Oscar Nominations: The Case of Kate Hudson in Song Sung Blue

As we do every year on the blog, Oscar nominations lead to my Case Of series. What are they? Glad you asked. These are 35 posts covering the nominees for Picture, Director, and the four acting contests. For each one, I give you the case for the movie/director/actor winning and the case against it with a verdict tidying it up. It’s like a trial, but no one goes to prison.

It began with the ten Best Picture contenders and now alternates alphabetically between the hopefuls in the other five races. The BP posts are readily available for your perusing pleasure. We have arrived at our third contestant in Best Actress and that’s Kate Hudson for Song Sung Blue. If you missed my posts covering the first two contenders, you can find them here:

Previous Acting Nominations:

2000 (Supporting Actress) – Almost Famous – lost to Marcia Gay Harden in Pollock

The Case for Kate Hudson:

Hollywood loves a good awards comeback story and this marks Hudson’s second try at Oscar glory after a quarter century and probably almost winning for Almost Famous. For her performance as the real-life Claire from a Neil Diamond tribute band in Craig Brewer’s musical drama, Hudson has picked up precursor noms at SAG Actor, BAFTA, and the Golden Globes.

The Case Against Kate Hudson:

As I mentioned in the write-up for Rose Byrne in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, you have to go back to 2014 and Julianne Moore (Still Alice) to find the last Best Actress winner whose movie managed just one nomination. Hudson missed out at Critics Choice. Blue itself received mixed reviews. Jessie Buckley (Hamnet) has swept thus far.

The Verdict:

Hudson had a much stronger chance 25 years ago as Penny Lane than she has today.

My Case Of posts will continue with the third entrant in Best Actor – Ethan Hawke for Blue Moon

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