Naomi Watts Eastern Promises

At the recent Toronto International Film Festival, Naomi Watts looked radiant, despite being up most of the night with her new six week old baby boy. She was at the festival to promote her new film Eastern Promises, directed by David Cronenberg in which she plays a midwife who stumbles across the underground world of the Russian mafia in London. The film also stars Viggo Mortensen and Vincent Cassel. Gaynor Flynn sat down with the Aussie actress and talked about riding motorcycles, motherhood and how maybe it’s about time she did a comedy.


Gaynor Flynn: What do you think is the fascination with gangster/mob films?

Naomi Watts: Good guys, bad guys. I don’t know. To me what was interesting was the whole Russian culture and not really having much information on that. I didn’t know much about it and I don’t think its really been seen in an English speaking movie before. It’s sort of like the Godfather but a whole other culture and that’s why it became interesting to me. I’m not one who follows the gangster stuff myself but to me it was just the story and from my characters point of view and these two worlds which were so different but also connecting and learning from one another that’s what was interesting to me.


Gaynor Flynn: What was it about this character that appealed to you?

Naomi Watts: I wanted to make Anna dynamic because she starts off in quite a depressed state and not much good has been going on for her and she becomes alive and is energised by her connection to this world that opens up and it just reawakens her spirit and to me that was fun. And I wanted to make it truthful and accessible for the audience but dynamic as well.


Gaynor Flynn: At least you’re not just the girlfriend or the accessory?

Naomi Watts: Yeah that’s always frightening.


Gaynor Flynn: You’ve rarely been just the girl though. You’ve made great choices.

Naomi Watts: Thank you but I have done support roles and probably more lately than usual and people say oh you know you shouldn’t do too many support roles but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. If it’s a great story and other great elements in the piece like great actors you’re working with and the director obviously then it’s worth being in.


Gaynor Flynn: How did you prepare for your role?

Naomi Watts: Well really I was just reading up on mid-wifery, that was my main preparation and I had books and things and I had met with a mid wife in America and then also when I got to London I went to hospitals and saw some live births, I saw a c-section which was quite brutal and I did shifts with the mid wives and that was very interesting and then of course the books I was reading I found out three weeks after being there that I was pregnant, and although I was reading them openly on the set, once I found out I had to hide them as I didn’t want anyone to know I was pregnant. (laughs).


Gaynor Flynn: Why wouldn’t you want anyone to know you’re pregnant?

Naomi Watts: Because you don’t usually share that news with anyone until you’re about 12 weeks. I did have to tell them in the very end really because I didn’t want to do any more motorbike riding. I did most of it but there were two days left and I’d never ridden a motorbike before. And I did the scene where Viggo [Mortensen] is on the back with me, that’s all me. I think the bravest person was him because he had no helmet on and he was not even padded up and I was like are you sure Viggo? And you know its on wet roads and in traffic and people watching, it was tough.


Gaynor Flynn: The story behind this film, the trade in young girls is quite shocking. Did you know much about it? Was it an eye opener?

Naomi Watts: It was an eye opener. I mean you know about it but you discover what’s going on and it’s shocking and it happens in very normal places, not just in weird parts of the world. It’s frightening.


Gaynor Flynn: Do you think your choices will change now that you’re a mum?

Naomi Watts: Well I’m new to it. Already I’ve taken a movie and by the time I start working my son will be three and a half months old. So its probably sooner than I would have liked but it’s a five week schedule so it seemed doable and it’s a great story and it’s a great team of people again so yeah.


Gaynor Flynn: More juggling...

Naomi Watts: Yeah I think your decisions are going to be made more carefully and also balancing those with Liev as well and where are we going to be and for how long. But in terms of the content I don’t want to suddenly go oh my taste has changed and I have to do kids movies. I don’t think so.


Gaynor Flynn: Or just horror movies from now on...

Naomi Watts: (laughs) Well I seem to be there anyway.


Gaynor Flynn: How are you keeping up your energy here?

Naomi Watts: Well I’m not going to any of the parties and when the day of work is done I’m done. I have managed to get a shorter schedule because people are sympathetic and I go off to have my little breaks for feeding and I get to bed early.


Gaynor Flynn: You mentioned that you did the motor bike riding stunts, are you normally that kind of actress?

Naomi Watts: No I’m not actually. I’m happy to do stunts if they feel safe and not if they don’t. But it really meant a lot to David (Cronenberg) for me to do this and I think because he’s a mad motor biker person himself and we all like to impress our directors I suppose and I actually found it quite fun. I had one day on a trainer motor bike and I got up straight away and the next day I did with the urail and I did fine as well. I’m not someone who likes danger but I’m a sporty person I suppose and the fact that I could do it and it didn’t make me scared I thought yeah give it a go. But then the first day of filming after doing only those two days of practice we shot on wet roads in amongst traffic and there was about 200 people standing by and watching as well as paparazzi so it was incredibly scary. But I never managed to fall off so that was good.


Gaynor Flynn: Is it getting more difficult to pick and choose what to do and what not to do these days?

Naomi Watts: Not really I think the directors are the ones who guide me really. I mean I’ve got a film I did just before this one called Funny Games with a director called Michael Haneke and it’s a remake and when I saw the original it really does freak you out but it stays with you and some people may say why did you make this film because it is so dark and intense but once I spoke to Michael and the reason I wanted to speak with Michael is because he’s made other great films that I love and have affected me deeply. I heard what he was trying to do and the message he was trying to put out there so that got me excited, so the directors become your teachers, they inspire you they push you and they excite you.


Gaynor Flynn: Actually speaking about dark and freaky, that reminds me of 21 Grams and Cronenberg. You’ve done a few freaky films now, what about a comedy?

Naomi Watts: Yeah I know people ask me that. I’d like to find a comedy. The ones that have come to me have not interested me. And I think they’re much easier to mess up, or at least the romantic comedy per se. I like something a bit more off beat, David Russell with I Heart Huckabees, I would love to work with Wes Anderson, those comedies interest me much more.


Gaynor Flynn: Many say that Cronenberg is very hands off, so what did you learn from him?

Naomi Watts: Well first of all that he’s very well versed at what he does. There were no shot lists and no oh lets experiment and lets try it this way or that way. It was just very specific, oh it wasn’t specific I shouldn’t say that, it was very clear what he was doing. Most of the time he would just say lets try it and okay lets go again and he knew what he wanted and I guess he got what he wanted and there were only a couple times when we did more than a few takes. He just felt very prepared and very unfazed. A lot of directors are so attached and intense and want to try it several different ways and scared they might miss something. He’s very confident and that just instils confidence down the line really. That’s something good about working with directors who have been doing it for a long time they move quickly.


Gaynor Flynn: When do you start shooting your next film The International?

Naomi Watts: I’m shooting in November.


Gaynor Flynn: So are you having a rest now?

Naomi Watts: Well not much of a rest but yeah just family stuff and focusing on that right now.

Eastern Promises

Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel, Armin Mueller-Stahl
Director: David Cronenberg