On Zoom in New York, Naomi Watts dons an enormous pair of spectacles and a sweater that swallows her whole. Writer and career social butterfly Derek Blasberg logs on from LA in a sweat-wicking Nike top and bedhead. Let the bicoastal confessional commence.
The pair met at the 2018 Venice Film Festival while “bookended by Dakotas” (Johnson and Fanning, of course). Watts was serving on the jury, the type of task she’s hoping to do more of as her daughter Kai prepares to leave the nest. Already, the actor’s filmography has taken a turn, from the emotional land mine of her 2001 breakout in Mulholland Drive (or 21 Grams and Funny Games, for that matter) to campier and even comedic fare, including four back-to-back Ryan Murphy projects and a number of experimental directorial debuts.
With an auteur-inflected filmography, myriad accolades under her belt, and the kids out from underfoot, Watts, now 57, is realizing that this is the time to do precisely what she wants. On a recent Monday morning, she let Blasberg in on her plans. —CULTURED
Naomi Watts: I’m sorry I didn’t dress up for you, Derek.
Derek Blasberg: I mean, how dare you? I’m incredibly disappointed that you’re not in full glam for this Zoom interview.
Watts: Well, I see you’re appropriately dressed to match me as well. You’re in your Nike and that’s how they dress in LA, right?
Blasberg: This is my kids’ spring break. I have my two kids, my brother’s three kids, and my parents all in this house. So when someone said, “Would you like to interview Naomi Watts today at 11 a.m.?” I said, “You know what? Yeah.” Where do I find you?
Watts: I’m in New York in my apartment. Our spring break starts Friday, so I’m also going to LA.
Blasberg: When you come back to LA, do you have pangs of nostalgia for when you were a Los Angeleno? Do you consider it work town?
Watts: I do come in only really for business, but I spent my first 10 years in America there. It was a lonely time. It was a hard time. So I don’t have great nostalgia for that era. It was pre-Mulholland Drive. I was trying to audition.
Blasberg: And of course, we know Mulholland Drive, the seminal film by the late, great David Lynch. It changed your life. How did you get that gig?
Watts: I’m still wondering to this day, but he gave me the greatest role an actor can actually have in one movie. Some people don’t get that kind of role in their whole career, but I got it in one movie and every living director saw that film.
Blasberg: Most actresses don’t get one good role to play in a whole career and you had two in one movie. Is it true that you were thinking about leaving town?
Watts: Oh, many times. Maybe I would have tried to, but ultimately I kept getting stuck.
Blasberg: What were your fallback plans?
Watts: I thought maybe I could become a yoga teacher. I did have a mini moment of working in fashion in my early years in Australia. I was like 19 when I was working as an assistant fashion editor and I was going up the ladder there. Then I did an acting class because a friend of mine said, “Please, will you do an acting class workshop over the weekend?” I said, “No, I’m not acting anymore. I’m in fashion.” They’re like, “Please, please.” And I felt bad for him. The ratio of men and women were off so I thought, I’ll just do it as a favor. Then halfway through the weekend, everyone was saying, “You’re living a lie. This is where you belong. This is who you are. You’re an actor.” So, naïve in my late teens, I went and quit my job on Monday morning.
Blasberg: I saw Mulholland Drive when it came out. That was such an incredible, freaky deaky movie. That’s one of those films that creeps in and out of culture. When you’re driving on Mulholland, you see the film in the back of your brain the whole time. On the reverse of that, more recently, I’ve seen you in Ryan Murphy’s projects. Did you meet Ryan socially and then work together? When you’ve done so much together, you must get along.
Watts: Yeah, we do. We’re just about to do the second series of All’s Fair. So I’ve done four roles with him. He called me out of the blue about [our first project] The Watcher. I enjoyed talking, it was a very short call. He works very, very efficiently and things move very, very quickly. He’s got a great team.
“Some people don’t get that kind of role in their whole career, but I got it in one movie and every living director saw that film.” —Naomi Watts
Blasberg: Love Story actually captured the cultural zeitgeist in a huge way at the beginning of this year. How was it to play Jackie Kennedy? Obviously this will not come as a shock. This is not a spoiler alert. Jackie is dead. Everyone is dead. Obviously you die early in the series. Jackie couldn’t have never met Carolyn [Bessette].
Watts: I was definitely nervous about it because everyone has this connection to her. She is arguably the most memorable first lady. She had such an effect on us because of the tragic death of JFK and how she dealt with her grief in public was really something quite extraordinary. We’ve always been fascinated with her and she’s been played by many actresses in many different stories. We also remember her very distinctive voice that was not necessarily just from one region. It was a collection of many regions and many influences. What interested me was that we hadn’t seen much of her towards the end of her life. We saw lots of depictions of her at the time that she was the first lady.
