Naomi Watts talks about pregnancy and pretending to be someone she's not

Naomi Watts at the New York City press junket for "Mother and Child"

Naomi Watts had pregnancy very on her mind when she made "Mother and Child." The Oscar-nominated actress was pregnant in real life and in the movie, and the film’s shooting schedule had to be rearranged to accommodate her pregnancy. (In fact, Watts went back to work on "Mother and Child" not long after giving birth to her second child, a son named Sammy.) Written and directed by Rodrigo Garcia, "Mother and Child" tells the stories of three women in Los Angeles whose lives are affected by adoption.

Elizabeth (played by Watts) is an emotionally distant lawyer who was adopted as a baby and who becomes pregnant after having an affair with her boss (played by Samuel L. Jackson). Karen (played by Annette Bening) is a prickly physical therapist who still carries a lot of psychological pain from being an unwed teenage mother who gave up her baby daughter for adoption. Lucy (played by Kerry Washington) is a perfectionist bakery worker who goes through the process of adopting a child after she is unable to conceive one of her own. The lives of these three women intersect as the story unfolds. Here is what Watts had to say when I sat down with her at the New York City press junket for "Mother and Child."

As a mother, can you talk about the emotion of your character and thinking about your own kids as you were going through this very difficult role?

My feeling is that the minute you make the decision, you sort of bring on a lifetime of second-guessing yourself. Everything that happens, the most minor things in everyday life, you [think], "Should I have done this or that?" … That’s what comes with motherhood. It’s amazing to be absolved of that.

No matter how invested or as hands-on as parents, [men] just don’t get involved in that guilt like women [do]. It can hit in all different types. Kerry [Washington’s] character, isn’t able to have children. Once you make that decision that you want to be a mother, it just brings on all that stuff. I didn’t really have many ways to relate to Elizabeth. She’s a quite complicated woman, and we’re really not much alike. I’m kind of afraid of her.

Samuel L. Jackson and Naomi Watts in "Mother and Child"

In "Mother and Child," Annette Bening’s Kate character says, "I’m not a weirdo, but I am difficult." Is your "Mother and Child" character difficult and a weirdo?

But I’m not sure that she wasn’t a weirdo either, Annette’s character. [Elizabeth] was, but she thought that her next-door neighbors were the weirdos. They were the people who really don’t know what they were doing. They don’t have a conscious life, in her mind. [She says in a perky neighbor voice] "Oh hi, we’re from next door and let’s all be friends." [Elizabeth] is like, "Who are you? What planet did you just come from?"

In all the things I try to work out about Elizabeth, the one issue I had a problem with was when she put her underwear in [her neighbors’ drawer]. I wondered "Wait a second. Is she truly evil?" Rodrigo said, "No." I just think that she is trying to get a spark out of people, trying to get them to see who they are and they’re not the people that they behave like.

"You think you’re husband is really that special? Well guess what, honey? He was looking at me on the balcony the other day — and he wants me." I think that she had such a low opinion of men — not just men, human beings in general — because she’s been so hurt that she wants to expose their flaws. So in her own kind of weird way, she felt she was giving her neighbor a gift to see what a lie she was living.

Did you draw from anyone from your past to help you project this Elizabeth character?

You always take things from people you know or experiences you had, because it’s all about trying to get to the most truthful place. You have to connect with something that you’ve seen yourself, not something you’ve read about or imagined. Often, that’s what it comes down to as well, whatever you can grasp onto.

Writer/director Rodrigo Garcia, producer Julie Lynn, Naomi Watts, Kerry Washington and Jimmy Smits at a "Mother and Child" photo call at the 2009 San Sebastian Film Festival in San Sebastian, Spain

Did Rodrigo Garcia give you a format of where to go with the character or did you have it set up in your mind on where to take it?

Well, he’s such a brilliant writer. He understands women in an unbelievable way. I have so much respect for him. His words are just beautiful and his characters are really interesting. He’s not a conventional guy in any way. He’s prepared to write women who are very complicated. I mean, who goes off and get their tubes tied at 17 years old [like Elizabeth did]? "Let’s think about who that woman is who had to do that." [Rodrigo Garcia] is really interesting. He has a great sense of humor and just a great sense of understanding human beings, as complicated and difficult as they are, they’re interesting and the way he explains them, he forgives them for being who they are.

