Naomi Watts

Naomi Watts.

When I think of her, I think of The Ring.

That's not great because The Ring scares me.

I've been doing this thing to try and help increase my lucid dreams. It involves getting out of bed when I wake up in the middle of the night, and staying awake for awhile. I woke up at my usual time last night (wee hours of the morning actually). I didn't go upstairs, though, like I had planned. Why? Because due to my upcoming post, I thought of The Ring. And then I was too scared to be upstairs by myself.

Besides The Ring, I haven't seen much of Naomi Watt's work. Tim brought one of her movies to the lake house a few weeks ago. I watched part of it, and then I left, because it got too confusing for me. It was some kind of political thriller involving banks.

Naomi Watts used to remind me of someone. I think? I have vague memories of seeing her for the first time and thinking she reminds me of.... But now I can't remember who it was.

Anyway, I guess I shall start doing the research.....

Baby Naomi was born 28 September 1968.

She's a Libra like my younger sister.

Birthday website time!

She shares my numerology number. We're both 7's! I love our number. We're the learning people.

Watts was born in England. Her mom was Welsh. Anthony Hopkins is Welsh. Right? I'm pretty sure he is.

Watt's dad was a sound engineer who worked for Pink Floyd. It seems both her parents were artistic type people. Mommy Watts did costume design and stuff like that.

Watts has an older brother. He's now in the United States playing photographer. Here's his website. I like the front page. It seems the guy has an interest in hip hop.

What would our world be like if we

knew for sure there 

was life after death, and 

we could easily talk to our 

dearly-departed on the Internet?

The Dead are Online a novel by Dina Roberts 

When Ben was five and Naomi was four, their parents separated. A few years later, her dad died. Mommy Watts and the two kids moved to Wales to live with their grandparents.

Watts said her mother was a hippy. She'd get her parents to agree to providing for them by threatening to send their grandkids into foster care.

In 1982, Naomi and her family moved to Sydney. Lord Wiki says her grandmother was Australian so that made it easier for them to get citizenship.

Watts seems to consider both the UK and Australia as being her countries. She has love for both of them.

How old was she when she migrated?

....I guess about fifteen.

Watts attended Mosman High School.

Lord Wiki says she attended several schools. Could she not find the right fit?

At one point she went to North Sydney Girls High School. Nicole Kidman was a student there as well. They became friends. They're still friends. How sweet.

Watts had the acting bug. She caught it in the early 1980's when she saw the movie Fame. I guess she did some acting during her high school days, because Lord Wiki says that in 1986 she took a BREAK from acting.

She went to Japan to do some modeling. That didn't work out well for her, because she didn't have the right body type for runway stuff.

Watts had an awful time in Japan. She came back to Australia where she did some department store work. Then she worked for a fashion magazine. During this time she ended up taking a drama class. That brought back her love for acting. She quit her job, so she could dedicate time and energy to her passion.

That was very brave of her.

I felt like saying something along the lines of I WISH I had been brave enough to take time off to dedicate my full self to writing. But I guess I didn't need to do that. I managed to write screenplays and novels while in college and graduate school and then later while working. My job was part-time, though. It might have been harder if my job had been full-time.

For a moment, I thought maybe if I hadn't been doing school or working, I'd have all those extra hours to attend to the business side of writing. That's what I usually neglected, and it's probably the reason for my failure. I was great at doing the writing. I was horrible at trying to find agents and publishers. I'd send out few letters, get a few rejections, and then give up and move on to the next project. But if I had the extra hours, I probably wouldn't have filled them with what I NEEDED to be doing. I'd probably watch TV, surf the internet, and procrastinate in other ways.

Now that I think of it, maybe I don't think Watts was brave. I probably see it more as a foolish choice, but she got lucky and succeeded. I think a lot of times, people say I'd like to do this, but I'd need to quit my job to pursue it. It's probably better to keep your job and then pursue your passion during your off-hours. Yeah, it would be hard if your job keeps you extremely busy. And if you can AFFORD to take the time off, more power to you. But I feel that when people do have that extra time to pursue their passion, they spend less time on it than they had planned. They end up filling up their time with other stuff—visits with friends, trips to the pub, Facebook, soap operas, etc.

As for Watts. Let's see where her career took her.

Lord Wiki has paragraphs about her work. I'm going to skip that. I prefer getting that stuff from IMDb.

Well, I did skim a little. It says she was in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. I just saw that. I don't remember seeing her. Well, IMDb says she wasn't in it. Maybe she had planned to be in it and then something changed.

