Naomi Watts reveals how David Lynch saved her career: “The chips were down”
English actor Naomi Watts has revealed how she nearly quit acting before being cast by the late director David Lynch in Mulholland Drive.
In an interview with Anderson Cooper on the Live! With Kelly and Mark show on January 21st, Watts shared, “He was very instrumental to me. Even being in America, I wouldn’t have stayed had I not have met David Lynch”.
After his tragic passing last week, Watts explained that she had been searching for work for over a decade in Hollywood before Lynch came to the rescue, explaining, “The chips were down. I was literally alienating people … making them uncomfortable, like, ‘I need a job, I need a job,’ in fact, so much so that my agent at the time said, ‘You’re too intense. You’re making people uncomfortable.’ I’m like, yeah, ‘I need a job. I need to work.’”
Watts described the unique audition process for his 2001 film, with the director using a “very different way of casting”, saying, “He sat me down, and he just looked me in the eyes and asked me questions. And, most of the time I was like, ‘How do I get out of your way? How do I speed this up? I’m sure I’m not right,’ because I just had that programming: ‘I’m not funny; I’m not sexy; I’m too old; I’m too this, too that.’ He just saw me and was able to sort of lift these veneers.”
The actor plays both Betty Elms and Diane Selwyn in Mulholland Drive, which became one of the most praised films in his filmography and Lynch an Oscar nomination for Best Director.
In the immediate aftermath of his death, Watts described how the director became “a real mentor as a friend” after their work together, writing on Instagram that “it wasn’t just his art that impacted me — his wisdom, humour and love gave me a special sense of belief in myself I’d never accessed before.”
The British actor is one of many to express her grief over his passing. Many of his previous collaborators, such as Laura Dern and Kyle MacLachlan, have also shared their fond memories of the director.
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