CHEMISTRY LESSON

Due to the rain in L.A. this morning, it took me an hour and ten minutes to make it to Santa Monica for the “Fool’s Gold” junket. In fact, I almost turned around, thinking I wouldn’t get there in time. Fortunately, the traffic thinned out the closer I got to my destination and I arrived in plenty of time to not only set up my taping gear but grab some breakfast.

Held at the beautiful beachfront hotel Casa Del Mar, our room had a view of the ocean right outside. Our first interview was the star team of Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey and I was worried staring out at the waves might make Matt tear his shirt off, but that never happened. In reality, Matt was pretty laid back, smiling at Kate’s lively, laughing demeanor. The pair are obviously good friends and say whatever chemistry they show on screen was there from the moment they met.

Of course, we couldn’t let the interview end without touching on Matthew’s big news, his impending fatherhood. Matt admitted that he always wanted to be a dad and that he was just waiting for the right woman to come along. He did promise that he wouldn’t be changing his athletic ways, continuing to scuba dive and doing his own movie stunts whenever possible. That led Kate to reveal that motherhood has made her more of a daredevil because she wouldn’t want to teach her son to be fearful of trying new things.

But the highlight of the day was talking to Donald Sutherland, a classy and contemplative guy who plays a rich yacht owner in the film. Naturally someone asked him how his son Kiefer was doing. It turns out Donald had dinner with Kiefer just last night and told us Kiefer came out of jail focused on making the new season of “24” the best ever (once the WGA strike is over, of course). That’s music to the ears of this “24” fan.

Donald is also rooting for Julie Christie, his co-star in 1973’s “Don’t Look Now,” to win this year’s Best Actress Oscar. He also insisted he’s a klutz and that while he often plays wealthy people, doesn’t feel like he’s one of them. He says the rich never have to look at a bill and he certainly does.