Lord Wiki says that Daddy Watt's laugh can be heard in certain Pink Floyd songs...."Speak to Me" and "Brain Damage".

Naomi Watts dated Heath Ledger for two years. Did I know that? I probably did, and forgot. I guess.

Her current love is Liev Schreiber. I know him as the guy from Scream. The lovely couple has two sons.

At one point, Watts played nanny to Nicole Kidman's children. They were best friends. Was that not a little awkward? I wonder if she was payed; or if it was more along the lines of, I'll let you live with us if you help take care of the kids. I think the latter situation would feel a little less weird. Maybe it's just me, though. Maybe other people would feel okay about hiring their best friend as the nanny.

All right. I'm going to move on over to IMDb. I'll look at the trivia page first. She's known as the queen of remakes....I guess because she's been in a lot of remakes. I know The Ring was one. And then there's King Kong. I don't know about the others. I guess we'll soon see.

She didn't meet Nicole Kidman at school. They met at a commercial for bikinis. They shared a taxi ride home. How cute.

She's a vegetarian. Cool.

She likes baked beans. I don't. They're okay, I guess. I don't love them.

Her favorite horror movie is Don't Look Now. Is that the one with Donald Sutherland? Okay. Yeah it is. I've never seen it, but it was featured on some list show....scariest horror movies, or something like that.

I think now I'll look at her career.

In 1986, she was in an Australian movie called For Love Alone. She must not have a huge part because her character doesn't even have a name. She's listed simply as Leo's girlfriend.

In 1990, she did two episodes of a TV show called Hey Dad! YouTube has a clip.

I'm surprised that show lasted for so many years. The scene I just saw was pretty awful. Does it get better than that? I guess its no worse than stuff like Full House. And I liked that show. Maybe I just have bad-sitcom intolerance right now.

Robert Hughes was one of the stars of the show. I'm guessing this Robert Hughes is not the guy who wrote The Fatal Shore. That would be funny if he was.

Watts did one episode of Home and Away. That same year she was in a movie with Nicole Kidman called Flirting. It's the sequel to the movie The Year My Voice Broke. That movie was Australian? I didn't realize that. Or maybe I did know and I forgot.

Marshall Napier from McLeod's Daughters was in the movie too.

Here's the movie's trailer. I'm not sure if Watts will be in it.

In 1993, Watts was in a movie called Brides of Christ. No wait. It was a miniseries. I'm not sure how big a role Watts had. Russel Crowe was in it. I'm not sure how big his role was either.

Here's a scene from the show. I like how Mr. McGregor pronounces economics. It actually looks like a good series. I bet I'd like it. I like nun stuff. I used to love Agnes of God and Sister Act. Oh! And I love The Sound of Music.

Also in 1993, Watts did an American film. Matinee. I don't think I remember that one. John Goodman was in it. Kellie Martin from Life Goes On was one of the stars as well. I've always thought she was cute. I especially liked her in that milk carton girl movie.

Actually, it looks like Watts did three movies (besides the nun one) in 1993. I don't know if any of her roles were substantial, though.

Well, it seems she had a starring role in Gross Misconduct. It's about a student who seduces her teacher. It's an Australian film, but one of its main stars was American Jimmy Smits. Two years before he worked with Gillian Armstrong. I wonder if that Australia connection got him connected to this Australian movie. Maybe?

Here's a scene from the film.

Let's jump ahead to 1995. That's the year I graduated from college and met Tim.

Watts was in an American movie called Tank Girl. I don't remember it at all. It's a science-fiction type comedy thing.

Tim just came up. He remembers the movie! He saw it. He didn't remember Naomi Watts being in it, though. We just watched a clip together. She had brown hair, so maybe that's why he didn't recognize her.

In 1996 we have Children of the Corn: The Gathering. It looks like Watts was the star. Is that the first sequel to the movie?

No, Lord Wiki says it was the fourth. He also says soon there will be a television remake of the first movie. I hope it's good. The actual Stephen King short story isn't bad at all. I liked it. It's very creepy. I often think of it when we're driving on a quiet deserted road somewhere.

Here's a scene from the delightful movie. I'm going to watch it. I hope there's not anything too scary. These days I have less of a stomach for slasher stuff.

The Naomi Watts part doesn't begin until 3:56. At least I think that's her.

I have to admit it. I didn't watch the whole clip.

I'm ready to move on.

From 1996-1998 she was in some things. I'm not going to list all of them. I'll briefly look at them though to see if there's anything that interests me.

