Best actress nominee Watts isn't given to personal drama
New York Daily News
Published on: 02/29/04
Naomi Watts won't be blubbing tearily about boyfriend Heath Ledger or best pal Nicole Kidman if she wins a best actress Oscar for "21 Grams." She doesn't like to share her emotions, on screen or off.
"I get quite uncomfortable," she says.
Watts, 35, and Ledger, 24, broke up last summer, then got back together. In October, they announced the end of their relationship. But in November, her brother said the couple had reunited. In December, they were visiting family and looking at houses back home in Australia.
"It's a very intimate thing, and you try to protect it," she tells the New York Daily News. "I'm not saying I wouldn't discuss it with anyone — I can talk about it with my friends and family.
"But I meet [interviewers] for two minutes, and I'm not just talking with them, I'm talking to the hundreds of thousands of people that they write for or who watch them.
And, she says, when people seem concerned about the 11-year difference in her and Ledger's ages, she says you fall in love with the person, not their age. "I just don't know why it even comes up," she says. "If my boyfriend were 10 years older, would it be worth discussing?"
Watts says Kidman has been a friend since they met on a TV commercial audition when they were teenagers in Australia. Kidman, last year's best actress winner, for "The Hours," has given Watts advice on how to handle the attention.
"She has [given some tips], but nothing that's quotable," says Watts.
"With Nicole, it's a whole experience. I've watched her grow and how she handles herself with grace and poise.
"It's not like she sat me down and said, 'These are the do's and don'ts.' She did say, 'This is a wonderful time and you have to enjoy it.' Because it's easy to get caught up in the stress of it."
"21 Grams," in which she plays a mother and recovering drug addict out for revenge against the man who destroyed her family, has highlighted Watts' ability to draw audiences in while holding her emotions tight.
"I'm proud of some things I've worked on and not so proud of others," she says. "For [Academy Award] acknowledgment to come for this means so much. Sometimes, when people finally get Oscar recognition, it's for films they don't love. That's not the case here."
Born in England, Watts moved with her family to Sydney in 1980. She worked in Australian television and stage in her teens, then briefly giving up performing to work at a fashion magazine.
Resuming acting in her 20s, she made a couple of movies in Australia before moving to Los Angeles, where she got work in small films ("Dangerous Beauty"), weird films ("Tank Girl") and bad films ("Children of the Corn IV").
Audiences first got a sense of Watts in David Lynch's 2001 "Mulholland Drive," in which she played a woman who was both an ingenue and a drugged-out wastoid. The role required a lesbian scene and a lot of guts.
She followed that up with the horror smash "The Ring" and last year's Merchant-Ivory comedy-drama "Le Divorce."
The much-delayed "Ned Kelly," on which she first met Ledger, is due in theaters March 26. And she has signed to star in the "King Kong" remake directed by Peter Jackson ("Lord of the Rings").
"Put me in the hand on the giant ape — I'm there!"
New York Daily News
Published on: 02/29/04
Naomi Watts won't be blubbing tearily about boyfriend Heath Ledger or best pal Nicole Kidman if she wins a best actress Oscar for "21 Grams." She doesn't like to share her emotions, on screen or off.
 Merrick Morton/ | |||
| Naomi Watts | |||
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MOST POPULARWatts, 35, and Ledger, 24, broke up last summer, then got back together. In October, they announced the end of their relationship. But in November, her brother said the couple had reunited. In December, they were visiting family and looking at houses back home in Australia.
"It's a very intimate thing, and you try to protect it," she tells the New York Daily News. "I'm not saying I wouldn't discuss it with anyone — I can talk about it with my friends and family.
"But I meet [interviewers] for two minutes, and I'm not just talking with them, I'm talking to the hundreds of thousands of people that they write for or who watch them.
And, she says, when people seem concerned about the 11-year difference in her and Ledger's ages, she says you fall in love with the person, not their age. "I just don't know why it even comes up," she says. "If my boyfriend were 10 years older, would it be worth discussing?"
Watts says Kidman has been a friend since they met on a TV commercial audition when they were teenagers in Australia. Kidman, last year's best actress winner, for "The Hours," has given Watts advice on how to handle the attention.
"She has [given some tips], but nothing that's quotable," says Watts.
"With Nicole, it's a whole experience. I've watched her grow and how she handles herself with grace and poise.
"It's not like she sat me down and said, 'These are the do's and don'ts.' She did say, 'This is a wonderful time and you have to enjoy it.' Because it's easy to get caught up in the stress of it."
"21 Grams," in which she plays a mother and recovering drug addict out for revenge against the man who destroyed her family, has highlighted Watts' ability to draw audiences in while holding her emotions tight.
"I'm proud of some things I've worked on and not so proud of others," she says. "For [Academy Award] acknowledgment to come for this means so much. Sometimes, when people finally get Oscar recognition, it's for films they don't love. That's not the case here."
Born in England, Watts moved with her family to Sydney in 1980. She worked in Australian television and stage in her teens, then briefly giving up performing to work at a fashion magazine.
Resuming acting in her 20s, she made a couple of movies in Australia before moving to Los Angeles, where she got work in small films ("Dangerous Beauty"), weird films ("Tank Girl") and bad films ("Children of the Corn IV").
Audiences first got a sense of Watts in David Lynch's 2001 "Mulholland Drive," in which she played a woman who was both an ingenue and a drugged-out wastoid. The role required a lesbian scene and a lot of guts.
She followed that up with the horror smash "The Ring" and last year's Merchant-Ivory comedy-drama "Le Divorce."
The much-delayed "Ned Kelly," on which she first met Ledger, is due in theaters March 26. And she has signed to star in the "King Kong" remake directed by Peter Jackson ("Lord of the Rings").
"Put me in the hand on the giant ape — I'm there!"
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