The Big Picture

Collider’s Perri Nemiroff speaks with Kate Hudson and Kaia Gerber for Max Minghella’s body horror movie,
Shell
.

Shell
is about a mysterious health and wellness treatment making its rounds in Hollywood and the dangerous secret its glamorous CEO Zoe Shannon is hiding.
During this interview, Hudson and Gerber discuss capturing Minghella’s “wild” tone, the roles they play, working with Elisabeth Moss, and future projects.

For Max Minghella’s sophomore film Shell, actress Kate Hudson is shedding her family-friendly brand for a body horror movie that allows her to flex some disturbing muscles. While celebrating the film’s world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, Collider’s Perri Nemiroff had the opportunity to sit down with Hudson and co-star Kaia Gerber to talk about nailing this tone-specific movie, “pleasure-seeking missiles,” and moments that had her and Elisabeth Moss wondering, “What are we doing here?”

In Shell, Moss plays actress Samantha Lake, who’s confronted with the reality that her appearance may be holding her back in the industry. When Samantha is presented with a solution, she opts to undergo the innovative Shell beauty treatment, and her results attract the attention of the company’s glamorous CEO, Zoe Shannon (Hudson). Unfortunately, Shell clients, including A-lister Chloe Benson (Gerber), have started disappearing, and it seems there’s something sinister to this miracle treatment.

During their interview, Hudson and Gerber tease some of the wild scenes and the bizarre tone Minghella crafted. Gerber shares how, though she may have less screen time, her character lives throughout the movie, and Hudson talks about sharing scenes with Moss, whose “amazing vulnerability” allowed her to take what she needed on set. They also discuss future projects, like Jonah Hill’s Outcome and why working with Keanu Reeves was a dream for Gerber, and Hudson’s upcoming series that puts the spotlight on women in sports. For the full conversation, check out the video above, or you can read the transcript below.

Kate Hudson Really Leaned Into Max Minghella’s Wild Vision for ‘Shell’
Image by Photagonist at TIFF

PERRI NEMIROFF: I love me a good genre mash-up, but I feel like when you’re just reading a script and a script alone, it can be very difficult to fully wrap your head around what the movie you’re going to make is going to be. When the two of you first signed on for Shell , what were some of your biggest burning questions for Max about what the tone and the vibe of this world needed to feel like?

KATE HUDSON: That. You said the question, which was my first question to Max. The camp read pretty clear in the script because it’s so wild, but it was also like, what does this look and feel like to you? How big is it? How camp is it? How far are we going? He was very clear on his tone, and so I knew going in that I was going to build this character the way that felt like I saw Zoe but also really lean on Max to trust how far to go and where I could push Zoe and all of that stuff.

KAIA GERBER: I was just like, “How are we going to do this?” But Max didn’t question it for a second, which is really incredible, and I just adore Max. Actually, when we got on Zoom for the first time, we had on the exact same outfit and it was such a random thing.

HUDSON: Oh, that is so funny.

GERBER: I have a screenshot of it because I was like, “This is crazy.”

HUDSON: How did you have the same outfit?

That was my question. [Laughs]

GERBER: It was more complicated than that, okay? [Laughs] It’s Zoom, “Are we both wearing T-shirts? This is so crazy.” No, it was a white T-shirt with the same color blue crewneck sweatshirt over it. I know it sounds, like, not that crazy…

HUDSON: No, but that’s crazy.

GERBER: Yes! And it was peeking out the same way, and I just was like, “I can trust you with whatever.” I was just so excited. And then of course, when he told me it was going to be you and Lizzie [Moss], and, really, the whole cast. Lionel [Boyce] has been a friend of mine for years, and so to be in something with him, and Ziwe is hilarious and brilliant, Arian [Moayed]… We just got such a cool cast of people, and with a film like this, everyone is there because they really believe in it and they want to be there. No one is there because they have to be there, and so that creates an environment that’s just pure joy.

HUDSON: That’s true.

