Naomi Watts
Naomi Watts
Naomi Ellen Wattsis a British actress and film producer. She made her screen debut in the Australian drama film For Love Aloneand then appeared in the Australian television series Hey Dad..!, Brides of Christand Home and Awayand alongside Nicole Kidman and Thandie Newton in the coming-of-age comedy-drama film Flirting. After moving to America, Watts appeared in films, including Tank Girl, Children of the Corn IV: The Gatheringand Dangerous Beautyand had the lead role in the television series Sleepwalkers...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionMovie Actress
Date of Birth28 September 1968
CityShoreham, England
I like complicated women. I like women with strength and contradictions...
Hotels are temporary people storage, no matter how big the boxes are. Remember that.
I got knockback after knockback at auditions. Just before ‘Mulholland Dr.’ my agent told me I was so intense I was freaking people out. She told me I was a brilliant actor but the feedback was that I made people feel uncomfortable because I was so nervous and intense. I just sat there and blubbed. My mum was staying in LA at the time and I went to her and said: ‘I just can’t do this. I’m not cut out for it.’ She just said: ‘Don’t believe a word people say about you. Forget them.’
If I have to produce movies, direct movies, whatever to change the way Hollywood treats older women, I'll do it. If I have to bend the rules, I will. If I have to break them, I will.
I find myself gravitating towards drama. It interests me. In the books I read, the paintings I like, it's always the darker stuff.
On set is where I feel comfortable. The red carpet stuff, talking about the film, explaining your own life, it doesn't come naturally. It's all necessary stuff I suppose but it's not my strength.
Never say never - and I certainly don't judge anyone who does it. But most of the characters I play are going through some kind of emotional turmoil, so my job requires me to have expression. If my face was froze, what right do I have to play that part? All the women who haven't done anything to their faces are still able to play great roles. And some of the ones who have done something have messed it up- they look freakish. Anyway, for me it's about playing women with rich lives - and the longer the life, the deeper the wrinkles.
Pain is such an important thing in life. I think that as an artist you have to experience suffering.
It'll take me a lot longer to read a script if there's no director attached.
I'm a tomboy now. I always wanted to fit in with my brother's group, so I climbed trees and played with lead soldiers. But I'm a woman's woman. I never understood women who don't have woman friends.
I'm not happy unless I've got a little bit of fear going.
My mum put me in drama classes when I was about 14. I'd been going on about it for some time, so maybe it was a way to shut me up.
I think film is a director's medium and the good filmmakers that I like tell the darker stories. Therefore, I'm always inclined to follow people like David Cronenberg.
Nicole was always there with her door open, her arms open, her ears open - just what you need.