BFI London Film Festival

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Naomi Watts 

Thursday, October 18----------Naomi Watts, whose film career is suddenly on fire, will appear as a special guest at the TCM Screen Talk tomorrow evening at the London Film Festival. Watts was one of the stars at last night's Opening Night Gala screening of EASTERN PROMISES, the new film from Canadian auteur David Cronenberg, which stars her opposite Viggo Mortenson and Vincent Cassel. The prolific actress also toplines the English-language remake of Austrian director Michael Haneke's FUNNY GAMES, which will screen as a Film On The Square special presentation this weekend.

21 GRAMSNaomi Watts has long since moved beyond her early notoreity as a FONK (friend of Nicole Kidman), due to her sophisticated acting range and her smart choice of film roles. The actress worked in low budget Aussie films for the first few years of her film career, before getting noticed in the indie drama FLIRTING, co-starring Nicole Kidman and Thandie Newton. But her big break didn’t come until a decade later when she won the starring role in David Lynch’s noir existential fantasy film MULHOLLAND DRIVE, playing the suspiciously naïve Betty Elms, a character of dubious intent that called on the actress to mine considerable depths and complexity. Just two years later she received Oscar and BAFTA nominations for her sobering performance as a recovering addict in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s moving and provocative 21 GRAMS. She won the Independent Spirit Award for this celebrated performance opposite Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro.THE PAINTED VEIL

The much-in-demand actress has collaborated with some of contemporary cinema's leading lights, including David O. Russell (I HEART HUCKABEES), Peter Jackson (KING KONG), and John Curran (WE DON’T LIVE HERE ANYMORE, THE PAINTED VEIL). She stars next year in German director Tom Twyker's espionage drama THE INTERNATIONAL, opposite Clive Owen, and the romantic comedy KICKED, BEATEN AND SCRATCHED. There are even rumors that she will be cast in the role personified by Tippi Hedren in a new version of the Alfred Hitchcock eco-thriller THE BIRDS. Watts should have lots to talk about.......

Sandy Mandelberger, London FF Dailies Editor