Naomi Watts 17 years ago on the set of King Kong

June 2005 By Philip Berk

Talking about the love story on the set of the King Kong in New Zealand, Naomi Watts believes, “There’s something about the relationship that is genuine. It’s not  opportunistic or manipulative. It’s about feeling safe with him which allows it to go to all kinds of places.”

Of course I don’t ask her about her own relationships.

Since her breakup with heartthrob Heath Ledger, she’s rarely been seen in public.

Except  once when she attended a concert with actor Liev Schreiber. 

Naomi has not spoken about it, but then again she’s never been one to talk about her personal life. 

Who knew her private life was as turbulent as the plots of most of her films!

She was that Hollywood based Australian actress, who had worked with Russell Crowe in an Australian miniseries, played the snobby schoolgirl in Flirting, and was a close friend of Nicole Kidman.

But then overnight she became that stunning actress in Mulholland Drive.

And even when she and Heath became a hot item, because of their age difference — he’s eleven years younger than she — the press respected her request not to discuss it. 

Little did we know that, when she fell in love with Heath on the set of Ned Kelly, she was in an eighteen month relationship with Stephen Hopkins, the director of Blown Away and Lost in Space, and they were planning to marry.

The same thing happened with Heath.

Invitations were sent out for a Christmas Eve wedding, until it was called off.

Then later, in a cruel twist of fate, Heath fell in love with his costar on the set of Brokeback Mountain (Dawson’s Creek actress Michelle Williams.)  

The two of them are expecting a baby in November.

Even details surrounding her childhood have been kept from the press, the fact that her parents were divorced when she was four, that her father, a sound engineer for Pink Floyd, was killed in a car accident when she was seven, which left them without financial support. The family had to move in with her maternal grandparents and even contemplated putting Naomi and her brother in foster homes until her mother remarried and the family immigrated to Australia.

So how did this elusive Australian get from Sydney to Hollywood?

Correction: Even though people think of her as Australian, she holds an English passport. 

How come? I ask her.

“I was born and raised in England. My mother, stepfather, and my brother immigrated to Australia when I was fourteen. People call me Australian because I’m an Australian actor and because I was trained there, but I am English, and my mom and dad were both born and raised in England. I have an English passport, but I feel very much a hybrid of two cultures and now a third.”

She trained along with Nicole Kidman, and they became lifelong friends.

Kidman of course went on to become Mrs. Tom Cruise and a star in Hollywood. Naomi remained in Australia, playing bit parts in local movies.  

And it was purely by accident that she found herself working in Hollywood.

“I came to Los Angeles on a holiday and ended up staying although for a long time I went back and forth.”

Why L.A.?

“I knew two people here, one of whom was my mum’s best friend who was like a surrogate aunt.”

The other of course was Nicole who encouraged her to look for work.

They’ve remained close and in fact when Nicole split from Tom, it was Naomi who helped her through that crisis. 

How difficult was that for her?

“Just like any natural friendship, you help by being a pair of ears and a shoulder. We hang out, we have dinner together. We do the regular things. We’ve been friends for fifteen years.”

Has her success changed their friendship?

“Absolutely. She’s extremely jealous of me. She hates me!” she jokes. Then quickly she adds, “She’s so happy for my success. She’s always been the most encouraging and inspiring friend I ever had. She was the one who kept saying, ‘Just hang in there, Na’. It just takes one role.”

Have they ever competed for the same role?

“I’ve been offered things she’s turned down.”

During the years of moving back and forth between continents — going unnoticed in films like Wide Sargasso Sea and Tank Girl — were there ever times when she felt like giving up?

“Hundreds. Planning trips and buying tickets and packing up houses and thinking of other careers. I had reconciled those thoughts, and then another job would come through; so it kept me there for some reason. But I don’t think I could ever have given it up. It’s my way of expressing myself.”

Her Tank Girl costar Lori Petty once called her the longest emerging star in America. 

“I can’t tell you how many times I came really close to getting several big roles in promising projects. I could write a resume of all my second place finishes. And even after Tank Girl, people were saying, ‘This is it, Naomi, get ready.”

So how did David Lynch discover her?

“Through a wonderful casting director who had auditioned me a couple of times before. At the time I was in New York, and I got this call saying please come and meet with David Lynch right away. I had gone to New York to meet up with mum, having flown her and my brother there for a sort of family reunion. And I had this golden rule, never break a plan especially when it involves a lot of traveling because if you don’t get it, it’s doubly disappointing.  But because it was David Lynch, I was like, ‘C’mon, I can’t miss this.’ Also I was told he has an unusual casting process whereby he selects only three or four finalists so the odds are with you. So I thought, ‘Okay this sounds good. Mum hold here for 24 hours. I’ll be back.’ and I flew to L.A. to meet him. We just chatted for about 35 minutes, never any mention of work, or what was on my resume, or even anything about acting. He just asked me questions about my family. At one point I asked him, ‘Gosh, do you really want to hear this?’ Anyway it went really well.”

And of course she got the part.

So how has her life changed?

“Other than the fact that I’ve been busy, I don’t feel any different. There’s probably more people around me and it feels full, but it’s not any different in my head. The tangible things are different. I’ve got a more expensive car and I’m able to buy a house for the first time. But otherwise nothing really. I don’t get recognized on the street,  and I’m not mobbed.”

How tough is it maintaining her privacy?

“I haven’t found it a struggle. I’ve had a lot of attention, but I don’t have any complaints although people want to know a lot of things that I want to keep very private “

Is she still looking forward to marriage and motherhood?

“I’m not dreaming so heavily of it, and I’m not ambivalent either. I’m somewhere in the middle. I definitely want to experience being a mother and having a family. But divorce is such a horrible thing. I’ve seen so many people go through it.  It’s such an ugly thing but it doesn’t make me not want to get married. It doesn’t turn me off to that degree, so yeah I would like to experience it.”

Her Aussie costar (in The Ring), Martin Henderson, practices his “American” accent all the time. Is she following his example?

“I couldn’t do that. I prefer to think of it as an additional thing to add to the work. Some people go to work, put on their costumes, hair, and make-up. I add an accent which helps me get into character.”

The house she bought is in L.A. Is that where she considers home?

“I procrastinated for years about where to buy a house, New York, Sydney or London. I couldn’t decide, but the truth is I live in Los Angeles, I have lived there for nine years, and so I may as well admit it.”

And when she’s not working what does she enjoy doing?

“Anything to get my mind off the work. I love traveling, hanging out with friends, whatever you can do to escape. I love yoga, I love dancing, I love entertaining, planning dinner parties.”

Does she cook?

“I do. oh, and I love going to flea markets and garage sales.”

And her taste in music?

“Very eclectic. I love David Bowie. Hunky Dory is my favorite album ever, but I also love Air Supply, Radiohead. Now I’m into the Vines, White Stripes. All kinds of different music.”

Can she remember the first time she thought of wanting to be an actress?

“It was when I was about four or five. I saw my mother on stage playing Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady. I was a kid in the front row so impressed with my Nana. I kept waving at her trying to get her attention but she wasn’t acknowledging me. I couldn’t understand why. But two thirds of the way through the performance, she winked at me and suddenly I felt I’d been transported into this world of costumes and make-up. It felt really euphoric and made me feel closer to my mother in that imaginary world — and I dreamt for that for a long time.”

For the record, her mother was never a professional actress; and before Fay Wray died last year, she met her. “She gave me her blessing.”

How about Jessica Lange?

“I haven’t spoken to Jessica yet, but we share an agent; so I know she’s given me her blessing as well.”