Kate and Anne: BFFs go to "War"

Gorgeous, talented actresses Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway couldn't be more different; one petite and blonde, one statuesque and brunette etc. They even looked like total opposites at our interview; Anne all Vogue-ish in gray and black skirt and blouse, very high heels and diamond and gold bangle bracelets, hair pulled back and Kate doing "Western" in jeans, checked shirt, dark denim jacket and tan riding boots. Both ladies have had their romantic trials; Anne with a beau who wasn't totally abiding by the law and Kate breaking up with her rocker hubby and raising their son as a single mom.

In the new romantic comedy Bride Wars, the stars play very diverse BFFs with one gigantic thing in common; they both want a big white wedding at the Plaza Hotel in New York and will do just about anything to get it! There is only one available date and both old pals want it so they go to "war". We imagined that the two actresses must have had a blast making the film and, judging by the way they interacted at our interview, we were right about their true-life friendship. The ladies are funny, warm and quite "real"... pull up a chair and join the chat about girl-power, friendship, double-weddings and Bridezillas!

TeenHollywood: You both look great. What did you do physically to get ready for this movie?

Kate: We didn't eat for weeks. [Laughs] Well, I'm always doing something. I'm either dancing or doing Pilates or biking or running. I'm quite active.

Anne: Yes you are! [Laughs]

Kate: So, for this movie, we were actually doing a lot of drinking.

Anne: Yes, we did. We developed beer biceps.

Kate: I'm a tequila girl. We like our champagne, though, too.

Anne: We do. Kate's amazing. Kate's inspiring, in terms of all of the physical activity that she engages in. We would have script meetings and she would be stretching. I'd be like, "Yeah, I'm going to touch my toes next year. It will be fine." And so, I work out with a trainer in New York.

Kate: You worked out pretty hard, though.

Anne: I did. Well, I really wanted Emma to appear like an ex-ballerina. I wanted everything to be tight and proper and sinewy, so I really watched what I ate. Just the usual stuff. Whatever the character needed, that's what we did.

TeenHollywood: Anne, early last year you referred to this film as 'Estrogen Land', with Get Smart being Testosterone-ville. How is the weather in Estrogen Land, and how does that vibe on set inform characters for you?

Anne: The weather in Estrogen Land usually inspires a very cozy feel. Precipitation is unexpected, but constant. It was delightful. I'm really not a girly girl, in the slightest. I found my best girlfriends a little bit later on in life. My best friends growing up were my brothers, and I always had a lot of guy friends, particularly gay men. So, for me to actually be around women all the time and give in to the shoe love, [was new for me]. I always judged myself and was like, "Oh, that's frivolous!" And now, I'm just like, "No, there's nothing wrong with it." Kate turned me on to Net-a-Porter.com, and I was just looking at it between takes. I was just like, "Yeah, I really do like clothes." So, it was great to realize that I'm still myself, but I can be girly as well. It's been a nice little stay.

Kate: You didn't learn that in The Princess Diaries ? That's the girliest movie of all time. Every little girl wants to be a girl because of that movie.

Anne: No. I fought it, all the way. I never wanted to be a princess, so I was focused on my character's psychological torture, at that time. She had to accept an identity that she wasn't ready for. I missed the point. [Laughs] It's actually been really nice to be in this movie and be around such strong female energy and to find that so liberating. When I grew up, I had this idea that I would be defined by a way that I'd be uncomfortable with, and I've actually been made much better because of it. I'm much stronger and more open and more loving and more compassionate. This movie was really good for me, in that way.

Kate: It was an interesting time for all of us. Especially in the age we're both in, you're going through so many transitions and, for some reason, being around women, you become empowered by your girlfriends and by other women that you learn from, which is what the movie is about, having those friendships. Poor Gary Winick (the director). He was the one man. It was all girls. The producers and executives were all females, and the stars of the movie. He was just surrounded by the ladies. And, when you get a lot of girls in a room, watch out. It's a powerful energy. And, this movie felt really good for that. We were all going through these amazing coming out parties. It was really interesting. It was fun.

TeenHollywood: The guys you are marrying in the movie were gung-ho to just have a double wedding, but you wouldn't have had a movie if that happened. In your real lives, if the situation were similar, would you have just had a double wedding and avoid all the drama?

Kate: Yeah. I would have thought it would be more fun, it would be a bigger party, and there would be a bigger ballroom. In real life, I probably would have been like, "I don't even know if I want to get married. Go ahead." But, then again, there's that little part of you that's like, "No, it's my one day!"