Ryan just has this wonderful ability to instill confidence in you by saying right away, “I would love for you to do this.” You’re like, “Wait a second, I don’t look like her. I’m not American. Why would you choose me? Did 12 other people turn this down?” But when he says it, he’s very sure and he understands your capabilities and he knows that you’re gonna go and work your ass off at getting that voice right.
Blasberg: He’s very persuasive, Ryan Murphy. So persuasive we’re coming back for All’s Fair season two. It looks absurd in a good way, like a fun show to do.
Watts: So many great women. We got to know each other really well throughout the press tour, so it’ll be even more fun [shooting season two].
Blasberg: There was a picture of [your co-star] Sarah Paulson grabbing Kim Kardashian’s derriere. Did you see that one?
Watts: I did see that. It wouldn’t have been the first time and it wouldn’t have been the last.
Blasberg: You’re doing Cody Fern and Ben Shirinian’s directorial debuts. Is it important for you to have a mix of camp, high fashion, Ryan Murphy productions and these new guys who are trying new things?
Watts: I love trying new things. Though I have done some repetition over the years, I’m always looking for ways to be creatively inspired by something, territory that I haven’t walked. I’m always looking for lighter stuff, because people don’t know that I can and like to be funny. I think I’m funny, certainly with my friends. They laugh at my jokes.
Blasberg: I think you’re funny.
Watts: But because I launched my career with David Lynch’s movie, and then solidified it with things like 21 Grams and The impossible, [I spent] the first 10 years of my career playing women who were various in harrowing roles. I turned quite a few of the romantic comedies down in the early days. And I think that just sent a message that that’s not what I do or want to do. But I’m trying to shift that narrative a bit more lately. I did Lena Dunham’s [Too Much] and I had so much fun on that show.
Blasberg: You have such a wide range of types, and not only just in the world of performance. You’re founder of Stripes Beauty, you’ve done a lot in the women’s health space. How did you make time for your entrepreneurial spirit?
Watts: It started with Covid, when we all had a bit more time on our hands. I wrote a book as well, which is mind blowing. It was all born out of the fact that I have had troubled skin during my perimenopause stage and had no information and felt lonely and scared and confused as to why no one else was talking about it. It sort of felt like, This must be where we’re supposed to end our careers. I just did whatever I could to find my story and turn it into something that might be useful for others. Then I was like, “Let’s get the right ingredients and create a brand that has education around what this time is and a community.” You know, lean into the strength of other women in reinventing this narrative that it was all over and that we must go to the corner with our knitting needles. No, thanks. I’m not done.
Blasberg: I love that you use that word, “community,” because when I think of you and your girlfriends, but also the Australian population in general, community is such a big part of everything. When you came to LA, were you part of that Australian mafia?
Watts: There weren’t many in the days that I got here. Nicole [Kidman] was here, and I knew her just a little bit, enough to call her up. We met on literally my first ever casting, which is crazy. We shared a taxi cab home. We would see each other out and about. But even the ones you didn’t really know that well, because of where you came from, you sought each other out and you created that sense of community. You knew you had the same sense of humor. You knew that you were homesick. You knew you had nostalgia for certain foods and certain experiences.
Blasberg: I listened to Margot Robbie on that Smartless podcast the other day, and she said that when she first came to LA, the Australian community got her her first car to drive to her first auditions. So that community is alive and well. The last time I saw you and Nicole together, you guys both had your kids with you. You had Sunday Rose and Kai.
“Let’s lean into the strength of other women in reinventing this narrative that it was all over and that we must go to the corner with our knitting needles. No, thanks. I’m not done.” —Naomi Watts
Watts: Oh yeah, in Paris. I think it was two summers ago.
Blasberg: I’ve sort of appointed myself as your full-time daughter content capture.
Watts: You’ve been so reliable, and good footage as well.
Blasberg: I have a knack for storytelling visually, and maybe I missed my calling as a director in the same way you missed your calling as a fashion editor. I’m happy I got to see you today.
Watts: I’m so happy I did. And I’m sorry I took time away from your family, but I just love talking to you, Derek.
Blasberg: I am not sorry that you took time out. I will now go back into the war zone of daddying and uncle-ing and son-ing and feeling refreshed from our chat.
Hair by Rebekah Forecast
Makeup by Mary Wiles
Nails by Gina Viviano
Set Design by Colin Phelan
Lighting Direction by Alexei Topounov
Digital Tech by Michael Vick
Production by Jennifer Pio and Jackson Pollis
Photography Assistance by Marian Sell
Styling Assistance by Morgan Lipsiner
Set Design Assistance by Jamen Whitelock
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