Naomi Watts' film career started back in 1986 in "For Love Alone". She then starred in films such as "Flirting", "Tank Girl", and "Sleepwalkers". However, she only hit the big time after being noticed in David Lynch's "Mulholland Drive" in 2001. Watts talks here about her role in horror flick "The Ring".
Did you know the "Japanese film"?
Not before the script was brought to my attention. I was told that it was this huge phenomena and as soon as I read the script, I was pretty excited.
What interested you about this movie?
Well, in "Mulholland Drive", I played these two characters that weren't based on any reality and they were very extreme people. I felt this character, Rachel Keller, was very ordinary even though she's presented with extraordinary circumstances. She's a normal person who's just a mother and to her everything is OK. Life is just dandy.
Then this horrible thing comes into her life. She's forced to question her sanity. It seems completely implausible and then the journalist part of her goes out the window and it becomes about survival for her and for her family. It's pretty intense.
How does she make that transition from journalist to survivor?
You know, when she discovers her son has watched this videotape, that's when it brings out all sorts of guilt. She's thinking "I should have been a better mother. What can I do to protect my child?" And that鈥檚 it. So, basically, this is more than just a horror film. For me it's a psychological journey she has to go through.
Tell us about the tape..
It's a bunch of images that are really quite nasty. They don't exactly correlate but you work out what they mean later on in the story, and that alone is pretty scary.
So how did you prepare for this role?
Actually, I went straight from one movie to another. I had about a week of rehearsal and that was my preparation. It was a huge movie and I had like a billion costume ,changes and things like that took precedence over any acting preparation. But really fear is a pretty simple emotion to play. It's a pretty good driving force, so imagination really was my key.
