Naomi Watts stars in thriller Shut In which opened yesterday. Here’s a list of some the British beauty’s films over the years.
1. MULHOLLAND DRIVE (2001)
WATTS was a struggling actress who made a big impression with moviegoers in this David Lynch-directed psychological neo-noir mystery. The surreal and cryptic film saw her as an aspiring actress, newly arrived in Los Angeles, who develops a strange relationship with an amnesiac woman hiding in her apartment. Watts almost quit acting after filming wrapped due to an eviction notice and the loss of her health insurance. Luckily, good friend Nicole Kidman convinced her to stay on in LA until after the film came out.
2.THE RING (2002)
Fortune favoured Watts when Jennifer Connelly, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Beckinsale all turned down the lead role in this Hollywood remake of the 1998 Japanese horror film of the same name. Playing a journalist investigating a videotape (talk about dated!) that kills anyone in a week after watching it, Watts hit screen gold after the film became one of the highest-grossing horror films of all time.
3. 21 GRAMS (2003)
She scored another success with this drama by celebrated Mexican director Alejandro G. Inàrritu, starring alongside Sean Penn. Apparently she accepted her role without reading the script first. Her decision paid off with Oscar and Bafta nominations for the Best Actress award for her role as a grieving mother and recovering drug addict.
Watts was in the midst of shooting the well scene in The Ring when Inàrritu initially approached her for his film. Although she was worried about her haggard appearance, it ended up being exactly what he was looking for.
4. KING KONG (2006)
Watts plays a vaudeville actress who gets entangled in a relationship with a giant gorilla in this epic monster movie remake of the 1933 classic. Critics praised the Peter Jackson-directed film for its state-of-the-art special effects, terrific performances, and majestic sense of spectacle. During her scenes, the colour orange was deliberately kept offset because the lighting resulted in an odd effect on her piercing blue eyes.
5. THE PAINTED VEIL (2006)
In this third film adaptation of the similarly-titled 1925 novel by W. Somerset Maugham, Watts plays an unfaithful wife trapped in a loveless marriage with a British medical doctor played by Edward Norton. Although Nicole Kidman was considered for the role, Norton personally recruited Watts for it instead.
6. EASTERN PROMISES (2007)
Directed by David Cronenberg, this gangster drama sees Watts as a midwife uncovering a sex trade ring by the Russian mob in London after delivering the baby of a Russian teen who dies during childbirth. Watts spent time at Whittington Hospital for her role. Two weeks into filming, the actress discovered she was pregnant with her son Alexander.
7. MOTHER AND CHILD (2009)
Watts plays a hard-hearted and later pregnant woman, whose mother gave her up for adoption because of her teen pregnancy, in this poignant drama directed by Rodrigo GarcÌa. The actress was actually pregnant with her second child — viewers can see her real son moving inside her belly during the clinic scene. Watts revealed that the baby was sleeping and she took a cold glass of water to wake him up.
8. FAIR GAME (2010)
Watts and Penn star together again, this time as a married couple, in this biographical spy drama based on the memoirs of a CIA agent and a US diplomat. When her husband writes an op-ed article criticising the Bush administration, Watts’ character finds her cover blown by the US government as payback. Their roles were apparently originally attached to Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe.
9. THE IMPOSSIBLE (2012)
Watts received Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress award for this disaster film
based on a family’s experience during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in Thailand. The actual family (including Maria Belon who is portrayed by Watts) was present during the entire filming and provided lots of tips.
10. BIRDMAN (OR THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE) (2014)
Watts works with director Inàrritu and actor Norton again in this satirical black comedy-drama about a washed-up comic book movie actor (Michael Keaton) struggling to stage a theatre production. She plays a Broadway debutante in his show, which also features her brilliant but volatile Method actor boyfriend (Norton).
Birdman’s main stars have all been in comic book movies. Keaton was in Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992), Norton in The Incredible Hulk (2008) and Emma Stone in The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014), while Watts played Jet Girl in Tank Girl (1995).