Naomi Watts

[Jeremy Blackman]

has anyone seen the current issue of FLAUNT; she looks as if made of porcelain on its cover.

Except for the 80s hair.

[Chest Rockwell]

Naomi Watts turns 36 today.

[Pwaybloe]

Yes!  Finally legal!

[hedwig]

Yes!  Finally legal!

[hedwig]

I haven't seen "Flirting"

Is Naomi in this or am I mistaken?

[Pubrick]

I haven't seen "Flirting"

Is Naomi in this or am I mistaken?

i just found this cool new site: www.imdb.com

give it a chance, it might grow on u.

[hedwig]

I haven't seen "Flirting"

Is Naomi in this or am I mistaken?

i just found this cool new site: www.imdb.com

give it a chance, it might grow on u.

Woah, thanks, man. That's actually not that bad of a site. I think I might ditch Xixax for those message boards, matter-a-fact.

[Pubrick]

I think I might ditch Xixax for those message boards, matter-a-fact.

no  

[hedwig]

I think I might ditch Xixax for those message boards, matter-a-fact.

no  

ok

[Alethia]

ha, the imdb message boards are so rage inducing

[MacGuffin]

I wanna seek out "Ellie Parker" now 'cause it looked like a fascinating project.

Naomi Watts, Pal Chronicle Actor's Wait for a Break

Naomi Watts was once a frustrated Aussie transplant trying to make a living in Los Angeles as an actress. Times were tough and jobs were scarce.

"I was so broke I got kicked out of my rental apartment and lost my health insurance," she recalled in a recent interview. "It was a very lonely time. I packed my bags to go back to Australia so many times."

She didn't, and now she's an A-list actress, with such films as "21 Grams," "We Don't Live Here Anymore" and the upcoming "King Kong" to her credit.

But, thanks to friend and actor-writer-director Scott Coffey, Watts hasn't turned her back on those depressed feelings so many aspiring actors feel when they come to town and toil for years, all the while waiting for a big break. The two channeled the ways of a fictitious wannabe with a short film starring Watts, titled "Ellie Parker," which Coffey wrote and directed. It debuted in 2001 at the Sundance Film Festival and now Coffey is putting the finishing touches on a feature film centered on the same character.

"It's been a really incredible process because we started out making a short film that was purely character-driven," Coffey says. "And it has evolved into a feature over these three years as we learned who the character was and who we were, living in Los Angeles with our own personal struggles."

The picture is "a comic character study of a woman in contemporary Los Angeles who is struggling for integrity in her career and personal life," Coffey says. Watts and the Hawaii-born multi-hyphenate Coffey produced it together, gathering a cast that includes Chevy Chase as Ellie Parker's manager, Rebecca Rigg as her best friend, Mark Pellegrino as her boyfriend, Coffey as a possible love interest and Blair Mastbaum as a crazy German director who may or may not hire Parker.

While Coffey admits the two used their own experiences as inspiration, the film is not a pseudo-documentary or based at all on Watts' own life-story. Coffey, who plans to next direct his script "Free Radicals," created the Parker character, whom he describes as "neurotic, self-involved and crazy."

Watts, on the other hand, is known for being humble and a hard worker. She managed to fit in the bulk of the shooting in the spring and summer while juggling starring duties on a big studio sequel, DreamWorks' "The Ring 2."

They hope to take their picture on the festival rounds and find a distributor after Coffey finishes the final sound and color mix.

[MacGuffin]

Watts joins UN fight against AIDS

Oscar-nominee Naomi Watts on Monday joined the UN fight against AIDS, saying she could no longer stand by and watch people die.

Watts, 37, who starred in "King Kong" and "Muholland Drive," was appointed special representative for UNAIDS, the umbrella UN coordinating body for HIV-AIDS, which recently named conductor and cellist Mstislav Rostropovich as its goodwill ambassador.

Born in Britain and raised in Australia, Watts just returned from five days in Zambia, where only one in five people stricken with the disease receive treatment.

