‘The Watcher’: Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale discussed the nature of fear at special NYC screening
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“It was early in COVID. And it was a time when many people I think were very afraid of what we didn’t know about. And certainly I was one of those people,” said actor Bobby Cannavale during a Q&A for Netflix’s “The Watcher” at the Crosby Street Hotel in New York City on April 19. “That’s really a jumping off point for us to really explore what it feels like to be powerless in a situation that we generally feel pretty good about having under control: our family dynamic, the safety of our family, those kinds of things. And so that’s what really hooked me.”
Created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan based on actual events, “The Watcher” tells the story of a family that moves to the suburbs only to be terrorized by letters from an anonymous stalker. Co-star Naomi Watts knows a thing or two about suspense having starred in films like “Mulholland Drive,” “The Ring,” and “The Impossible.”
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“I don’t like to be scared,” she explained. She does, however, “like what happens in the movie as an audience member. Fear is a powerful thing that many of us have experienced at different times. I think I have a lot of fears … And I think we like to test ourselves as audience members. And I think as an actor being in the movie, there’s so many emotions that come with fear. And that’s just always interested me more.”
Playing a husband and wife in the seven-episode series, Cannavale and Watts leaned on each other as actors, especially with multiple directors helming the project. “It is the nice thing about being in so many scenes together, we did rely on each other a lot,” Cannavale remembered. “You do have to be really relying on your scene partner, especially with this genre.”
But it wasn’t just each other they had opportunities to bounce off of. Watts recalled a day working opposite Mia Farrow and Margo Martindale, “and it was literally one of the best days on set I’ve had in my entire career. Because two legends, telling fantastic stories, getting the work done, and all excited to be there … I was just sitting there going, yes, this is why we go to work. This is why we’re actors. Because it’s just fun to learn from people who’ve had incredible experiences along the way.”
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