Naomi Watts Describes The Physical And Emotional Challenges Of The Desperate Hour - Exclusive
Naomi Watts is known for throwing every part of herself into difficult roles. In movies from "King Kong" to "Funny Games," and from "The Impossible" to "Penguin Bloom," Watts has made a career of playing characters that confront both physical and emotional challenges. In her latest film, "The Desperate Hour," she is once again stepping into the shoes of a character that requires an incredible commitment. In it, Watts plays Amy Carr, a woman who goes on a run one morning only to discover, when she's deep in the woods, that there's a gunman at her son's high school.
"The Desperate Hour" stays largely with Amy as she frantically uses her mobile phone to contact her son, get updates about what's going on at his school, and to reach out to the authorities all while continuing to jog back to civilization as quickly as she can. It's an affecting performance that's physically and emotionally demanding to watch. And according to Watts, who Looper exclusively spoke with, it was equally challenging to film day after day.
Playing Amy Carr was a demanding filming experience
Naomi Watts said she knew when she accepted her role in "The Desperate Hour" that it would be a difficult filming experience. "It was definitely a huge undertaking for me," Watts confessed in a recent interview with Looper. "I knew the physical side of things and the emotional side of things from the research."
Even though the actress was aware that a lot would be required of her for the project, the reality was nonetheless more than she bargained for due, at least in part, to the way the production was filmed that taxed on her both mentally and physically. "We discovered very early on that the best way to shoot it was to do these really long takes that meant I was covering two or three miles of ground and that I was doing 12 or 15 pages of dialogue," Watts explained. "That all added to the chaos and the drama and the tension and the unraveling of one's emotions. It was more than I imagined, and I imagined a lot. I certainly prepared for a lot, but the body doesn't work in the way that it used to, that's for sure."
"The Desperate Hour" is now playing in theaters, and is available digitally and on demand for rental or purchase.