In 1998, she was in a TV show about one of my favorite subjects...Dreams! How did I miss this one? It was called Sleepwalkers. It sounds really good. People are sent into other people's dreams to help them. It kind of sounds like the Dennis Quaid movie—Dreamscape. Then there was a more recent movie which I didn't really like. I think Jennifer Lopez was in it. That was The Cell.


Sleepwalkers was canceled after only a few episodes. I wonder if it was horrible. But it might no not have been.  Sometimes good shows are canceled. And sometimes bad shows live on for a LONG time.

Here's a scene from the show. Miracle of MIRACLES. Wonders of wonders! They let Watts keep her Australian accent for the show. I thought Hollywood had a law against that: All Australian actors must use an American accent or the world shall implode upon itself. Seriously. There are many Australian actors on American TV shows. How many of them use their Australian accent? I can think of only one....Emile de Ravin in Lost. Julian McMahon was allowed to keep his accent for Another World but not in future TV shows. Can anyone think of any other Australian actors in American television that are using Australian accents?

I'm going to skip a bunch of movies and stuff that Watts did in the late 1990's.

In 2001 she was in Mulholland Drive. I heard of it, but I don't think I've seen it. It came out the year Jack was born. I didn't see many movies then. I think I remember hearing it's about dreams, so I might like it. David Lynch is the director. Lynch made the Elephant Man. I totally forgot that!

The movie sounds confusing. I'm trying to read about it, and I'm having a hard time making sense of it. I'm getting the idea that it might be like Jacob's Ladder. I'm guessing it's the type of film where you don't know what's real and what's fantasy/imagination.

Here's the trailer from the movie.

My guess is it's all a dream. But then whose dream is it?

I'm going to watch an actual scene from the movie. I can't tell much from the trailer.

I just had a flash of an image of the person that Naomi Watts reminded me of. But then I thought...no, maybe that IS Naomi Watts. I don't think so, though.

This is going to be bothering me all day.

No! I think I know who it is!!!

I'm so excited.

She was on Days of our Lives. She played Carrie at one point. She was also in one of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies.

I'm going to try and figure out her name.

Here we go. Tracy Middendorf!  She was also on Lost.

Here's a scene from Days of our Lives.

She doesn't look exactly like Watts, but I do see some resemblance.

Back to the David Lynch thing.

I'm going to watch a scene.

Well, that is an excellent scene. Naomi Watts isn't in it, though.

Who is that actor? He looks so familiar to me....

Ah....

Patrick Fischler. That took some detective work, I'll tell you.

He was in Lost. You know I had a feeling he was in Lost, but I can't think of who he was. Oh. The janitor? Maybe that's it. No, wait. He's not the janitor. He's the security guy. I'm getting myself confused.

Let's get back to our Naomi Watts. Soon after Mulholland Falls, she was in another David Lynch project. It was called Rabbits. It featured human-rabbit people. Wow.

It sounds very odd.

I need to eat, because I'm feeling very odd.

Let me go do that, and then I'll come back to this.

It will be time to face one of my fears.

I shall probably not be sleeping much tonight.

Yum. That was a very good lunch. Indian food. I'm surprised that it was that good. I usually don't like our Indian restaurant much.

The Ring came out in 2002. I didn't see it at the theater. We watched it at home. It's odd that I saw it. I didn't watch many movies in those days. I kind of remember that I had a high interest in seeing it, though. I wonder why.

Here's a piece of trivia. The little girl who plays the awful Samara is the same girl who does the voice for Lilo in Lilo and Stitch. She's going to be in the sequel to Donnie Darko. Was she in the first one? Yep. She was. I haven't seen that movie either. I've heard of it, though. It seems like something I might like.

I don't think I want to watch any clips from The Ring. No, thank you. Instead I think I'll watch some of the parodies of it from Scary Movie 3.

Here's one. It's funny. Oh, come on. Cindy, the news is on! Another little white girl done fell down a well. Fifty black people got they ass beat by police today, but the whole world gotta stop for one little whitey down the hole.

And then there's this great scene.

Some of the Scary Movie Franchise is really stupid. But it's nice sometimes for comic relief. I NEED that relief.

Let's leave The Ring and move onto Ned Kelly. This is where Watts got together with Heath Ledger.

I'm getting bored. Let's just fast-forward.

She was in King Kong. She was in the sequel to The Ring.

The movie we watched at the lake house is called The International.

Simon Baker starred in the the Ring Two with her. I didn't know that.

I'll be brave and watch a scene.

Watts DOES remind me of Middendorf!

