Australia's
Naomi Watts shot to international stardom recently
thanks to her lead roles in "Mulholland Drive"
and "The Ring". Watts returned to Australia from
her home in LA to shoot "Ned Kelly", where she
plays the role of fictional character Julia
Cook.
"I like Julia because there is a parallel
between her and Ned, even though they're vastly
different and they travel different paths," she says.
"Julia is someone who is married into a family, probably
an arranged marriage, and it's not that she is
desperately unhappy, it's just the life she has always
known. It felt like her destiny was being controlled and
her spirit was trapped and stifled, and then of course
Ned comes along and she identifies with him for that
reason."
Although Julia Cook is a fictional
character, Heath Ledger discovered during the making of
"Ned Kelly" that the Jerilderie Letter, written
by Kelly, contains a sentence referring to a Julia,
though no further reference is made.
"They really
don't talk about Ned's love life in any of the
literature," Watts explains. "Obviously there is so much
more important stuff to talk about, but for me the
script told a good love story even though it's a minimal
part of this massive journey that he goes
on."
Watts says the scenes with Julia and Ned
showed another side to the title character. "He is in a
constant state of struggle and chaos - trying to prove
himself and trying to defend himself - and sometimes it
comes out in anger or aggression because he is fighting
for what he believes in. But when he comes in touch with
Julia, you see this sensitive side and you see his
heart."
Working closely with compatriot Ledger
for the first time, Watts was deeply impressed with the
young actor's professionalism and commitment.
"There are movie stars and then there are actors
and Heath to me is both. To be a movie star, you have to
be good looking or have a great voice that resonates,
that connects with people, or you have to have something
behind the eyes: an intelligence, a sadness, a warmth.
Heath's got them all and therefore he is a movie star
and an actor. His commitment to being there for other
people was pretty mind blowing. On the first day I
noticed that and I was like 'wow, this is impressive'. I
was just really excited about working with
him." | |
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The story of Ned Kelly has been
brought to the screen many times, beginning with The
Story of the Kelly Gang in 1906 - the world’s first
feature film |
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Naomi Watts as Julia Cook |
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Ned Kelly (Heath Ledger) and Julia Cook
(Naomi Watts) |
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