[Article] It's all about the kids for Naomi Watts

By Tiffany Bakker, Sunday Herald Sun
October 21, 2010

NAOMI Watts is looking fierce. Sporting tight, red leather pants that look as if they’ll need to be peeled off, a classic blazer and towering black heels, she appears far removed from the laid-back, boho
English-cum-Aussie girl who spent years in the shadow of her friend Nicole Kidman before her own talent shone through and fame hit.

This is a new Naomi Watts, and it’s not just the clothes. She says she feels more comfortable in her skin than ever before and, looking chic and confident today, it certainly shows.


Asked whether this recent change of style is deliberate, the actor fidgets awkwardly. “God, I don’t know,” she exhales. “But, as you get older, you have a better sense of yourself and you’re less about being safe.”

And why should she be? At 42, after years of toiling away (“There were some dark times in that period before Mulholland Drive”), she’s regarded as one of the world’s finest actors (with an Academy Award nomination to prove it) and is in a position where she can pick and choose the roles she wants.

“I struggled for a long time, and doubted myself and my abilities,” she admits. “Honestly, it would’ve been great to play some fun roles in my 20s, but I didn’t have that opportunity. But maybe that all led to where I am now.”

It looks like a happy place to be. With her career firmly cemented, she’s also the mother of two boys (Alexander, 3, and Samuel, almost two), is engaged to actor Liev Schreiber and is happy to let work take more of a backseat
- a massive change for an actor who worked for so long to reach the upper echelons of success, and for years never wanted to say no to anything. But since having her sons, Watts has cut down on her workload substantially. The boys, she says, have changed everything.

“I don’t put in the same blood, sweat and tears,” she explains. “I want to think of myself as someone with a great work ethic - and I’m very committed to what I do - but I don’t work as often as I used to. I used to take work home with me and stay up all night, brooding on how the scene went that day and how the next day would go. Now, the minute I walk in the door, it’s finished; it’s all about the kids. There’s nothing like your children to pull you into the moment.”

I’m chatting to Watts in her new hometown of New York, and among all the hustle and bustle, her classic beauty shines through in a demure, Grace Kelly sort of way. Born in England, she spent the first 14 years of her life in the UK with her mother and brother (her dad died when she was seven) before moving Down Under, but there’s still something quintessentially Australian about her. Her accent still holds an Australian edge and her conversation is peppered with Aussie slang. Overall, it’s a charming mix of British, Oz and the odd Americanism.

Her latest movie release is Fair Game, based on the true story of the outing of undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame. Plame made headlines in 2003 when her identity was leaked in what was claimed to be political retribution for her diplomat husband Joe Wilson’s New York Times editorial discrediting the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Watts describes Plame as “the first grown-up woman” she’s played, and enjoyed tapping into her own aloof personality type to fuel the role. “People have thought I’m standoffish,” she admits, with a laugh, “but I take time to get to know people. I don’t know that I’m shy, but I don’t give away everything up front, and Valerie is very much like that. Doug [Liman, the film’s director] said he wanted me to bring my tough exterior and cool, calm demeanour to the role.”

For Watts, it wasn’t the politics or corruption that attracted her to the story; it was the relationship between Plame and Wilson (played by Sean Penn). Conducted under immense pressure due to the scandal, it made her reflect on her own love life, always playing out in the public eye. “We all know how difficult it is to sustain a relationship, much less have something like that thrown into the mix. It’s amazing that they held together,” she says.

Could Watts ever live with the web of lies Plame spun to her husband, who knew she was a CIA agent but could never know where she was or what she was working on? She shakes her head firmly. “I believe in honesty all the way,” she says. “I’m a confessor. Liev knows everything about me.”

The couple have been together five years. Prior to that, Watts was in a relationship with the late Heath Ledger, whose death hit her hard; she says she “can’t watch” his final film, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Schreiber’s sense of humour is well-known and, in the past, he’s made jokes about their marital status, invoking a guessing game with reporters as to whether they are married or not. (For the record, Watts sports a slim diamond engagement ring on her left hand.)

The latest news to come out of the rumour mill is that they’ve hit a rocky patch - something the actor scoffs at, saying she doesn’t know why the paparazzi have set their sights on catching them out. “There’s nothing spectacular or scandalous about my life,” she says, a little curtly. “When I’m pregnant, or when a baby’s due, there’s a little more activity. Then they become bored and someone else comes along.”

Watts has said she’d love to have a daughter, and doesn’t rule out the possibility of extending the family once more, although she’s also admitted Schreiber isn’t as keen. Is it still on the cards? “Maybe,” she smiles. What isn’t up for debate is how much she loves being a mum. “Every day, something blows you away. You can wake up tired, after not having enough sleep, and your kid will say something brilliant that knocks you sideways.”

Her sons, she says, are starting to become aware of what mum and dad do for a living. “They think we work in trailers - they think that’s our office.” The fake scratches and bruises she sometimes needs for a role are a little harder to explain. “The movie I’m filming now is about the 2004 tsunami. There was a lot of discussion with the boys that Mummy’s going to have ‘owies’ and they’re just pretend. But you don’t want them to be traumatised,” she says. “By the end, Samuel was saying, ‘Where are your owies?’ So we put some fake blood on them. It worries me a little bit - it’s not normal by any stretch of the imagination - but that’s our job, and you have to try to make them understand it.”

That notion of what’s real and what’s not in Hollywood is an interesting one. After all, we’ve become used to seeing actors with the sort of flawless skin you know isn’t genetically possible. But Watts says she’s ready to embrace ageing.

“I have Woody Allen’s voice ringing in my ear. He told me, ‘Getting old is no fun. No matter what they say, you end up with a hearing aid and a backache, and you don’t get any more beautiful or wiser.’ There’s truth to that,” she laughs.

Watts says plastic surgery doesn’t appeal to her right now. But she’s also aware that she works in an industry that idolises youth. “That’s the theory. But I haven’t felt that yet, and I’m looking forward to deeper, richer roles.”

Case in point: Watts bumped into Helen Mirren earlier today. “You just have to see what she’s done - she gets better with age. To me, the longer the life, the deeper it gets and the roles generally reflect that,” she says, a defiant glint in her eye. “I don’t have teenagers, but I could be the mother of a teenager, so why shouldn’t I play one?”