And she tells EW the scrapes and scratches were worth it.
“I didn’t want to stop, despite everyone saying, ‘Are you okay?'”
“You might have a grip fall over…
Naomi Watts races to save her son from a school shooting in ‘Lakewood.'.Sabrina Lantos
It all added to the exasperation and physical exhaustion.
Watch EW’s full interview with Watts above, and keep reading for a breakdown of the discussion.
Stay up to date with our ongoing TIFF coveragehere.
Naomi Watts ran the course of ‘a couple marathons’ in ‘Lakewood.'.TIFF
This is such a thrilling film.
Yeah, a lot, on both sides!
I have a running background.
I used to do it a lot, I started at school!
I did track and ran in my twenties wherever I was.
If I was shooting in weird parts of the world, I’d always go for a run.
I hadn’t been doing that for several years because I have a recurring back issue.
Any impact is not great for me.
It’s amazing, the memory of a muscle, how quickly it can bounce back.
I imagine some of that rage and frustration the character feels in the film was real for you.
You are absolutely, 100 percent spot-on.
It all added to the exasperation and physical exhaustion.
Out of that comes stress and some kind of beautiful accident that added to the chaos of it all.
So, you got a lot of bumps and bruises filming this?
You’re the queen of unorthodox scene partners.
How do you prepare to act opposite an inanimate object?
Is that a strange dynamic?
It would’ve been a lot stranger if there was nobody at the end of the line.
So, I’d say my performance wasn’t entirely solo.
It was reliant on those two people, and they did a marvelous job.
They were voice actors hired specifically for this?
They were “in the room” with me!
You had a cheat sheet in your ear!
Well, I knew the scenes, I just didn’t expect to shoot that long.
Is there a difference in the way Phillip had to direct you, being physically alone on location?
Is there a specific nuance to that?
I think of Phillip as a gentle giant.
but he was like, “Are you sure?”
I hated that I was going to let him or myself down, so I just kept going.
I think it was probably extra important to feel safe given the weight of the film’s themes.
We live with that dread, it’s haunting.
It’s things like that, we shouldn’t have to be feeling or fearing…
It’s a unique way into the material.
How have you been preparing for that role?
Will this series scare the hell out of us just like the article did?
Yeah, that article is so freaky.
That’s what got me in!
And of course Ryan Murphy.
I’m only just now getting into prep, we’re going to start shooting soon.
It’s exciting, I can’t say much more.
It’s a genre that you know I love, so…