You feel that while you’re watching it.

HUDSON: We do this because we love this and the people that are doing it.

I love the idea of “how” at the beginning. I feel like the most exciting movies start with “how,” and then they leave the audience with, “How does this movie exist?” And that’s one of my favorite things.

HUDSON: I didn’t want to interrupt what you were saying, but as you were saying that I just had this image of, like, a scene that I can’t talk about because it’s a spoiler, but how it was shot was so insane. It was so insane that at one point, Lizzie and I were laughing so hard because it was like, “What is happening right now?”

GERBER: And then you’re like, “How is this a job?”

I’m fairly certain I know what scene you’re talking about, and I have a million questions that I can’t ask right now.

HUDSON: The way it was shot, I was like, “This is hilarious.” I can’t wait for it to come out so I can post these things.

I’m here for all that material when the time is right!

Kaia Gerber’s Sought-After Role “Lives In So Much” of ‘Shell’
Image via Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Kaia, I have a very specific question for you, and I’ll preface this by saying I’m going to use the term “small role,” which I don’t like, but just to make the question a little quicker and easier to deliver.

GERBER: “There are no small roles, only small actors!”

Really, there are none.

HUDSON: Especially in this one.

For real! I was talking to Max the other day and he mentioned the fact that, even though this is a “smaller role,” there were a lot of people out there who really wanted to play Chloe. I’m curious from your perspective, with “small roles,” what do you need to see in them that signals to you, you’ll get out of them what you want?

GERBER: I actually can’t say anything about what happens with Chloe and her storyline, but even though she’s a small role, she lives so much in the movie that it’s kind of ideal for me. I worked two days, but I feel like I’m in the whole movie. [Laughs] I was like, “This is great.”

HUDSON: At the hair and makeup test, we were in hair and makeup together and I was like, “Oh my god, I’m so excited!” And I was like, “Oh wait, we don’t do anything together.” It was so sad.

GERBER: But our storylines feel so much like this. But she felt like a great challenge for me because I wanted her to be so much in contrast to Lizzie’s character, but also, you need to love her and you need to care about her for the movie to work. So, it was really fun working with Max on little things that we could put in there to make you kind of root for her. Getting to do those scenes with Lizzie, it didn’t feel insignificant to me at all. It felt very significant. And then of course, her journey is wild, and I was like, “The opportunity to do that, where do I sign, please?”

Given where she ends up, it’s one of the most memorable characters I’ve seen at TIFF, but also, you don’t get that memorable ending unless you earn it with the seeds that you plant at the start, and you do both sides of that very well.

GERBER: Thank you.

Elisabeth Moss Gave Kate Hudson Everything She Needed to Prey On
“I just got to be a sociopath and take from her. She was wonderful.”
Image via TIFF

Kate, I have to ask you about working with Elisabeth Moss, of course, because your characters’ dynamic is essentially the spine of the movie. Can you tell me something about her as a scene partner that you appreciated and maybe helped bring something out of your own performance that you wouldn’t have been able to without her?

HUDSON: Lizzie is such a wonderful actress and such a pro, and we got along very well and she was very open and a great scene partner. I think part of what we were all doing because this is so tone-specific was really leaning into Max. So, Lizzie and I, like I was saying, we had moments where we’re like, “Is this crazy?” Lizzie would be like, “Should you do that? Should I be doing that? What are we doing here?” [Laughs] There are moments that were so wild. But Lizzie has an amazing vulnerability and obviously my character preys on the vulnerable, and so that was a very easy thing to be able to achieve because she gave me so much of herself, and I just got to be a sociopath and take from her. So, she was wonderful.

It is so much fun watching you go there with her.

HUDSON: Oh, it was so fun.

GERBER: I already see that everyone’s going to be quoting all of Zoe’s lines because you’re so funny in it, and you have the best lines in the movie, and then you have Lizzie’s facial reactions, which are totally priceless.

HUDSON: You’re just like the audience.

GERBER: Yeah, that’s the audience!

