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Ella Anderson is officially a Diamondhead.
Speaking exclusively to PEOPLE at the premiere of Song Sang Bleu at AFI Fest in Los Angeles on Oct. 26, the 20-year-old actress revealed that her appreciation for Neil Diamond’s music has grown even more since appearing in the Craig Brewer-directed film.
The drama tells the true story of Mike (Hugh Jackman) and Claire Sardina (Kate Hudson), a struggling Milwaukee couple who formed the Neil Diamond tribute band Lightning & Thunder in the late 1980s. Anderson stars as Rachel Cartwright, Claire’s daughter from her first marriage.
Diamond, 84, known for hits such as “Sweet Caroline,” “Heartlight,” “America” and “Cracklin’ Rosie,” had never been on a playlist before filming the movie, she tells PEOPLE.
“But I always loved the way his music brought audiences together,” she says. “And while making this film, I discovered a lot of his great songs, and now he’s definitely on my playlist.”
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She says it’s because of how his songs resonate and “the way Clare and Mike reimagined his songs that captivated all of Milwaukee.”
Anderson also opened up to PEOPLE about how she is preparing to play Rachel in the film, which is based on Greg Coase’s 2008 documentary of the same name.
“Personally, I did a lot of work for myself because as soon as I read the script, I was hungry for who this girl was. I think from Hugh I felt that he did that too. I felt that from Kate as well. I absolutely felt that she had been doing this for months and months,” the actress recalls.
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She said Hudson, 46, “immediately became very empathetic” to her and the fact that all three stars were “very committed” was “the glue that held everything together.”
While on set, Anderson was “constantly taking notes” as she watched Hudson and Jackman, 57, perform their moves.
“I was amazed at how much she (Hudson) threw herself into Claire. It was spectacular. And watching the way Hugh did it on set, I was always taking notes. Yeah, I was taking notes all the time,” she said, sharing that she learned a lot about Hudson as a person.
“Kate is so… she’s having such a great time,” she raved of the Almost Famous star. “She makes me feel like my heart lights up every time we’re in the same room. I never expected her to know as much about home decor as she does. For example, you imagine her throwing a great dinner party. She’s one of the great hosts. And she loves kids so much. She’s amazing.”
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Hudson also chatted exclusively with PEOPLE at the Oct. 26 premiere and shared that she, too, didn’t know much about Diamond’s music but felt “very surprised” when looking through his catalog in preparation for the film.
“I never really saw how prolific his catalog is and what a writer he is. I mean, when you really get into it, you’re shocked at how much music he writes and how much music he knows. But there are some really beautiful songs in there, including the one I sing at the end of the movie, but it’s not a huge song.”
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While working on the project, Hudson had the opportunity to get acquainted with diamonds. She called the experience “a real dream.”
“He’s such a wonderful, kind and loving person,” she says. “There’s this thing about Neil — he’s the kind of music that brings people together. It’s very American, but at the same time it makes people happy. There’s something about the songs he writes that make people want to put their arms around each other and sing.”
The Running Points star recalls Diamond telling her, “This is like a gift where I was in the middle of my career and something took one of the songs I wrote, or one of the songs I wrote, and breathed new life into it.”
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“I hope this movie does that,” Hudson says. “And I think people walk away from that and say, ‘Oh my God, I’m going to go rediscover Neil Diamond.'”
“Song Song Blue” will be released in theaters on December 25th.
