Naomi Watts Says ‘Mulholland Drive’ Director David Lynch “Put Me On The Map”
“My heart is broken. My Buddy Dave…” began Mulholland Drive star Naomi Watts on Instagram about the death of that movie’s filmmaker David Lynch.
“The world will not be the same without him. His creative mentorship was truly powerful,” she wrote.
“He put me on the map. The world I’d been trying to break into for ten plus years, flunking auditions left and right,” said the British-born actress, whose career took a 180-turn skyward following her turn the 2001 L.A. noir movie that Lynch morphed from a deep-sixed ABC TV pilot into an Oscar-nominated movie from Universal.
Watts played the doppelganger roles of Betty Elms and Diane Selwyn alongside co-stars Laura Harring, Justin Theroux and Robert Forster.
“Finally, I sat in front of a curious man, beaming with light, speaking words from another era, making me laugh and feel at ease. How did he even ‘see me’ when I was so well hidden, and I’d even lost sight of myself?!”
She continued, “It wasn’t just his art that impacted me — his wisdom, humor, and love gave me a special sense of belief in myself I’d never accessed before.
“Every moment together felt charged with a presence I’ve rarely seen or known. Probably because, yes, he seemed to live in an altered world, one that I feel beyond lucky to have been a small part of. And David invited all to glimpse into that world through his exquisite storytelling, which elevated cinema and inspired generations of filmmakers across the globe.
I just cannot believe that he’s gone. I’m in pieces but forever grateful for our friendship. I’m yelling from the bullhorn: Godspeed, Buddy Dave! Thank you for your everything. —Buttercup xox”
In the wake of Mulholland Drive, Watts notched two Best Actress Oscar nominations, in 2004 for 21 Grams and 2013 for The Impossible. She’d go on to work with Lynch again in Showtime’s 2017 revival of Twin Peaks as Janey-E Jones and as a voice-over in the filmmaker’s final feature, 2006’s Inland Empire. Other parts in big movies for Watts included King Kong, Oscar winner Birdman and The Divergent Series: Insurgent. Watts recently received an Emmy nom in the category of Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for Ryan Murphy’s Feud: Capote vs. The Swans for her portrayal of Babe Paley.
Mulholland Drive would score Lynch Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival in 2001 (he tied with the Coen Brothers, who had The Man Who Wasn’t There).
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