Naomi Watts had a "very awkward" audition when she had to "make-out" with a "very well-known" actor.
Naomi Watts had an awkward audition
The 55-year-old star didn't name the project or her potential co-star, but she told how the pair had a "mortifying" experience when they didn't hear "cut" being called and kept kissing for too long, leaving her "rattled".
Speaking with Jodie Foster, Brie Larson, Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Aniston, Ana Sawai and Sofía Vergara for The Hollywood Reporter's Drama Actresses round table, she recalled: "It was very awkward. I was auditioning and I didn’t get the job, so clearly I did not do a good make-out. It was with a very well-known actor. It was mortifying because we didn’t hear a 'cut', and it just kept going.
"Then they were like, 'OK, OK.' And we both were like, 'Oh, sorry, we didn’t hear …' I did feel a bit rattled."
The 'Feud' actress thinks she has always been "shockingly bad" at auditions, but found her 'Mulholland Drive' director David Lynch's approach to casting very refreshing.
She explained: "Some people are really good at auditioning, but I was shockingly bad too. I could feel the energy in the room where people were like, 'Hurry this along.'
"I’d even go, 'Yeah, don’t worry, I’m out of your way in one second. You don’t even have to look me in the eye and shake my hand.'
"It took meeting David Lynch, who’s a master of filmmaking, and he just sat and talked to me. He said, 'Tell me about yourself.' And I fell into it, this conversation. I was like, 'Wait, really? You want to take time with me? You want to know [stuff] about me and how I was raised and all of that?' And then I got the job. I didn’t even have to audition."
Meanwhile, Naomi - who has sons Sasha, 17, and 15-year-old Kai with former partner Liev Schreiber - admitted she initially worried it would be "career suicide" if she spoke about being menopausal, before ultimately realising it is more important to share stories and support other women.
She said: "I felt like if I ever dared to mention that word, I would be branded as redundant, finished, off to pasture. It’d be career suicide to bring that into the room.
"But then I was like, 'This makes no sense. We’re half the population. Everybody’s going to go into menopause at some point, so why shouldn’t we be talking about it?'
"When you learn about the symptoms and how long they can go on for, it’s like, 'Why can’t we find the support?'
"And it’s not just the physiological support you need, it’s the emotional support. So, I just went, 'F*** this, let’s just talk about it.'
"And in terms of my career, I felt like, 'Well, if it spooks everyone, that’s a bummer, but hopefully it actually does the opposite because the longer the life, the richer the stories.' We don’t have to play just the cranky, old, scary ladies anymore."
Tagged in Jodie Foster Nicole Kidman Naomi Watts