Given what you just said before, I am curious, is there any particular thing that you can share right now that, on set, made you say, “There’s no way we’re going to be allowed to do this. It’s never going to make the final cut,” and now it’s in the finished film?

HUDSON: Oh, yeah. I mean, pulling out an enormous love whistle. [Laughs] What is it?

GERBER: [Laughs] I don’t remember!

HUDSON: A pleasure-seeking missile — pulling that out of the drawer was…

GERBER: We’re not supposed to say “dildo.”

HUDSON: [Laughs] Pulling that out of the drawer was like, “Is this gonna work?” As you’re holding it, “Are we going too far?” It was so fun.

GERBER: That’s one of the best scenes.

HUDSON: It was great.

Kaia Gerber and Kate Hudson Are Just Like Us: “We Love Keanu Reeves!”
Image by Federico Napoli

I’ve got two upcoming projects that our team wanted me to ask you about, and I’m very excited about both of these.

Kaia, first for you, I’m going to ask about Outcome , Jonah Hill’s movie. I’m obsessed with Mid 90s, so I’m just so excited that he’s directing that. In addition to him, you also get to work with an absolutely stacked ensemble. I’ll admit this is a little bit of an unfair question, but given how iconic so many of those actors are, is there any particular one that so far exceeded your expectations? You thought you knew what they were capable of, but then they just blew you away?

GERBER: I’ve been the biggest fan of Keanu Reeves for my whole life in an unhealthy way at times — my family has had conversations with me about it. [Laughs]

HUDSON: Was he your first crush?

GERBER: First crush, I’ve seen all of his films.

HUDSON: He has one of the best lines ever in Parenthood. He’s so great.

GERBER: Honestly, it transcended him as a human and just became, really, just about me, like most things. [Laughs] And so he was someone where it was like, “never meet your heroes…” I have, like, albums of pictures of him in my phone. I had a life-size cardboard cutout…

HUDSON: Oh my god, did you terrify him? Was he so scared?

GERBER: I didn’t want to scare him because I felt like my personality would freak him out because he’s a really sensitive, wonderful person. But working with him and just being in the same room as him, he’s so kind and exactly what you would hope for.

HUDSON: He really is such a kind man. We love Keanu.

GERBER: We love Keanu Reeves!

Kate Hudson’s New Series Will Spotlight Women in Sports
Image via Netflix

I do want to make sure to squeeze in one upcoming project for you, too, Kate — Running Point because I love James Ponsoldt, and also, I’m a big women’s basketball fan.

HUDSON: Whoo!

Women’s basketball has always had a fan base, but it feels like, now more so than ever, it’s soaring.

HUDSON: It’s having a moment, which is so great.

What does it mean to you to make Running Point right now?

HUDSON: I was so excited. There’s this momentum with women in basketball, but it’s really women in sports, and as a frustrated athlete… My whole childhood, I was a sports girl. I mean, I danced, too, but I love sports. Getting a female perspective on sport, it’s so important, and also just really, really supporting women in sports has been something that I’ve always hoped for. To see it in these last six years has been awesome whether it’s soccer, now women’s basketball is finally getting the attention and the voice that it deserves.

Anyway, for me, I love this show so much. I can’t wait to share it just because it’s just so easy. It’s just a fun 30-minute comedy. I’m basically Jeanie Buss in a 30-minute comedy, and I think people are just going to enjoy it. I think it’s going to hit all of the things that we want in something you want to binge. It has sports, it has family, it has chaos. It’s all humor. All of the boys are so good. It’s me and Brenda Song and a bunch of dudes.

GERBER: Is this the one you talked about on Call Her Daddy? Because that sounds like the most fun you could possibly have.

HUDSON: It’s so fun, and the show is fun. I hope people love it because we all want to go back and do it again and make it even crazier. The root of it is that I was always overlooked. My love and understanding of basketball was always overlooked, and then I have this shot. That’s the grounding of it, but it’s really just a crazy comedy.