Naomi Ellen Watts

She then starred alongside Mark Ruffalo in the 2004 independent film We Don't Live Here Anymore. The film is a drama which was based on the short stories We Don't Live Here Anymore and Adultery by Andre Dubus, and depicts the crisis of two married couples. She reunited with Sean Penn in The Assassination of Richard Nixon, which was set in 1974. She played Marie Andersen Bicke, the wife of the would-be presidential assassin Samuel Byck (Penn). Finally in 2004, she teamed up with Jude Law and Dustin Hoffman in David O. Russell's ensemble comedy I Heart Huckabees. Watts next starred and co-produced with director/screenwriter Scott Coffey her film, the semi-autobiographical drama Ellie Parker (2005), which depicted the struggle of an Australian actress in Hollywood. The film began as a short film that was screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 2001 and was expanded into a feature-length production over the next four years. Film critic Roger Ebert praised Watts' performance: "The character is played by Watts with courage, fearless observation and a gift for timing that is so uncanny it can make points all by itself."
Watts returned in the lead role in the sequel to The Ring, The Ring Two. The film received several negative reviews, but was a major success at the box office, with an over US$161 million worldwide gross (equivalent to US$195.1 million in 2016) and Watts was once again praised for her performance. Her third film of the year was Marc Forster's psychological thriller Stay. Written by David Benioff, it also starred Ewan McGregor, Ryan Gosling and Bob Hoskins. Watts then starred in the 2005 remake of King Kong as Ann Darrow. Watts was the first choice for the role, portrayed by Fay Wray in the original film, with no other actors considered. In preparation for her role, Watts met with Wray, who was to make a cameo appearance and say the final line of dialogue, but she died during pre-production at the age of 96. King Kong proved to be Watts' most commercially successful film yet. Helmed by The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson, the film won high praise and grossed US$550 million worldwide (equivalent to US$666.4 million in 2016). The Seattle Post-Intelligencer praised her performance: "The third act becomes a star-crossed, "Beauty and the Beast" parable far more operatic and tragic than anything the original filmmakers could have imagined, exquisitely pantomimed by Watts with a poignancy and passion that rates Oscar consideration."
Her next film was The Painted Veil with Edward Norton and Liev Schreiber. Watts played Kitty Garstin, the daughter of a lawyer, who marries Walter Fane (Norton) for his reputation as a physician and bacteriologist. The film centres on the relationship of the couple at the time they move to China, where Fane is stationed to study infectious diseases. Comparing her portrayal with Greta Garbo's in the original movie, The San Francisco Chronicle wrote "Watts makes the role work on her own terms – her Kitty is more desperate, more foolish, more miserable and more driven ... and her spiritual journey is greater. For her only other film of that year, she provided the voice of a small role, Suzie Rabbit, in David Lynch's psychological thriller film Inland Empire. Also that year, she was announced as the new face of the jewellers David Yurman and completed a photoshoot which was featured in the 2007 Pirelli Calendar.
She later appeared in David Cronenberg's crime thriller Eastern Promises with Viggo Mortensen, which premiered at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival, to critical acclaim. As the movie, Watts also generated positive feedback among critics; Slate magazine remarked in its review that she "brings a wounded radiance to the overcurious midwife Anna. Though it's a bit of a one-note role, it's a note she's long specialised in, a kind of flustered moral aggrievement". Eastern Promises grossed US$56 million worldwide, (equivalent to US$67.9 million in 2016). In 2007, Variety reported that Watts and George Clooney would star in the remake of Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 film The Birds, which would be directed by Casino Royale director Martin Campbell. On 16 June 2009, Brad Fuller of Dimension Films stated that no further developments had taken place, commenting, "We keep trying, but I don't know." Martin Campbell was eventually replaced as director by Dennis Iliadis in December 2009. In an interview in December 2010, Watts said, "It sounded like a good idea, but the script's not there yet. I'd love to have been a Hitchcock blonde. A few directors I've worked with have been heavily influenced by Hitchcock, so I feel like I've gotten close." She worked with Tippi Hedren, the original star of "The Birds", in David O. Russell's I Heart Huckabees (2004). She said of Hedren: "I was pretty fascinated by her then, because people have often said we're alike." Later, she dressed up as Hedren's title character from Alfred Hitchcock's Marnie for a 2008 photo shoot for Vanity Fair magazine.