Kate Hudson Recalls The Time She And Leonardo DiCaprio Compared Notes On Working Alongside Daniel Day-Lewis’ Method Acting

Kate Hudson as Birdie Jay in Glass Onion
(Image credit: Netflix)

Daniel Day-Lewis is considered by many, including the Hollywood community, as one of the most exceptional actors of all time. He’s worked with the best of the best, including Martin Scorsese, Paul Thomas Anderson and Steven Speilberg. And although he’s retired from acting now, the actors who worked alongside Day-Lewis can wear it like a badge of honor. This includes Kate Hudson, who recently recalled a time she compared notes with Leonardo DiCaprio about working with the notorious method actor. 

When Kate Hudson was the latest guest on Hot Ones, the host asked her about her time co-starring with Daniel Day-Lewis on the musical Nine in 2009. When asking her whether it was true that the Oscar winner wrote her notes on custom stationary during the production, she had this to say: 

It was the best. I had the best of Daniel. I remember Leonardo DiCaprio saying to me, not to drop any names, but Leo said to me once ‘How was Daniel?’ And, I was like ‘[sighs], the best!’ And he was like ‘Really?’ And, I was like ‘Oh, yeah, you had him on Gangs Of New York. You got that Daniel. I got Guido’. I mean it was like the juxtaposition of your arch nemesis who is trying to kill you versus the man who’s trying to sleep with you – two very different Daniel method actors.

Daniel Day-Lewis famously remained in character on the set of his roles, and as Kate Hudson shared, she got the best of it considering in the film their characters adore each other. One the other side of things, seven years earlier, Leonardo DiCaprio starred with Day-Lewis on the historical drama Gangs of New York, where they played the leaders of two opposing gangs in the 1800s. 

Daniel Day-Lewis in Gangs of New York and Nine

(Image credit: Miramax/The Weinstein Company)

In regards to how Hudson was treated on set, the actress shared that Daniel Day-Lewis did in fact send her notes as his character of Guido. As she continued: 

I would show up to my dressing room and have notes from Guido. ‘Stephanie, you were wonderful yesterday,’ and I was like, this is like when I die my children, my grandchildren, this might live on… if I can find them.

Now, Hudson may not be exactly sure where those personal notes are these days, but she recalls being in the movie and Daniel Day-Lewis making her feel special. He was playing to his character by sending personal notes to her character during the production of the film. The movie also starred Marion Cotillard, Penélope Cruz, Judi Dench, Fergie, Nicole Kidman and Sophia Loren, and was one of just 20 movies the actor was part of in his nearly 50 years in the industry. 

Daniel Day-Lewis’ final movie was Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Phantom Thread back in 2017. While he’s no longer starring in movies these days, Kate Hudson certainly is, with her latest being the Knives Out sequel, Glass Onion. Named after The Beatles song of the same name, the movie is another whodunnit fronted by Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc’s detective. 

In the movie, which received glowing reviews from critics and spent one week in theaters over the Thanksgiving holiday, Kate Hudson plays a former supermodel-turned-fashion designer named Birdie Jay. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery will be available to check out with a Netflix subscription on December 23. 

Sarah El-Mahmoud
Staff Writer

Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.