"Given these stark realities, I could no longer stand on the sidelines," Watts told a news conference at UN headquarters in New York.

Asked about the Bush administration's emphasis on abstinence rather than contraceptives in foreign aid, she said, "While it (abstinence) is probably the safest way to avoid it, it is impossible for certain people to practice it."

"So I am a big believer in the use of contraception," Watts said.

About 40 million people worldwide are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and some 25 million people have died from the pandemic, most of them in Africa.

Watts was highlighting the new UNAIDS campaign called "4 for Everyone" -- referring to prevention, treatment, care and support.

Watts, whose screen credits also include "The Ring" and "21 Grams," is the latest in a string of celebrities to sign up for UN duties.

Michael Douglas promotes arms control as a peace messenger for UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Australian Nicole Kidman in January became a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Development Fund for Women; Angelina Jolie represents the UN High Commissioner for Refugees; Danny Glover travels for the UN Development Program and tennis star Roger Federer volunteers on behalf of the UN Children's Agency,

The concept was first popularized by entertainer Danny Kaye, who from 1954 until his death in 1987 clocked thousands of miles for UNICEF, the UN Children's Fund, and was selected to accept the agency's Nobel Peace Prize in 1965.

[MacGuffin]

Watts to train 'Animal'
Actress to star in First Look film
Source: Variety

Naomi Watts will topline First Look Pictures' adaptation of Amy Sutherland's "Kicked, Bitten and Scratched: Life and Lessons at the World's Premiere School for Exotic Animal Trainers."

Kristin Hahn and Dana Adam Shapiro will produce the project, developed as a romantic comedy; Todd Louiso and Jacob Koskoff are scripting. David Rubin is in negotiations to produce.

Sutherland's tome focuses on the year she spent with students at the Exotic Animal Training and Management Program at Moorpark College, where students learn how to communicate with animals such as camels, emus, baboons, cougars, wolves and snakes. Alumni hold posts at the world's top zoos, aquariums and sanctuaries or become trainers who work in television and film.

First Look Pictures prexy Ruth Vitale credited the company's Kevin Turen with bringing the project together.

Hahn, an exec producer on "The Departed," also wrote and directed the documentary "Anthem." Shapiro's first film was the Oscar-nommed docu "Murderball"; Rubin produced "Igby Goes Down."

Koskoff and Louiso co-wrote "The Marc Pease Experience," set to star Ben Stiller and Jason Schwartzman. Louiso's directorial debut was "Love Liza," starring Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Watts recently starred in "The Painted Veil" and next will be seen in Michael Haneke's "Funny Games" and David Cronenberg's "Eastern Promises."

[MacGuffin]

Naomi Watts to star in 'Same'
The Bureau will finance film
Source: Variety

Naomi Watts is attached to star in the adaptation of "We Are All the Same" for the Bureau of Moving Pictures.

"Hotel Rwanda" co-writer Keir Pearson is adapting the story of Gail Johnson, a white South African woman who adopted a black child with AIDS, then traveled the world with the child to raise awareness about his plight. "Nightline" correspondent Jim Wooten wrote the tome, published by Penguin in late 2004.

Marty Adelstein and Scott Nemes are producing with Andrew Meieran and Matthew Tabak from the Bureau. The Bureau is financing.

"It's one of those passion projects that you hope you become involved in," Nemes said.

Watts next appears in "Eastern Promises," a Focus thriller directed by David Cronenberg.

[MacGuffin]

Naomi Watts Has a Baby Boy

Naomi Watts has given birth to a baby boy.

Alexander Pete Schreiber was born Wednesday in Los Angeles and weighed 8 pounds, 4 ounces, Watts' publicist Robin Baum said Thursday.

It's the first child for the Australian actress and her boyfriend, actor Liev Schreiber.

Watts, 38, and Schreiber, 39, co-starred in last year's "The Painted Veil."