Thanks to the big ape, Watts’ light is shining bright
One is a three-hour, $200 million-plus combination of digital effects, yearlong hype and the largest of monkeys.
The other is a frantic, $30,000 production depicting an actress desperate for cardboard-thin parts in the B-est of movies.
The films couldn’t be more different, and neither could Naomi Watts‘ career from what it was five years ago.
On Wednesday, Watts hit theaters worldwide with the famed ape in “King Kong.” But her balance between blockbuster siren and indie shape-shifter is epitomized by the semi-autobiographical “Ellie Parker,” released a month ago, featuring Watts in the Hollywood hell of a struggling actress.
She explains her contradictions simply: “That’s me. I don’t want to be boxed into any kind of confined space.”
Peter Jackson‘s remake of the original 1933 “King Kong” is ratcheting the 37-year-old actress to the top of fame’s skyscraper.
Since David Lynch picked her out of a pile of head shots for 2001’s “Mulholland Dr.,” Watts has filled her years with critically acclaimed performances, including “Le Divorce,” “The Ring” movies and 2003’s “21 Grams,” for which she received an Oscar nomination.
“People keep thinking I’m this dark, serious person because the work I do is like that,” she says.
“Yes, the work I’m interested in does tend to be dark in nature, but it doesn’t mean that that’s who I am.”
Watts was born in England and moved to Australia at age 14. Her parents had separated when she was 4 and her father, a sound engineer for Pink Floyd, died three years later. Watts and her mother moved around frequently, which meant having to repeatedly fit in. She would change her accent accordingly and says the transitions bred her acting ability.
Before shooting “King Kong” in New Zealand, Watts and Jackson traveled to New York to visit the original damsel in distress – Fay Wray. Wray, who died last year at age 96, was Ann Darrow in the first “King Kong.”
Watts recounts: “At the end of the night, we dropped her off, and she said (whispering), ‘Ann Darrow is in good hands.’ “
After recently finishing filming of “The Painted Veil” with Edward Norton in China, Watts isn’t attached to an upcoming production for the first time in years.
She’ll now get a chance to actually live in the L.A. house she bought a year ago – that is, when she’s not in New York visiting her boyfriend, Liev Schrieber (who co-stars in “The Painted Veil).
Watts already is fielding the inevitable questions about the short life span of a leading lady. But she thinks those limitations are changing, and is looking forward to playing characters who have experienced more life: children, marriage, divorce.
“I’m off the map right now,” she says of her career plans. “I need to get a different flight path, and that’s all I’m thinking about.”
The birthday bunch
Actor Roger Smith is 73. Guitarist Keith Richards (Rolling Stones) is 62. Director Steven Spielberg is 59. Movie critic Leonard Maltin is 55. Actor Ray Liotta is 50. Actor Brad Pitt is 42. Country singer Tracy Byrd is 39. Rapper DMX is 35. Actress Katie Holmes (“Dawson’s Creek”) is 27. Singer Christina Aguilera is 25.