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NAOMI
WATTS
We still aren´t sure what
Mulholland Drive was about, but
we know one thing - this actress
is taking the film world by storm
By
Brad Goldfarb // Photography by
Carter Smith
It´s
fitting that after 12 years of
trying to break through in the
movies, Naomi Watts did so in
a film in which she took on flip
sides of that Hollywood archetype
"the aspiring actress,"
nailing both its giddy optimism
as well as its potential for dashed
dreams. The film, of course, was
Mulholland Drive, a project that
put Watts on the fast track to
big-screen dominance. In the coming
months, she has no less than four
films slated for U.S. release,
including The Ring, a thriller
due out in theaters next month;
Plots With a View, opposite Brenda
Blethyn and Christopher Walken;
The Kelly Gang, the biopic based
on the life of the legendary Australian
outlaw Ned Kelly, starring Heath
Ledger; and Merchant-Ivory´s
Le Divorce, co-starring Kate Hudson.
When
I first met Watts, she was taking
a break from her photo session
for this issue and sharing a quick
chat with Sean Penn, who happended
to be staying at the hotel where
we were shooting. It was the kind
of Hollywood power moment seldom
witnessed in New York Ciry, and
one which perfectly summed up
where Watts is at this point in
her career - in demand. In fact,
the trades announced a few days
later that she had signed on to
star yet in another high profile
project - Alejandro González
Inárritu´s 21 Grams,
a films which also stars Penn
and Benicio Del Toro, and which
is scheduled to start filming
at the end of the year.
Later
that morning, watching Watts work
it for the camera, I was struck
by her uncanny ability to transform
herself with little more than
the turn of her head or a twist
of the body. She´s one of
those rare actresses who can take
on a role so completely that she
becomes virtually unrecognizable
from one moment to the next. It´s
a skill that gave particular resonance
to Watt´s performance in
Mulholland Drive, and which will
be no doubt be in abundant, delightful
display in the months ahead.
Naomi
Watts: Hi, Brad!
Brad
Goldfarb: Hi, Naomi. Hold
on one sec - I want to patch us
in to another phone line, just
to make sure we get our recording
here.
NW:
Oh, my God. So high tech.
BG:
Not really, but if it sounds that
way then it means we´re
doing our jobs... So I understand
you´re in the midst of an
incredibly busy week, not to mention
a busy year. In the 12 months
we spoke to you last, you´ve
worked nonstop. Today I hear you
were putting the finishing touches
on The Ring before you head off
for a well-deserved break.
NW:
Yeah. Today was like 18 hours
of looping. It´s been a
long one.
BG:
To put all this in context,
when we talked a year ago, Mulholland
Drive was about to come out and
the early buzz on the film was
extremely postive, but you didn´t
have any specific projects lined
up, and you were still having
to fight for roles. Now you´ve
got a number of movies in the
can, others lined up, and God
only knows how many people scratching
on your door.
NW:
Tonight - when I get on the
plane and start my vacation -
will, I think, be the first opportunity
I´ve had to process this
whole year. I know it will be
the first time I´ve sat
still for more than three days
straight. I think at that point
what´s happening might all
start to think in.
BG:
How has your life changed
physically? Still driving in the
same car? Still living in the
same apartment?
NW:
I´ve upgraded the car, but
I´m still living in the
same tiny apartment. If I spent
more time in L.A. I would probably
have moved six months ago.
BG:
And, I imagine, you´re not
having to fight for good roles
anymore.
NW:
No, I haven´t done an audition
since The Ring.
BG:
A nice change.
NW:
You have no idea. [laughs]
Not having to do an audition is
the meaning of success for me.
If I just know that I don´t
have to audition again, or too
much, that will be enough.
BG:
Why?
NW:
Auditions are just so humiliating
and degrading. You get a five-minute
time slot for a part you´ve
spent six hours or more studying
for or thinking about, and you
get into these rooms full of people
who barely make eye contact. They´re
bored and frustrated that they
can´t find the right person,
energy that is instantly crushing
and which makes it hard to shine.
Going through that process over
and over, you become so wounded
and guarded that it´s impossible
to give you best stuff away. That´s
why I will never forget what David
Lynch did for me. When he cast
me in Mulholland Drive I was literally
at the lowest place, and yet he
managed to pull away all those
masks.
BG:
The story goes that Lynch cast
you from a head shot and never
had you read for the part.
NW:
David works with a casting director
who knows all the actors and chooses
the head shots. By process of
elimination, David selects maybe
three or four that he responds
to, without looking at their resumes.
It was probably the easiest job
I´ve ever had getting. He
just talked to me for about a
half hour one day, and then another
40 minutes the next, and never
about work.
BG:
At this point, how long had
you been in L.A. waiting for your
"big break"?
NW:
It had been about five years of
getting close to things. I had
a long list of coming in second
place of big movies, of almost
getting that big job that might
have changed things.
BG:
Were you aware that your own experience
as a struggling actor would be
so relevant in the film?
