It's good to be Naomi Watts right now which is something of a surprise since last year it wasn't. But then the blonde Aussie's career has always been like that. Let's investigate.
Naomi Watts photographed by Mark Abrahams for More magazine
In the Posterized series, now beginning a new season so expect one each Friday, we look back at a star's career through their movie posters. Sometimes it's their giant sized faces and sometimes they don't appear on the poster at all. Such are the vagaries of stardom and advertisements.
In Naomi's film debut she didn't even get a name. The then 18 year old actress was billed as "Leo's Girlfriend" I couldn't find a movie poster of that one so we begin five years later when the actress, after a few TV stints debuted properly opposite her best friend Nicole Kidman in Flirting (1991) a terrific Australian coming of age movie you should seek out. A few random TV stints sprinkle her filmography but it's been mostly movies ever since. Out of kindness I'm not including Movie 43 (I'm assuming the hundreds of stars in that one want to forget it, right?) so let's look at the other 39 films.
Phase 1. Up and Comer Trying To Find Her Place (1991-1995)
The first six movie offer a variety of genres and everything from teensy-tiny parts to leads. Had Tank Girl, in which she is adorable as a sidekick named "Jet Girl", been the kind of success comic book movies regularly are now, she might not have had to wait so long for stardom.
Phase 2. Flailing Around Until That Killer Audition (1996-2001)
The forgotten pictures (but for the last one). Frustrated that her career wasn't happening she turned her attention to TV movies and TV series inbetween these very random features. None of them went anywhere and one oddball pilot didn't even make it to series. Sad ending? Nope! David Lynch reconfigured that pilot for the movies as Mulholland Dr and the rest is history. Though she missed the Oscar nomination for her career-best work, the movie made her an instant star and critical sensation.
Phase 3. Leading Lady (2002-2010)
After Mulholland Dr the scripts were plentiful and she followed it up with two gargantuan hits (The Ring & King Kong) both of which she carried though one could argue that her non-human co-stars were the bankable draws. There were numerous dramas and comedies, but apart from two critical successes (Eastern Promises and 21 Grams which brought her her first Oscar nomination) many of the films were ignored, misunderstood ("FUCKABEES!") or quickly faded and her career dwindled into a short-lived rough patch.
I'm still waiting for the happy ending to this phase in which people rediscover The Painted Veil (2006) which is one of her very best films/performances but which was instantly buried in that annual tradition of the December glut the satanic ritual in which dozens of delicate, quiet or nuanced dramas are crushed and sacrificed to the Oscar gods by the glitzy behemoths surrounding them.
Phase Now. Crazy Peaks, Awful Valleys (2010-2014)
For the past five years, this two time Oscar nominee has been zig-zagging between critically lambasted box office flops (Diana, Adore, Dream House) weak prestige pics (J Edgar, Fair Game) and major artistic peaks, winning a second Oscar nomination for The Impossible and co-starring in current all-star releases St. Vincent and Birdman, the latter of which is surely Oscar bound.
Frankly, you could get whiplash following her career. In fashion movies one day you're in... and the next day you're out. And then you're back in again.
How many of her 39 have you seen and which are your favorites?