Naomi Watts takes Golden Eye at Zurich, then talks menopause and the long road to Mulholland Drive
Naomi Watts accepted the Golden Eye award for The Housewife on Sept. 26 and came back the next afternoon to talk openly about menopause, failure and a very late breakthrough.
The honour, presented by the Zurich Film Festival for her performance in the film, was followed on Sept. 27 by a public masterclass hosted by Max Loong, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The festival had listed the session as ZFF Masters with Watts at 1:00 PM. She accepted the award in person.
Menopause was central to the conversation. Watts is the founder of Stripes, a menopause wellness brand, and she has spoken before about wanting to make the subject less hidden. She hosted a symposium on the topic in Los Angeles in March 2023. In Zurich, she returned to that theme in front of a festival audience.
She also looked back on the long wait that came before fame. Watts said she spent around a decade auditioning in Los Angeles before meeting director David Lynch and starring in Mulholland Drive. She landed that breakout role at age 31. The Zurich festival describes that 2001 Lynch film as her breakthrough.
That wait followed an unsettled childhood. Her mother moved the family from the U.K. to Australia when Watts was a young teenager. Her father, Peter Watts, was a road manager and audio engineer who toured with Pink Floyd and died of an apparent heroin overdose when she was seven.
The Housewife was directed by Ben Shirinian, according to the Zurich Film Festival, which said Watts received the Golden Eye for her outstanding performance in the film. The award is one of the festival's top honours for screen work, given during its 22nd edition.
What makes this stand out is the pairing. One evening for the performance. The next afternoon for the person behind it. Watts used both to connect acting work with a health conversation many audiences still rarely hear on a festival stage.
