Trivia / Naomi Watts

• Creator Backlash:
  • She dislikes most of her films before Mulholland Dr., which she did just for the money and bluntly referred to as "shit".
  • She wasn't fond of Diana, calling the production "a sinking ship".
• Fake American: She plays this more often than her own nationality.
• Fake Brit: She is British but grew up in Australia and so has to fake the accent. She does so in The Painted Veil, Diana and The Impossible.
• Money, Dear Boy: She has no qualms in stating that the reason she appeared in most of her pre-Mulholland Dr. (and thus pre-fame) movies was that she needed the money.
• Playing with Character Type:
  • She's normally some kind of Woobie who endures a lot of suffering. As Evelyn in the Divergent films, she's a Jerkass Woobie who causes a lot of suffering. She's also brunette!
  • Watts often plays a lot of Mama Bear types or else competent, independent women, while in The Book of Henry she starts out as a ditzy slacker who eventually matures into her usual type.
  • Gertrude and Mechtild in Ophelia, who both have woobie qualities and go through a lot of suffering, yet also inflict suffering on others out of bitterness or thoughtlessness. Gertrude also tends to put herself above her son and surrogate daughter, although she finally starts defending them towards the end. Gertrude is also more needy and immature compared to many of Watts' other roles.
• Reality Subtext: She has a fear of swimming in deep water, making some of her scenes in The Impossible rather appropriate.
• Romance on the Set: With Liev Schreiber while filming The Painted Veil, although they had met before they started filming. They separated in autumn 2016, after eleven years together, and have two kids.
• Star-Making Role: Mulholland Dr. and The Ring were pretty significant turning points in her career.
• Those Two Actors: She's starred with Sean Penn in three films.
• What Could Have Been:
  • She was the first choice for The Constant Gardener. She had to decline due to commitments to King Kong (2005) and the role went to Rachel Weisz - who won an Oscar for it.
  • She was offered and turned down the role of Sue Storm in Fantastic Four (2005). Jessica Alba got the part.
  • She was offered the role of Narcissa Malfoy in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, but her agency rejected it before she ever found out, and the producers ultimately went with Helen McCrory.
  • She was slated to play Regan in a film adaptation of King Lear in 2009, alongside Al Pacino as Lear, Gwyneth Paltrow as Goneril and Keira Knightley as Cordelia. The project never got off the ground.
  • She was forced to turn down both Melinda and Melinda and Cassandra's Dream due to scheduling conflicts. She finally got to work with Woody Allen in You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger.
  • She really wanted the part of Selina Kyle in The Dark Knight Rises but was deemed too old, and it went to Anne Hathaway. She was considered for the part of Miranda Tate/Talia in before Marion Cotillard was cast.
  • She was cast as one of the main protagonists of the Game of Thrones prequel series, Bloodmoon, described as "a charismatic socialite hiding a dark secret". However, the series was cancelled in 2019 after a negatively received pilot episode, with House of the Dragon getting greenlit instead. Said pilot has yet to be seen outside of HBO's producers' circle.