Oh shit. I'm already getting scared. The murder are happening again.

Well, I wasn't brave enough to watch the whole clip. I fast forwarded through it.

Scary stuff.

I'm sick of this post. I want to end soon, but I'm sure I've missed a TON of stuff.

Maybe I'll read an interview.

Here's one about The International. Watts says it's a thinking-man thriller. Maybe that's why I didn't like it. I'm not a thinking-man...or at least my thinking isn't advanced enough for that movie.

Watts uses a Blackberry. I don't....not yet at least. The idea scares me a bit. I'm already addicted to the Internet as it is. I don't need it following me. Every so often, I'll check my email via my cell phone. But I don't write people back or anything.

Watts had a three-month-old baby when the movie was filmed. She talks about how the sleep deprivation is brutal. It is! I can't imagine trying to work at a job as well.

Because the movie is about banks, the interviewer asks Watts if she has ever been in debt. She says because her family struggled with money, she's very careful with what she spends. She's never been in debt. She says she has borrowed money only once. I admire that, but I don't think it's a trait that comes from struggling financially. I think some people struggle BECAUSE they buy beyond their means and go into debt. And of course, the banks push people to do it.

It's really sad.

Here's an interview from 2001 regarding Mulholland Dr. There are photographs for the interview. Guess who did them? Brother Ben!

Watt's mom had a string of bad boyfriends.

You can tell Watts has mixed feelings about her mother. There seems to be some disrespect and resentment, but also some love.

Watts said her mother went on holiday to Australia. She liked it and decided to move the family there.

She reminds me a bit of the character Cher played in Mermaids.

Watts loved the idea of acting as a child. She begged her mom for acting lessons. She finally got her wish. Then the Japan modeling experienced soured her. She never wanted to be in front of the camera again. When her friend invited her to do a drama class, Watts at first resisted. But I guess she ended up fun. She went back into acting.

She says her beginning years in Hollywood were horrible...humiliating. I can imagine it's quite the crush to one's ego. Some will make it and their ego will be restored....then probably destroyed again a decade or so later.

Watts says, Hollywood's a surreal place, and it really is an assault on your spirit. I can imagine that's true. There's something dark about that place. I'm sure there IS some good in it. I guess I see the negative. The drugs. The eating disorders. The Plastic Surgery. The fakeness. Let's do lunch!

I shouldn't say that, though, because I did a semester of film school, and my classmates were very nice and down to earth. I also spent a lot of time online with screenwriters and filmmakers via American Zoetrope. I met a lot of very nice people. But we were all unsuccessful behind-the- scenes people. Maybe the nastiness is more likely to occur in the actors and/or successful people. Maybe STRUGGLING screenwriters and directors aren't so bad.

Watts says she has to leave Los Angeles every three months to clear her head. I don't blame her. This interview is old, though. I wonder if she still does it. Where does she live now?

She was in America during September 11 and started feeling all patriotic. She said (with tears) And it became really clear to me that this is my home and I'm not walking away from it. I didn't know how to express it to my mother because she's conflicted about her children being in America. But right now I feel like going out and holding up an American flag. I've always felt different from Americans, but we are in this together. It's not about defining what culture you're from - we are all human beings on the one planet.

That's sweet. I think most of us felt that way. We all suddenly loved America and wanted to wave our little flags. But for many of us...those feelings passed. We came back to reality.

Here's some lovely tabloid stuff: Watts with Isla Fisher...kids too. It looks like Watts is now living in New York City. Now THAT Place....I like. I think it's much better than Los Angeles. I miss it!

This article says Watts and her boyfriend were in Israel recently. Schreiber's grandfather was a Zionist, but he never made it to Israel. They took the trip in honor of him. They planted some trees. That's good. The world can use more trees. There's a video attached to the article of them planting the trees. Schreiber refers to Watts as his wife. I guess they got married?

This interfaith website talks about Schreiber and Watts. Schreiber's parents separated when he was four too. He and Watts have something in common there. I wonder if that helped bond them together at all.

Ah! His mother was a hippy just like Watt's mom.

I didn't know this. The website says Danial Radcliffe is Jewish. Adam Sandler can add him to the Chanukah song. Or maybe he's already been added.

Watts was interviewed on Inside The Actor's Studio. I should probably watch that. I'm sure it has some good stuff.

It's making me feel guilty. They're listing all these movies I didn't mention. Sorry about that.

Watts talks about how her family is made up of strong matriarchs. She sees herself as the wimpy one.