Anne: And, I think you would also want your friend to have that day as well. You want it for yourself, but you're also like, "I don't want to be diluted in my joy for you." I wouldn't have a double wedding. Economically, absolutely, it's fantastic, but, psychologically, I think you'd always be kinda pissed.

Kate: It would be kinda weird if one of the groom's vows were better.

Anne: The competition would be horrible. I think a double wedding would cause you to analyze it too closely and read too much into it. You'd have an immediate comparison.

TeenHollywood: Anne, you get pretty wild in the bachelorette party scene and the dance-off. Can you talk about that?

Anne: All good comedy is painful and horrifying to actually do. But, I felt very protected by my character's drunkenness. I knew that, if it didn't quite turn out the way that I'd hoped, [that it would be okay] because I did project onto it. I really wanted to be a good dancer, but I am not a good dancer. Watching the movie is hard for me because I'm just like, "I'm trying really hard, and I just look silly and drunk." [Laughs] But, on the day, it was just hysterical. It was fun. The fact of the matter is that we had a great cast to work with and, that day, we had a lot of background artists in that scene and everybody was really into it and was giving so much. It just felt fun. My favorite part of the scene got cut out of the movie.

TeenHollywood: What was that?

Anne: At the end of [the dance], I run up to Officer Not-Your-Husband and I did a handstand at his feet and wrapped my legs around his head and then pulled myself up, and then he grabbed my butt and I opened my legs wide into a V, and I say, "Book me!" Doing that, take after take after take, felt so good. This movie did stretch some of my boundaries [we all laugh].

Kate: I was so scared when you were doing that. I was so terrified that you were going to go right over his head.

Anne: And, I nailed it every time!

Kate: I was sitting there going, "She's going to wipe out. I can't watch this!" [Laughs] But, she did it, and she never did.

Anne: Kate has great faith in my physical abilities.

TeenHollywood: Will they put that on the DVD?

Kate: There's a lot that should be on this DVD. We had a lot of good outtakes on this movie. We also have some behind-the-scenes footage that we did, that's kind of funny. The DVD extras should be rated R. [Laughs]

Anne: When we made the movie, we never knew where we wanted the humor to be, so we did raunchy versions of jokes. I think very few of the raunchy ones wound up in the movie, and probably for the best.

Kate: The DVD will be really funny.

TeenHollywood: Kate, your character Liv finds her perfect guy. What's the perfect guy for you?

Kate: I don't know yet. I don't know what the perfect guy is yet. I do know that I like honest guys. That always gets me going. I like guys who are really up-front and just are who they are. They're hard to find.

Anne: Yes, they are. [Laughs]

TeenHollywood: Why is there so much emphasis placed on a woman getting married? Do you think there's too much emphasis?

Kate: We love love. We love relationships. I would never be cynical about people wanting that day and being excited about that day. I think there's a reason for it. It's your day to present yourself to your man, to throw this party that's about wanting to spend the rest of your life with somebody, and bringing everybody together. The idea of the ceremony is great. The reality of the ceremony becomes stressful. I think the emphasis on marriage will always be important for people, no matter what kind of marriage they choose, whether it's getting hitched on the top of the Himalayas with just the two of them, or having a 300-person wedding. I feel like people always want that ceremony. When we all sit around and have coffee or drinks, the first thing we talk about is kids, and then we talk about our relationships and love and loss, and drama in love. It's such a big topic for us. So, I think celebrating it will always be something that people will emphasize.

Anne: To be perfectly honest, I don't know. [Laughs] I don't know because I don't, personally, feel any pressure to get married. I don't feel it from my family, I don't feel it from my friends and I don't feel it from within, so I don't really know how to answer that question. But, I'm not everyone. I don't know if there is a pressure on women to get married, or if it's something that women put on themselves, or if it's the way things have been done and we're not yet in a new moment where things have transitioned into people accepting that anything goes and you can do whatever you want. I think there is something to be said about living the happiest life possible, but the only way that you can live a happy life, specific to yourself, is if you are yourself. And, if you're the sort of person that never wants to get married, never get married. Who cares. And, if you're the sort of person that really loves the idea of being committed to someone and having that piece of paper that says that you are committed to someone, and celebrating with either a huge party or a quiet party, go for it. Just be yourself.

TeenHollywood: Good advice. When crossed, are women meaner to each other than men?

