Kate Hudson revealed that she was close to playing Mary Jane Watson in Sony’s 2002 original Spider-Man, but turned down the role, which was ultimately given to Kirsten Dunst.
The “Almost Famous” star admitted he said “no” to the role and revealed the movie he made instead on Monday’s episode of “Watch What Happens Live” with host Andy Cohen.
“It’s one of the things I look back on and wish I could have been in a Spider-Man movie,” she said. “But at the same time, I made a movie called “Four Feathers.” I got to meet Heath Ledger, and he became a really good friend, and I had experiences that I would never have had.”
Released a few months after “Spider-Man,” “The Four Feathers” was a war drama starring Hudson, Heath Ledger, Djimon Hounsou, and Wes Bentley. It received mixed reviews and grossed $29 million at the box office, but failed to recoup its $35 million budget.
“There’s a part of me that thinks, “Life is going to happen the way I want it to,” Hudson says. “So I’m grateful for that. But when I look at it, I think, ‘Oh, it would have been fun to be[Mary Jane].’
Spider-Man grossed $826 million and spawned a trilogy starring Tobey Maguire and Dunst, all directed by Sam Raimi. Maguire took a hiatus from web shooting after 2007’s Spider-Man 3, but returned in 2021 with the MCU’s cross-universe team-up film Spider-Man: No Way Home. Dunst has not returned to the role of Mary Jane since Spider-Man 3.
Hudson added: “The people in this movie are the right people, and life situations are meant to happen, so it doesn’t feel good to talk about it.”
He also revealed that he turned down an offer to co-star in a movie with his mother, actor Goldie Hawn.
“It’s going to be really interesting,” she added. “You have to hit it in a different way. We’re thinking about it, we just haven’t read it yet. We don’t understand it.”