She said she's shy. The host guy says that's something many of his guests have in common.

I JUST realized something. Watts reminds me of someone else--at least in this interview.

She reminds me so much of Tess in McLeod's Daughters! Maybe it's not the way she looks...more the way she acts. Maybe it's her mannerisms.

Watts says she was devastated about moving to Australia. She was fourteen at the time. I can imagine that would be hard. Moving to a new city in the SAME country can be hard at that age.

I'm watching the second video of the interview now.

She reminds me SO much of Tess.

Watts says she made deals with her mother regarding moving to Australia. One of the conditions was that her mother would have to let her take acting lessons.

You should see the stuff I was offering to Jack if we moved to Australia—weekly trips to the zoo and museum...Luna Park too (but I took that back after he was injured on their slide). I promised him long trips back home so he could spend quality AND quantity time with his cousins.

At one time I told him we might get a rabbit. I think that was more for me, though. I like rabbits--although probably not the David Lynch kind.

Watts said her first film was not a good experience. It was demeaning. She seems to have a very fragile self-esteem. I can relate to that.

You know I have to say....I find Watts to be much more appealing when she's being Watts. I mean I like her as herself. She's very pretty. There's something lovely about her.

She auditioned for Tank Girl nine times.

Watts was paid five thousand dollars for Children of the Corn. That's pretty cheap, isn't it?

Onto video three of the interview....

Watts has an adorable smile.

They're talking about Muholland Dr. I'm confused.

Both Watts and Mr. Actor Studio think Betty is the fake one. Do I know what that means? Not really.

There's a lesbian scene in the movie. They talk about that. Watts says she feels it's easier doing a sex scene with a woman. She says with a man it's not equal. They both have their shirts off. Yes. But that's a bigger deal for a woman. With two women, they're both in an equally vulnerable state.

She did a masturbation scene. She said that was very humiliating for her. I can imagine. She's a shy girl. Anyway, she cried while they filmed it, because it was so difficult.

This website lists the ten best masturbation scenes in film. Watt's scene is number five. It says it shows her crying, so I guess they used the take she's talking about.

I'm on part four now. Watts believes everyone has a dark side. I agree. But I think some people have more dark than others.

It seems in the end Watts liked making the film. She liked working with Lynch. But there were bad times...times she wanted to run away back to Australia.

I like what she says. Well, I can relate to it. It's about self-doubt. I have it a lot with this blog. I love it. But several times a week I start to totally lose faith in myself. No one is reading it. People are laughing at me. I'm a bad writer. I'm ridiculous. I'm not saying anything interesting. I should quit.

When things got really bad, Nicole Kidman cheered her up.

When my self-esteem sinks, no one can really cheer me up. I start to feel people are just trying to make me feel better. If I'm not believing in myself, there's no way I can believe that someone is believing in me. Does that make sense?

They show clips from a movie called Ellie Parker--a story about an actress. It looks good.

I can't find part 5 of the interview. I'll skip to part six.

She doesn't like the world nice.

She likes people who have self-doubt. She doesn't like people who are too smug.

I feel the same way.

I talked to my sister about this a week or so ago. We talked about someone I know who never pokes fun at herself. She never admits to any self-doubt. She tries to put on this air of complete confidence. I said this is so unlike my sister. My sister has a great self-defecating sense of humor. She doesn't take herself too seriously. She can laugh at herself. It's probably my favorite thing about my sister.

My sister said she feels she does this, because she's so insecure. My sister said something like she worries she has too much self-doubt. It's hard to explain, but I think she felt it was a negative.

I don't think so. I mean it IS bad in a way. I have low self-esteem. And it CAN be crippling at times. It can be incredibly PAINFUL at times. But I'd rather be like us than like someone who is so insecure that they can't laugh at themselves. And yeah. I DO feel these people are insecure. I think if you go beyond the surface, it's my sister and I who are more confident. It takes confidence to be able to laugh at yourself. It takes courage to admit your mistakes. It takes courage to admit that you feel like a complete loser at times.

I guess what I'm saying is my low self-esteem makes me very sad at times, but I'm kind of grateful for it.

Watts hates hearing her voice tape-recorded. I don't like hearing my voice either.

Besides acting, Watt's dream job would be painter. Her nightmare job would be telemarketer.

Here's an interview from the Ellen DeGeneres show. Watts looks a bit like Nicole Kidman here.

Ellen is funny. I should watch her show more often. They talk mostly about motherhood and breastfeeding stuff.

Anyway, I'm going to quit now. I've spent WAY too much time on this post.