On the one hand, the two stars of Le Divorce, the latest Merchant– Ivory outing about a pair of American sisters and their pitfalls and peccadilloes in Paris, appear to be two of a kind. Both are blonde and beautiful Hollywood “It” girls of recent vintage, both have been catapulted to the top of the A-list among Hollywood leading ladies, both are in committed relationships with also-famous gentlemen, and both have had their names bandied about during awards season for their acting abilities.
On the other hand, Kate Hudson and Naomi Watts are markedly different creatures.
Married to slightly older rocker Chris Robinson and now pregnant with their first child, Hudson, 24, grew up in the heart of Hollywood with two major movie star parents–mom Goldie Hawn and Hawn‘s longtime beau Kurt Russell–to help influence, advise and guide her entry into the industry. She earned an Oscar nod at the tender age of 21 for her role as groupie Penny Lane in writer/director Cameron Crowe‘s Almost Famous and proved her ability to carry a box office hit with the recent How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. In Le Divorce, she plays Isabel, a woman who embarks on a relationship with a married, much-older Frenchman.
Then there’s Watts, 34, who began her acting career in Australia before moving to Tinseltown in 1992 with few connections, struggling for nearly a decade before being cast in a career-making role in writer/director David Lynch‘s critically acclaimed, compellingly obtuse Mulholland Drive. Now seriously involved with slightly younger actor Heath Ledger, she’s gained more notice for her leading turn in last year’s harrowing horror/thriller The Ring. In Le Divorce, she plays Roxy, a pregnant woman dumped by her philandering husband who desperately refuses to grant him a divorce and sinks deeper into despair.
When the two stars went to work on Le Divorce, they immediately found their common ground, and even their co-stars recognized the obvious chemistry between them. “I know that they were extremely good with each other,” said actress Stockard Channing, who has a small role as the mother and stepmother, respectively, of Hudson and Watts in director James Ivory‘s adaptation of Diane Johnson’s bestseller. “They were definitely like sisters. They were two very different people but they had a connection.”
In fact, they had such a connection they practically finished each other’s sentences as they talked Le Divorce one sunny Saturday at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Century City.
Did director James Ivory make you stick to the letter of the script, or allow you some freedom to flesh out the character in your own ways?
Kate Hudson: He lets the actor make their decision and trusts them, and does this: [She stops, looks around, mutters something to herself, then leans back and says, calmly] “OK, action.” [Laughs] That’s Jim…
Naomi Watts: He’s very careful in the casting process. The family stuff in particular. We all instantly had a family chemistry. One of my favorite scenes in the film is the restaurant scene–
Hudson: –me, too! And we had such a fun day that day–
Watts: –he’s obviously a person who’s adapting novels all the time, and he’s honoring the novel and the script. So I felt it was very much in keeping with the script–
Hudson: –and that’s what our rehearsal was for, too. If we had any questions about the script or about dialogue or stuff like that, that’s what we used rehearsal for. And on set it was very much by the script.”
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What was it like for you working with an icon like Leslie Caron, who plays Roxy’s upper-crust mother-in-law?
Watts: She’s really lovely. We had this moment quite early on where we were doing a dinner scene and we had to eat and I was eating the cheese with my hands as I pleased and she said, “Darling, I don’t think you should eat your cheese like that.” I said, “Roxy’s an artist–she wouldn’t care. She’s not going to pander to some sort of rule about how you eat cheese!” And she said, “Well, I think this is how she would do it. She’s been living here for several years.” First I thought [indignantly], “How dare she!” And then I thought, “This is a woman who’s outside her own culture and probably insecure at times. And felt she had to fit in with the in-laws, so yes, she would cut the corners off her cheese and she would probably eat it with a fork, just to save face.”
Hudson: We talked about dancing, because she was an incredible dancer. She stills walks like a dancer–beautiful, with grace. And I dance–nothing like her.
What other actresses do the two of you admire?
Watts: I grew up loving Julie Christie. That’s who I grew up watching. Films like Darling and Don’t Look Now—
Hudson: —Don’t Look Now! There’s this one scene where she’s walking down a canal and she’s wearing this brown tweed suit, and I’m like, “My god, she’s fabulous.” Only Julie Christie could get away with that and look just incredible.
Naomi, is it important for you to work so hard, now that you’ve gotten to the place you are after such a long road to success?
Watts: Yes, The panic of not working for 10 years was still very much alive in me. I’m now starting to trust it a little bit and think, “OK, I’ve got a little bit of a shot at this.”
Kate, are you slowing up your schedule to accommodate your pregnancy?
Hudson: Yeah, I’m not doing anything. I’m going to Venice [for the film festival]–but that’s more fun.
How’s pregnancy suiting you? Is your mother excited to become a grandmother?
Hudson: It’s going great! She’s ecstatic. My dad is just going to be a mess…he’s so excited.
Watts: I’ve played mother a lot lately! I’m attached to a movie where I’m the mother of a teenager.
How do you protect yourself from the rigors of celebrity? Do you consciously seek out ways to avoid the limelight?
Watts: “Nobody says “I want to be so famous.” I just try to turn off to it and stay away from reading about myself. I don’t say “I’m not going to go out today” or “What if there’s a photographer?” or “What if I’m followed?”–
Hudson: –you don’t protect yourself. It’s a machine that works on its own.
The two actresses digress into chitchat about house hunting–Naomi‘s keeping an eye out for something in Sydney, but hasn’t had a break in her busy schedule for anything but online searches. “It’s late nights in my apartment on the Web,” she says. “It’s so hard to buy anything off the computer.” Kate agrees, revealing that she’s recently used the Internet to scout out a prominent artist’s house in New Zealand.
Hudson: [Having a brainstorm] I’m going to get an apartment in Sydney!
Le Divorce opens in select theaters Aug. 8