NW:
Certainly in the audition scene.
When I read the script that was
the scene where I went "OK,
this is the part." I remember
the day we shot it - it was magic
in the room. All the actors had
been on auditions, of course,
and we all had a comment on that
situation and it just bubbled
up. I remember looking up over
at David´s face and he was
just grinning from ear to ear.
We were all able to bring pretty
good stuff to it, I think.
BG:
I`ll say. Throughout the film,
and in that scene in particular,
one can sense not just your understanding
of the material,but the fun you´re
having wrapping yourself around
a good part. It´s an immensely
satisfying thing to witness.
NW:
Thank you. That part was the
role of a lifetime. It was something
I really got to sink my teeth
into. I wouldn´t have been
surprised if there wasn´t
another one like that for the
rest of my life, except that the
next film I´m making is
the second role of a lifetime
- you wouldn´t think you
could get that lucky again.
BG:
You´re referring, of course,
to 21 Grams. What can you tell
us about the film?
NW:
Not too much, because it´s
just become official and I´m
not sure what I`m allowed to say.
BG:
Obviously, it´s something
you´re very excited about.
NW:
Oh yeah. I can´t believe
it. Alejandro´s last film,
Amores Perros, blew me away. It
just stayed with me for days.
So when Alejandro called and wanted
to see me I was very excited.
I was coming to the end of The
Ring at this point - I was beyond
exhausted, I was pressing on to
this other movie, and we were
three weeks behind schedule, which
was eating up all of my rest time,
so I was really stressed. We arranged
for him to come to my trailer
- I remember it was a day I was
shooting a scene in which my character
has been down a well for about
a week, so I was in a wet suit,
I had wet hair, wounds on my face,
no make up. I was looking like
death warmed over. Alejandro sits
me down and says, [in a Mexican
accent] "Naomi, I want you
to do my film." I was like,
"OK. I´d love to work
with you." But I just thought
it was one of those Hollywood
lines. Then that day or the next,
I got a call from my agent saying,
"You got the offer."
I was like "Are you kidding?"
I was just screaming, screaming,
screaming.
BG:
Had you read a script at this
point?
NW:
No. He promised me to send me
the script, which finally came
like six weeks later and I could
not believe how great it was.
BG:
What´s the meaning of the
film´s title?
NW:
Essentially, 21 grams is the difference
in weight between a person who´s
living and one who´s dead.
I guess you could say it´s
the weight of one´s soul.
BG:
Tantalizing...
NW.
Interesting, huh? That was basically
all Alejandro said. That and "she
goes through a lot." He wasn´t
kidding.
BG:
Of course, this project doesn´t
start filming until the end of
the year. You have four other
films in the can, all completed
since we spoke with you a year
ago. That´s mindboggling
when you consider that two films
a year is a lot by most people´s
standards.
NW:
[laughs] I know. Well, my
part in The Kelly Gang was small
and really only involved six day´s
work. But all the films were done
back-to-back, so it´s been
pretty chaotic. A friend said
to me the other day that I need
to go into therapy to learn how
to say "No." She said
I don´t know how to turn
anything down.
BG:
Why is that? Are you afraid the
parts are going to go away?
NW:Probably.
I´ve spent 12 years waiting
for the right thing and never
getting it, and finally I´ve
got the chance. And I do fear
that the opportunities are going
to go away - but it´s also
that the projects themselves are
so great. I have said no, by the
way, a lot, especially in the
last six months, and then I hear
the names of the actresses the
roles have gone to and I think,
Oh my God! Who the hell do I think
I am?, and begin to have second
thoughts about my decisions. But
it´s only been in the last
six months that the offers have
gone out of control.
BG:
One of the early pieces I
read about Mulholland Drive described
you and your co-star Laura Elena
Harring as being too old for your
parts, which is crazy, not least
of which because you´re
only in your early thirties. But
I´m curious, is age a factor
here as well?
NW:
There is a little bit of that
concern, that time´s running
out and roles will dry up, as
they do for women in their late-thirties.
But I´ve started to notice
in the last few months that the
roles available to women in their
thirties suddenly seem a lot better
than the ones for women in their
mid- to late-twenties. Which makes
sense. Women have got more to
say at this point in their lives.
They´ve had a decade of
getting to know themselves, of
making mistakes, reflecting back
to failed relationships, having
children, all those things, and
as a result, the characters, the
roles, become much more interesting,
more dynamic.
BG:
That´s great news. You´re
the first person I´ve heard
say that. Talk to me about.what
drives you creative choices. I
imagine, coming off of a success
like Mulholland Drive, you could
have picked any project you wanted,
yet from what I can gather the
roles you´ve chosen are
notable more for their emotional
bravery than for their blockbuster
potential.
NW:
Well, The Ring is sort of a commercial
movie, but the role [in which
Watts play a newspaper reporter
investigating a mysterious videotape
tied to the deaths of four teenagers]
is really quite a brilliant one.
