Kate Hudson and Hugh Jackman are enjoying a wave of awards season buzz for their performances in “Song Sung Blue,” but two people with a personal connection to the musical biopic aren’t singing its praises.
Written and directed by Craig Brewer, “Song Sung Blue” stars Jackman and Hudson as Mike “Lightning” and Claire “Thunder” Sardina, a real-life Wisconsin couple who rise above personal setbacks while performing as Lightning and Thunder, an acclaimed Neil Diamond tribute band in the mid-1990s. The movie is based on the 2008 documentary of the same name.
“Song Sung Blue” opened last month to near-universal praise from critics, with Hudson receiving a Golden Globe nomination for her performance. In a new interview with the Daily Mail, however, Michael Sardina Jr. ― who is Mike Sardina’s 41-year-old son ― claimed his late father would be “rolling in his grave right now” over the movie and is reportedly considering legal action.
“Everybody thinks it’s such a wonderful film, it’s so touching,” he told the outlet. “It’s all lies.”
Kate Hudson, left, and Hugh Jackman star as Claire and Mike Sardina in “Song Sung Blue.”
Sarah Shatz/Focus Features
Mike Sardina died at age 55 in 2006, two years before the release of the “Song Sung Blue” documentary. His death is also depicted in the movie.
Michael Sardina Jr. did not participate in the documentary and does not appear as a character in the film. His sister, Angelina Sardina, is portrayed in the movie by actor and musician King Princess.
Elsewhere in his Daily Mail interview, Michael Sardina Jr. said that both he and his sister were paid consultants, but he was “purposely cut out” of the finished movie. Both siblings reportedly attended the movie’s Dec. 11 premiere in New York.
As for Hudson and Jackman specifically, he said, “They didn’t even try to contact me … They didn’t try to get more information.”
“Every interview that those monsters have been on [on] national television don’t even mention my existence at all, even though I was the most prevalent force in my father’s life, even when I wasn’t in Wisconsin, because I’m his only son,” he added.
Jackman and Hudson pose with Claire Sardina, whose real-life story inspired “Song Sung Blue.”
John Nacion via Getty Images
Both siblings have publicly said that the movie portrays certain events and family dynamics inaccurately. Angelina Sardina, however, offered a slightly more generous view of “Song Sung Blue,” telling the Daily Mail: “The only thing that was true is the love between my dad and Claire. It’s a beautiful story, but that’s not how it went down. And I guess that’s what’s upsetting because it’s a lie.”
Representatives for Hudson, Jackman and the film’s distributor, Focus Features, did not respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
Despite Michael Sardina Jr. and Angelina Sardina’s less-than-favorable takes on “Song Sung Blue,” the movie has the full support of their stepmother.
Claire Sardina performed with Hudson and Jackman at the movie’s premiere party last month. When “Inside Edition” asked her how her late husband might view the film, she said, “His dream, initially, was, ‘We’re going to go to Vegas, baby, someday.’ Well, that didn’t happen. But this is just as good.”
