Kate Hudson struts into Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery with an infectious enthusiasm that sweeps you off your feet. Like every character in Rian Johnson’s glamorous murder mystery ensemble, Birdie Jay — a superstar model turned fashion entrepreneur — is supremely flawed. But that’s exactly why Hudson simply had to play her. “You kind of fell in love with Birdie reading the script,” she tells Krista Smith in a new episode of the podcast Skip Intro. “Part of my great desire to play Birdie Jay was hoping that Rian would see me as the person to play [her], because on the page she was just as vibrant and hilarious as she ended up.”

Hudson brought her love of physical comedy to the character, whose over-the-top way of gliding through a room makes for some of the film’s biggest laughs. “That was the first thing I talked to Rian about,” she says. “I saw her physicality immediately. I love to dance, and when I was younger I trained as a dancer. I was like ‘Oh my god, her body language.’ It felt like a dance to me. I felt like I could just move into that body. I said to Rian, ‘I can feel the walk.’ That was really fun for me to play with –– even how tactile she is. Everything to me was a movement for Birdie.”

If the first Knives Out displayed some truly drool-worthy knitwear, Glass Onion finds its groove in the bright colors and patterns of Riviera fashion. Hudson worked with costume designer Jenny Eagan (you have her to thank for Chris Evans’ cream sweater) to nail down Birdie Jay’s extravagant style. “Jenny brought this whole other layer to Glass Onion,” she says. “I walked into that fitting room and I just saw Birdie everywhere. The silhouettes, the fabrics, and the glitter, the prints, all the jewelry. It’s not very often that you get to create these avatars of a character. You could feel that each person has an iconic feeling about them in the costume.”

And if movement was the first step to building Birdie Jay, stepping into her literal shoes was the real key to capturing her spirit, Hudson says. “I don’t know how you can’t get right into character,’” she says. “I’m running around in these opal gold earrings.”

Still, you don’t have to be Benoit Blanc to deduce that all those frills conceal something a lot darker within. “I think she’s quite tragic, actually,” Hudson says of her character. “I think all of these characters are tragic. When you’re playing some characters that are so comedic, it’s so important to have that underbelly. It’s where you find a glimmer of hope in a character that’s so terrible, does the awful things. If you can see the cracks a little bit, I think then you can love to hate them. Then, inevitably, maybe just love them.”

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is now playing in theaters for a limited one-week engagement before it premieres on Netflix Dec. 23. For more behind-the-scenes insights, tune in to this week’s Skip Intro on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Kate Hudson Being Extra in Glass Onion for 90 SecondsShe's a problematic fave.