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She started in Aussie TV but struggled for years until David Lynch’s
TV-series-turned-movie Mulholland Dr made her a star. Now Naomi
Watts comes full circle in the horror remake The Ring. By
Angela Baldassarre
A virtual unknown a year ago, Aussie-raised Naomi
Watts has descended unto the Hollywood star-making machine like an angel
on a cloud. Her head-turning role in David Lynch’s Mulholland
Dr has thrust the blonde bombshell into a quasi A-list category,
with filmmakers clamouring to sign her up as the next sultry “find.”
The irony here is that Watts, 33, is no newcomer, with over 15 credits
under her belt.
“That is funny, isn’t it?” She smiles
as she stretches her slender legs on the hotel-room couch. “I thought
people would’ve remembered me in Flirting, considering it
did so well in North America. But most people don’t even know that
Nicole Kidman was in it.”
Nor do they remember that Watts played Jet Girl in
that highly publicized box-office flop Tank Girl. “There
are so many disappointments in this business, you just have to be resilient,”
she says. “What’s weird is that the disappointment gets bigger
as I get older. It’s like the scab keeps coming off.”
Watts’ luck continues to rise, however, with
the highly anticipated thriller, The Ring, due in theatres October
18. Directed by Gore Verbinski (The Mexican), The Ring
is the English-language remake of the popular 1998 Japanese film Ringu,
which was itself based upon the first novel of a trilogy by Suzuki Koji,
and has already been followed in Japan by the sequel, Ringu 2,
and the third film, Ringu 0, a prequel.
The story centres on Rachel Keller (Watts), a journalist
who discovers a disturbing videotape with a bizarre history. Strangely,
everyone who views the videotape dies exactly one week afterward. Believing
this to be an urban legend until her own niece dies after watching it,
the cynical reporter investigates and watches the tape. Unsettling occurrences
ensue. Is Rachel slated to be the next victim of some bizarre and seemingly
supernatural force?
Despite now having a variety of interesting roles
to choose from, Watts is cautious about her newfound notoriety. “I’ve
lived the ups and downs of the business,” she confesses. “I
did a couple of things when I was 19, then I did some modelling in Japan,
and that was horrible. I swore at the time that I’d never do anything
in front of the camera again. But after meeting [director] John Duigan,
I decided to give Flirting a try. It did so well in Australia
that I moved to Los Angeles after so many people said they’d offer
me jobs. But it was a disaster. I couldn’t even get casting agents
to fax me scripts. I had to drive for an hour to go pick them up, and
then wait hours in a line-up for an audition. And this was for real
crappy roles!”
Despite possessing an unnerving Grace Kellyish beauty,
Watts has not had an easy life. Born in England, her parents separated
when she was child. Her father, Peter ‘Puddy’ Watts, was the
tour manager for Pink Floyd (his is the laughter on Floyd’s ‘Speak
To Me’) and his lifestyle forced Naomi’s mother to raise her
daughter and young son Ben practically alone. After her father suddenly
died when Naomi was 10, her mother Patricia, who had taken up with a
series of bad boyfriends, moved the kids to Australia, where Naomi admits
she had a hard time. “Let’s just say that I had a very sad
childhood,” she confesses.
Naomi began taking acting lessons at age 14, and after
several commercials and small movies (For Love Alone, Home
and Away) she tried her hand at modelling, then magazine work as
a fashion stylist, and finally came Duigan’s Flirting. Other
work during that period included Duigan’s Wide Sargasso Sea
opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones and, coincidentally, Scott Coffey’s
Ellie Parker, about an Australian actress struggling with life
in Los Angeles.
“Kinda like in Mulholland Dr, no?”
laughs Naomi about her role in Lynch’s film.
Watts seems to have finally found professional and
personal satisfaction. She recently finished work on both James Ivory’s
Le Divorce opposite Kate Hudson and Gregor Jordan’s western
drama The Kelly Gang with fellow Aussie Heath Ledger, whom she
is currently dating.
Watts smiles. “Let’s say that I’ve
come full circle.”
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