids are into ice hockey.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE DOING WHEN YOU'RE IN NEW YORK?

KH: I love to walk. No matter where you live in the city, everything is just around the corner. I have my neighbourhood and there is a good six- to seven-block radius of places I always go to. In Los Angeles, I do my grocery shopping once every two weeks. In New York, we'll go shopping for our dinner every day. It's nicer; more intimate.

IF YOU GOT MARRIED AGAIN, WHAT KIND OF WEDDING WOULD YOU HAVE?

KH: I think it's all relative to to whom it would be! Maybe they wouldn't want to get married – it's not that important any more. Kurt (Russell, the long-time partner of her mother, Goldie Hawn] always says, 'It's not a golden ticket.' You know that when you've done it. A union is about the families more than anything. I don't have the same traditional sense of marriage that I think a lot of people do and I don't have any judgements, especially after doing Bride Wars. I didn't even plan my own wedding. Most people plan their wedding a year in advance. I thought at the time, 'OK, it's October and I want to get married at New Year, so I'll need winter flowers...'

YOU DIDN'T HAVE ONE OF THOSE WEDDING PLANNING BOOKS?

KH: No! No, I didn't even think about it. Now, when I started looking into all those things for the movie, I thought, 'This is a blast!' There are books entirely devoted to wedding planning and they're great. These beautiful weddings that I've seen in magazines are just incredible. I had never even looked at Modern Bride before working on Bride Wars.

AS A PRODUCER, WHAT DID YOU DISCOVER WORKING ON BRIDE WARS THAT NOBODY HAD WARNED YOU ABOUT BEFORE?

KH: For me, it was about learning to surrender to things. As an actor, you see it with other people who are very close to projects. When you're not as close, you can sit back and watch people hold on to things that they've had in their minds for so long. You think, 'Just let it go. Nothing is going to make or break an entire movie.' So that was a big thing for me, which helped me as an actor, saying, 'OK, well, I guess now I should just let the movie go, let all these actors that we've hired, the director and everybody who's involved get on with it.' It was interesting to be on that side of it.

WAS IT WEIRD, AS AN ACTRESS, TO ALSO HAVE TO BE THE CASTING DIRECTOR?

KH: We had auditions, but obviously not with Anne (Hathaway, Hudson's co-star here, who also starred in The Devil Wears Prada and Get Smart]. She was our first choice. The casting process wasn't difficult for me – you're constantly rejected as an actor. There's a part of you that gets used to it. What makes me feel bad is when you realise how people treat you. When I started out, I was sometimes treated really horribly, so I'm sensitive to that, as a producer, when I'm meeting actors.

BRIDE WARS IS YOUR FIRST MOVIE AS A PRODUCER. YOUR MOTHER WAS ONE OF THE VERY EARLY WOMEN PRODUCERS AND SHE WAS A PIONEER. WAS IT IMPORTANT TO YOU TO FEEL STRONG AND POWERFUL IN YOUR CAREER?

KH: No, I think my mom had a different take on it. It was a different time and she really was a pioneer for a female actor-producer. It was harder for her: that baby boomer generation (of women] really had to play with the boys, since they were the ones running Hollywood. I didn't have that kind of relationship because I was working only with women, female producers, mostly female executives… an entirely different experience. My biggest learning curve was my relationship with the director and actors.

ARE YOU A CONTROL FREAK?

KH: No. Directors want to be in charge! I know if I was directing something, I wouldn't want the producer telling me what movie to make. Once you give it to your director, it's your director's movie. And then you simply want to help him by providing what he needs. As an actor, it becomes a whole different thing because I need to be acting. I can't do all the day-to-day things that a producer would do because I have to wake up and be in front of a camera, and I can't be up until one in the morning, planning things for the next day, so you have your producing partner.

WHAT'S NEXT AFTER BRIDE WARS – ARE THERE ANY MORE FILMS YOU'D LIKE TO PRODUCE?

KH: Oh, I've got quite a few projects… some scripts for the big screen that I won't be in, and also a project for television. But it's challenging to get certain types of films made. But right now I'm more concerned with having time off (laughter]. I'm ready to have a good, solid six months with my son. I just want to do nothing for a little while.

Bride Wars is on general release from this Friday