Why can't I recognize Naomi Watts?

Cafe Society
1

Movies I have seen Naomi Watts in:

Flirting (1991)
Tank Girl (1995)
Mulholland Dr. (2001)
The Ring (2002)
I Heart Huckabees (2004)
The Ring Two (2005)

as well as her appearance on Inside the Actor’s Studio.

Granted, in Tank Girl she was a brunette, but in everything after that she’s been light blonde. I have enjoyed the majority of films on the list, and in many cases I attribute a great deal of my perception of the film’s quality to the specific nuances of her performance in it. Crap, IMO, has been elevated by her mere presence in it.

In other words, I’m a fan.

And yet despite this somehow, I don’t think I could pick her out of a lineup. She always seems to look like a completely different blonde woman to me every time I see her. Normal attributes that become recognition keys, like the shape of a jawline, nose, lips, hairline, etc. are simply not registering with me for her at all. If I could give a really precise description of Naomi Watts to a police sketch artist, I’d probably end up with a great picture of Laura Linney.

I’ve noticed this for some time, but it was driven home to me most pointedly when I saw her appearance at the Oscars and a promo for King Kong in close proximity. I would almost place money that if you had shown me a freeze frame of both before I knew what they were of, I would have difficulty realizing they were pictures of the same person.

I do not have this difficulty with other people. Just her. I never recognize her as the woman from Mullholland or The Ring. It’s always, “That’s her? Really?”

Obviously, I would be a fortunate person indeed if this were the greatest of my concerns in life. It’s just that it’s weird and it bugs me whenever I see an ad for one of her projects. And there’s always the slight possibility that this turns out to be some imperceptible indication of greater brain trouble down the line.

I can see it now: future neurologists will show a patient an array of stills of Naomi Watts and ask how many different women they see. Any answer greater than one, and they’ll cluck their tongues and say, “Hmm, you’re displaying Anderson’s Sign, that’s not good…”

What the hell’s wrong with me (regarding this matter only, please :stuck_out_tongue: )?

2

There are certain faces of people whom I see a lot, that just don’t register with me. They can be famous people or just people I work with. It’s weird.

3

Who?

:smiley:

4

Interesting that you ask the question, because I’ve had much the same reaction.

After thinking about it for a while, it seemed to me that my problem with recognizing her is that she is quite lovely, but in a “conventionally beautiful” kind of way. There is no single striking physical characteristic, unlike many other famous actresses. She doesn’t have Nicole Kidman’s height, red hair, and slimness. She doesn’t have Angelina Jolie’s lips. Etc. etc. As a result, maybe in a crowd of other beautiful women she doesn’t stand out as instantly recognizable.

Mind you, as a heterosexual female maybe my perspective is a little different.

5

Whenever I see her name in credits before seeing a movie, I think of Naomi Campbell. Then I remember the actress is blonde. And white.

I think she’s just not a big enough celebrity that we are forced to recognize her face because it’s plastered everywhere like the Angelinas, Britneys, and Bennifers of the world.

6

Clearly you haven’t seen her nipples. Those things, er, stand out anywhere.

Stranger

7

There’s an interesting photo of Naomi in Nick Mason’s Inside Out:A Personal History of Pink Floyd. She’s 2 years old, on the beach at San Tropez with Floyd and the gang. Her father, Peter, was their sound man. He provided some of the voice clips on Dark Side of the Moon, and can be seen standing alongside their stage gear on the back cover of UmmaGumma.

8

Uh, well, I can’t recall if I have. And if I did, I didn’t notice.

9

When I first saw the trailer for King Kong, I thought Poppy Montgomery was playing Ann Darrow.

10

But at this point, you’d think she would be. I think there’s kind of a vicious cycle here - she’s not a big star, because she’s pretty average all in all, and because she’s your average pretty thin blonde, she’s won’t ever be “a star”. When I think Angelina, I think sassy, gorgeous, sexy, and so on. When I think Britney, I think trashtastic trainwreck. When I think J. Lo, I think diva. When I think Nicole Kidman, I think elegant and classy. When I think Naomi Watts, I think… blonde, and then start defining her by “girl who was in King Kong”, “girl who was in The Ring”.

She’s very pretty, she’s got a nice figure, her acting’s not bad. She just doesn’t have star quality. Even had she won the Oscar she was nominated for, I don’t think she’d be making a big splash.

11

I was about to respond with some distinguishable features but I stopped after reading this line to wonder why she was doing a promo for King Kong.

12

You’ve seen the audition scene in Mullholland Drive right? I can’t think of many actresses who could have pulled that scene off.
I think it’s got more to do with lack of publicity than anything else. As far as I can tell, she doesn’t live her life in the cameras like Angelina Jolie (Whose fame comes more from her beauty and lifestyle than her films, hell, just try wading through her filmography.), hasn’t had the kind of public relationships like Nicole Kidman, et al. Plus she doen’t tend to take roles that push the usual academy buttons.

Hell it could be one of those things where audiences just don’t seem to latch on to a certain actress, despite everything e.g. Piper Perabo, Monica Potter, Mira Sorvino, Rachel Leigh Cook, Penelope Ann Miller, etc. All good actors (depending on the script) but none of them could get name recognitiopn that would bring people in.

Meantime Keira Knightly, Natalie Portman and Jessica Alba maintain star rating even when delivering sub par performances (Which for Alba, is just about every movie.)

13

I find that people who have that effect with me are usually fine actors. Whenever I see Billy Crudup in something I either realise late in the piece, “hey that’s Billy Crudup” or spot his name in the credits. I used to do the same thing with Sam Shepard, Scott Glenn and Chris Cooper but have seen them so many times now the effect has worn off. They just never seem to be like Nicholson or De Niro where you are always aware who they are, they are just the role they are playing.

14

Must … resist … urge … to … say … what … thing … of … Kidman … she … does … have.

15

Don’t hold back, ftg, tell us what’s on your mind :dubious: Unless you mean they both have the same, er, plumbing, I really am missing the joke.

I think her lack of instant recognizability(that’s an industry term :slight_smile: )is sort of a testament to her talent. Her ability to really become the character makes you forget you’re watching Naomi Watts.

As was mentioned above, I think it also has a lot to do her not flaunting her private life. She strikes me as an actress truly more interested in her craft than the “star” aspect of it.

She aint much of a dresser , though.

16

MAybe you should try playing ping-pong with her.

17

I agree that promotion and choice of roles has more to do with it than looks. I have exactly the same problem with Kate Blanchett. Both women tend to take on what I’ll call “leading character roles” rather than typical “leading lady” roles. There is no such thing as a “Naomi Watts Movie” or a “Kate Blanchett Movie.” To put it another way, both appear mostly in movies that attract an audience based on the movie itself - not on their presence in the movie. Contrast that with Nicole Kidman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Lopez, Angelina Jolie, etc., all of whom attract an audience (sometimes to very bad movies) based on their star appeal.

18

OMG, the set-up for it (her first version) and that scene were brilliant.
The person I sometimes don’t recognize in print is Jennifer Lopez. I think she has so many different styles that I just don’t always register it’s she.

And sometimes I confuse Tilda Swinton and Kate Blanchett.

19

OMG, the set-up for it (her first version) and that scene were brilliant.
The person I sometimes don’t recognize in print is Jennifer Lopez. I think she has so many different styles that I just don’t always register it’s she.

And sometimes I confuse Tilda Swinton and Cate Blanchett.

20

I, personally, have no problem recognizing Naomi Watts. I try to recognize her as often as possible. I rented “Ring Two” just to recognize her some more, even though I knew it was going to be a turkey. She’s stunning.