March 14, 2008

Acclaimed Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke told American financiers he'd only make an English version of his disturbing thriller "Funny Games" if actress Naomi Watts was involved. Speaking about the movie earlier this week, Watts says she was "extremely flattered" when she heard the news.

"It made me think that an artist I admire respects my work and is passionate about it," Watts says. "The minute his name was mentioned I got very excited. And then I saw the [original] movie and I was both excited and angered and so obsessed with it."

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Her uneasy reaction to the first film also caused Watts to call a few directors she'd worked with before about whether she should really do it. Watts recalls, "Unanimously, they all said, 'You must work with him.'"

Why all the drama about starring in this English-language remake? Well, first off, Haneke has directed this new version of "Funny Games" almost shot for shot the same compared to the original, but with a different cast. Secondly, this is not your average thriller. Haneke wants audiences to feel how uncomfortable the horror that is exploited in most Hollywood films would be in real life. It's almost a horror film that decries the advent of torture porn franchises such as the "Hostel" or "Saw" films.

Seemingly tame at the start, the story finds Watts and Tim Roth playing a happily married couple that heads to their lakeside house for a vacation with their young son. Playing with typical horror movie conventions, two mysterious (and psychotic) young men show up at their front door and start playing disturbing and deadly "games" with them. Watts notes, "I don't think it's supposed to be enjoyed. It's supposed to be work for you. You are supposed to participate and be part of the film and feel richer for the experience and so, therefore, the next violent film you are perhaps more conscious [about the horrors you're viewing]."

While Watts' career hit new heights after she appeared in "The Ring" flicks, this isn't a genre she typically enjoys herself.

"I have never been a fan of gore," Watts says. "I'm not trying to say, 'Shame on you for all those other films that have been made.' I'm not on a soapbox here. What works for some people doesn't work for others. I'm an actor. I enjoy playing fear."

And that fear needed to be authentic to Haneke. Watts says, "The first time I was bound and gagged he went, 'Ugh, I don't believe that. Let me do it.' [Afterward] it was all around my neck and my feet so if you fell or tried to walk you could be strangled."

She can laugh about it now, but remarks it's a "nervous laughter." And, even though she admits the set was a "very tense place," the production provided one surprise benefit to both herself and longtime boyfriend Liev Schreiber.

"I conceived during this film," Watts says. She pauses a moment and adds, "I think I was creatively fulfilled."

"Funny Games" is now playing in limited release.

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