Naomi Watts Reveals the Real Reason She Wants to Play a Marvel Villain

Throughout her storied career, Naomi Watts has been involved in a number of projects with various legendary filmmakers, though she has yet to make the jump into the world of superheroes. While she might not have a specific role in mind for a comic book film, she recently joked that she’d love to play a Marvel villain if for no reason other than to show her kids that they have a cool mom. Given the ways in which the franchise has been expanding in recent years, impressing her kids is more than enough reason for her to pursue a role in an MCU film or TV series. Watts can next be seen in Goodnight Mommy, which hits Prime Video on September 16th.

“Oh, my gosh, yes. [My kids are] into all of those movies,” Watts shared with ComicBook.com about her potential interest in such a franchise. “I guess I would love to play a villain and am always interested in being in movies that my kids might appreciate and think I’m cool in because I’m very uncool according to them. Whatever Marvel franchise wants to come my way, I welcome it.”

Fans of big franchises almost got to see Watts enter a beloved property, as she was tapped to star in a Game of Thrones prequel. Sadly, after filming the pilot, HBO opted not to move forward with that project, with many of the details surrounding that prequel still remaining under wraps.

“After careful consideration, we have decided not to move forward to series with the untitled Game of Thrones prequel. We thank Jane Goldman, S.J. Clarkson, and the talented cast and crew for all of their hard work and dedication,” the network’s statement read back in 2019.

While Watts’ performances have been praised in various endeavors, arguably her biggest effort to date was in Peter Jackson’s King Kong. Interestingly enough, King Kong and Goodnight Mommy are only some of the remakes that she has starred in, having also been in the English-language remakes The Ring and Funny Games.

When asked about whether she watches the original movies ahead of starring in remakes, Watts admitted, “Usually, one time. I’m definitely going to be curious. I mean, obviously King Kong I’d seen before, but with all of the others, I had not seen before until I’d read the script and I was really considering it and there is a moment like, ‘Oh, does this movie need to be remade?’ And usually they’re only remaking it because it did well and it was an effective piece of storytelling, which is both the reason to do it and not do it. But I liked [director] Matt’s [Sobel] interpretation. He had some really innovative ideas that he wanted to bring to it and make it more of a thriller than a gory horror film. Just after multiple conversations with Matt, I was drawn in and you’re always looking to make it your own performance. You don’t want to have the performance that you watched on screen the first time in any way direct yours or make too much of an impression on yours.”  

In Goodnight Mommy, when twin brothers arrive home to find their mother’s demeanor altered and face covered in surgical bandages, they begin to suspect the woman beneath the gauze might not be their mother.  

Goodnight Mommy hits Prime Video on September 16th. Stay tuned for details on Watts’ possible future with the MCU.

Would you like to see the actor in a superhero film? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!