Kate: You know what, yeah. I think so. Because women are a little bit more complicated, I think women can really hit you where it hurts. Men go right for the shins, whereas I think women can be more hurtful because we're more emotional. But, I don't know.

Anne: Being mean is awful. I do believe that female friends can be worse to each other than male friends, simply because women have a stronger emotional language. We're encouraged more to use that. Kate and I know things about each other that I don't know about my male co-stars and, if Kate and I were to turn on each other, because I know how to celebrate her, I would also know how to bring her down, and she would know the same for me. When you give that trust to someone, that is what you're doing.

Kate: It's so true! We talk. Girls talk about everything.

Anne: We talk about what we're feeling about deep things. Maybe they're not even particularly deep, in the grand scheme of things, but they're things that matter to us. So, when you give someone that power, you're showing them where your buttons are. If you pick wrong, and someone turns around and short-circuits those buttons, I think it hurts more.

Kate: When you go through relationships, all of a sudden, you realize, "God, boys don't have anybody to talk to. That must really be horrible." They just don't talk about their feelings with each other. They talk to their girlfriends. My guy friends call me and they're like girls. They're like, "Hey, can you talk?," and I'm like, "Yeah, sure!," and they're like, "I'm having problems with my girlfriend." They talk to their girls, but they don't talk to boys about it. They really don't. My brothers talk to me, but they don't talk to their friends.

TeenHollywood: So true. Is there a particular moment on this shoot that stands out for you?

Kate: Probably when we were so tired and we were on the floor with our torn up wedding dresses. That's my favorite shot in the movie. We were lying there, looking at each other, and we were there for hours. At one point, we were on our sides and we were just talking, lying on the floor. That was probably my most memorable moment because you don't get to work with girls, this closely, very often. It's always with a guy. Anne: So often in films there's the main character and then there's the quirky best friend that you never really get to know, who comes in with the great one-liner. To have two complex female characters, who are best friends, at the center of a movie, I haven't really seen that before. So, anytime we were in those scenes where we got to go deeper, I was feeling something new, as an actress, for the first time, because I have never been in a situation like that. And, Kate was just there, every time, listening and going deeper with me. There wasn't one specific moment. There were so many. Just to get to return to those scenes, again and again and again, it shouldn't be rare, but it really is. I remember that, and I'm really appreciative of it.

Kate: We did the end at like four in the morning, for the wedding scene where we're both crying. It was so late and I was like, "Okay, I could go right to sleep, right now. I could just curl up and go to bed." Our characters had been fighting that day and doing so much stuff, and we did the scene. I was getting a little teary-eyed, and I looked at Annie and she was getting teary-eyed, and I was like, "I love being girls!" [Laughs] We were right there for each other, and that's what the movie is about.

TeenHollywood: What, if anything did you learn from this film?

Anne: As much fun as marriage hopefully is, and as much as we all want to find that one person that fulfills us, to be able to rely on that person, you can't. It's a sad, sad, sad fact, but whatever happens in your life, in the great moments, the bad moments and the unexpected moments, there's always going to be someone there, refilling your wine glass, giving you a shoulder to cry on, picking you up and celebrating with you, and that's your girlfriend. We didn't find that message in the movie until much, much, much later. And then, as soon as we did, it all made sense. That's what I related to fully, and that's when I fully gave in to it.

Kate: Yeah. We were talking about trying to fix the end of the movie. We all sat around, and I told this story about my mother (Goldie Hawn). Basically, my brother was getting married, and we had this bridal shower for my sister-in-law, and my mom made this speech, and she said, "I want all the girls to look around the room and, even if you don't know each other, even if you're just getting to know each other, or even if it's your sister, I want you to remember one thing: trust me. Men, they come and go. They always will. Hopefully, they stay. But, it's the girl that's sitting next to you, or the girl that's sitting across from you, that's going to get you through everything." My mom is filled with all these little wisdoms like that.

TeenHollywood: Kate, would you get married again?

Kate: You know, possibly. I don't know. If it's right. If it's important to everybody. But, I don't know. I don't know who the guy would be yet. It would all depend on what kind of relationship that is, you know?

TeenHollywood: Hey, congrats to Anne on getting named Best Actress by the National Board of Review for Rachel Getting Married. How do you feel about all that?

Anne: As I'm sure you can imagine, it's hugely overwhelming. I'm delighted, but it doesn't seem real. It seems to be an embarrassment of riches that I supposed I have to learn to get comfortable with.