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 Naomi
Watts stars in Gore Verbinski's remake of a Japanese horror film
about a haunted videotape; it's viewers wind up dead seven days
after seeing the film. (1 hr. 55 mins.; PG-13) — BILGE EBIRI
Opens October 18
• Showtimes
& tickets (movietickets.com)
Spotlight: Naomi Watts
If a star's luminosity were measured by the number of telephones
ringing in her suite at the Chateau Marmont, Naomi Watts would be
a supernova. "It's very overwhelming," she says of her newfound
stardom, which exploded after David Lynch's Mulholland Drive
made her an overnight success after sixteen years in the biz. Prepping
for an awards show while plugging The Ring, a chilling remake
by Gore Verbinski of a Japanese thriller about a videotape whose
viewers wind up dead, Watts tries to remain calm from inside a storm.
"I chose this part because my character seemed grounded," she says
of her Rachel Keller, a newspaper reporter who watches the tape.
"It's a genre film, but after Mulholland Drive, I wanted to play
someone normal -- even if she's going through something extraordinary."
Which sounds like art imitating life for Watts, who currently has
four films in production, including 21 Grams, directed by
Amores Perros's Alejandro González Iñárritu and
starring Benicio Del Toro and Sean Penn. "Maybe I'm a late bloomer,"
she says, then apologizes as another telephone rings. "Now that
I'm in my thirties and everything is happening, I just want to buy
more time."
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