Plus it was such a departure from
Mulholland Drive. It has some
serious emotional material - all
that good stuff actors love to
play - but she´s really
a normal girl, whereas Betty and
Diane in Mulholland Drive are
both so extreme they´re
sort of psychotic. I just want
to make sure that I keep people
guessing, that the mystery is
always there. I don´t want
to be defined. I feel like I can
do lots of different things and
whatever speaks to me at a given
time, that´s what I´m
going to gravitate towards.
BG:
Anything that you´d like
to try that you haven´t
had the chance to?
NW:
I`m burning for a comedy,
but I´m not a lover of quintessential
romantic comedies. You know, You´ve
Got Mail [1998] is not me.
BG:
Though interestingly, I read a
piece in which you were compared
to Meg Ryan.
NW:
Oh, my God!
BG:
Others compared you to Grace Kelly,
Tippi Hedren, Sharon Stone -
NW:
- I´ve heard those. Who
else? Any sort of psycho ones
in there?
BG:
That´s all I´ve come
across. Wo would you like to be
compared to?
NW:
Meryl Streep, Jodie Foster, Julianne
Moore - those are my favourites.
BG:
One aspect of your life that´s
gotten a lot of press over the
past year is your friendship with
Nicola Kidman, which dates from
when you met as teenagers on the
set of a bathing suit commercial
in Australia. How important was
that relationship during those
years when you were struggling
for work?
NW:
Nicole has been incredibly supportive
and a constant source of inspiration.
She and I are very different people
in terms of our backgrounds and
how we were raised, but having
said that, I could identify with
her becaus we both come from Sydney.
Her success has given me hope
for myself. And you know, she
encouraged me all the time. She
used to say, "Naomi, just
one role, one great role, that´s
all it takes." I think I
can confidently say that Nicole
has always believed in me and
has always been incredibly encouraging,
and that goes back to the days
when we rehearsed together for
Flirting [1991]. We had a friend
in common and I remember that
friend saying, "Nicole said
you were amazing, and she doesn´t
say that lightly." I can
recall thinking, Oh wow! An actress
I admire thinks I´m worth
something.
BG:
Any thoughts on why so many
of our best actors right now are
from Australia?
NW:
I don´t know! People keep
asking me that, and I wish I could
come up with an intelligent answer.
One possibility, I guess, is the
fact that in Australia, like in
England, we have a government-run
drama program, so you´ve
got people who are seriously well-trained
and know their craft and have
a great work ethic. That extrapolates
into a great attitude and talent.
BG:
I put the question to an Australian
colleague here, and she suggested
that it had more to do with the
general fearlessness of the Australian
personality.
NW:
That´s so true. But then
there´s also a selfdeprecating
thing as well. It´s not
too gung ho. It´s not too
in-your-face. Australians are
very unself-conscious for the
most part.
BG:
How are you feeling about
the whole publicity aspect of
making movies? With the number
of big films you have coming up,
it seems likely that your anonymity
is on the verge of disappearing.
NW:
I haven´t got in touch
with that because I do not get
recognized in the States. Hopefully
I can retain my anonymity for
as long as possible. It really
does scare me, the idea that I
am going to have to make all my
appointments in my house and go
out there and interact with the
world. That is something I really
don´t want, and it´s
going to hurt my work. Acting
is about studying life and human
nature. I need that contact with
the girl who´s got the black
eye at the checkout counter, whose
soul is just crushed inside and
she´s smiling at me while
she´s ringing up my talcum
powder or whatever. You need that
exchange, and you´re not
going to get it just from your
imagination. If you´re not
able to go into the shopping malls
and these weird, wonderful places
where you run into all walks of
life, I think you´re subjugating
your work. I don´t know
anyone who´s chosen to be
an actor because they´ve
desired that kind of fame.
BG:
Though I think a lot of people
imagine actors choose their profession
because they want exactly that.
NW:
You know, it´s embarrassing
to admit, but when I was growing
up, one of the films that had
the biggest influence on me was
the movie Fame [1980]. And it´s
not because I dreamt of being
famous. It was literally because
I wanted to be in that class dancing
on table tops with leg warmers
on. [laughs] I wanted to be doing
splits in the air with a black
man catching me as I came down.
I think a lot of people who choose
acting as a profession feel that
way.
BG:
Was there one moment when you
knew acting was "it"
for you?
NW:
I remember when I was four
or five watching my mother onstage
playing Eliza Doolittle in My
Fair Lady. She was so beautiful
up there - everyone was wearing
these incredible costumes - and
I was in the front row with my
nana, waving at her the whole
time, going, "Mom, Mom!"
But she couldn´t wave back
because she was in character.
I remember wanting her to wave
at me, to acknowledge me, to bring
me into that world, and I couldn´t
understand why she wouldn´t.
Finally, about two-thirds of the
way through the play, she gave
me a little signal, a little flip
of the hand, a bit of eye contact,
and at last, I felt like I was
part of that world. It meant so
much to me. I didn´t need
to keep waving. I was there. I
was in it. I was part of the play
and part of the magic.
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