How was it working on the film around the time you were pregnant with and gave birth to your son Sammy, your second child?

It was very difficult. Basically, they put the whole film on hold because of my pregnancy. We were supposed to do it before summer [of 2008]. I told them that we had to shoot it now, knowing when I would start showing, but the timing was also bad with the SAG [Screen Actors Guild] issue, the possible strike. I think Annette’s dates weren’t great anyhow, so we started shooting [in December 2008] with Kerry and Annette first, and I had my baby in December [2008], and I would come to the set in February [2009], when my baby was 8 weeks old.

It was kind of unheard of, but you have to remember it was exciting for me to come back to work because I took a whole year off with [my son] Sasha [Watts’ first child]. It was fitting but it kind of wasn’t fitting the content of this [movies’] material. It was incredibly difficult. I think I had boobs were like this [she makes a huge gesture].

Samuel L. Jackson and Naomi Watts in "Mother and Child"

What was it like to work with Samuel L. Jackson, especially doing the love scene together?

I had literally just met Sam. I think we had one table read, and then the second scene we shot, I was on top of him. It was slightly odd, but he could not have been more soothing and just gentle. He was exactly what I needed to work with. He’s amazing. He wasn’t what I thought of when I read that character. I thought, "Wow, Samuel L. Jackson, that’s a little odd," but he’s such a brilliant actor, and I’m so glad that he said yes to it, because it was such a nice surprise to see him like that. He’s just a very gentle, intelligent, sophisticated man. Just because he wears a different colored track suit every day of the week doesn’t say he’s not highly distinguished. I loved every second of working with him.

Your character Elizabeth goes through a personality change when she discovers she is pregnant. Did you feel a change yourself when you became pregnant yourself?

I love being pregnant. I just feel at my most strong and my most feral. The second time was actually harder, because I was chasing a toddler at the same time. There was no putting your feet up and getting foot rubs and that sort of thing. I feel strong and alive, and you’re just amazed at what your body can do. I think Elizabeth allows no room for surprises in her life. And finally, when one happens, it moves her to a real state of shock. I just think she starts growing. It’s not the baby inside; it’s her own emotional growth.

Naomi Watts in "Mother and Child"

What changed the most for you after you became a mother?

Everything. This is something that I feel guilty about, because I go to work now and I’m getting paid to do something which I always feel I’m not doing as well. In some ways, yes, I am because I think deeper, I feel things differently. I feel much more mindful and aware, but I find it hard to live and breathe my work in the same way that I used to. I just feel that I’m desperate to go home. It’s as simple as that.

How did you prepare for the scene in the gynecologist’s office where Elizabeth finds out that she’s pregnant, and she gets angry when the doctor assumes that Elizabeth is going to have an abortion?

Well, I think it’s so shocking to her, and she reacts in such a way, because she’s created her life in such a way that there are no surprises and it’s so deeply controlled. She only gives this one version of herself to everyone, and for someone to assume something about her makes her really angry. It’s not something she thought through.

Would you say that Elizabeth isn’t as controlled as she thinks she is, because even though she’s had her tubes tied, she doesn’t practice safe sex?

That’s a good point.

Kerry Washington, Naomi Watts and Annette Bening at the New York premiere of "Mother and Child"

The New York premiere "Mother and Child" premiere benefits Inwood House, a non-profit organization aimed at sex education and helping pregnant teens. What are your thoughts on this program? Have you become an advocate of these types of programs as a result of "Mother and Child"?

I am not directly tied in with them, but I’ve done work for a number of years for AIDS. I’ve been to Africa. Obviously, there are a lot of issues there with safe sex and so forth. I’ve gone a couple of times, but I haven’t been back since I’ve had kids. They [my kids] are really tiny right now, so it’s hard to take them. I can’t wait to go there with them.

You had your U.S. breakthrough with the 2001 movie "Mulholland Drive," directed by David Lynch. Do you think that you and David will work together again?

I hope so. I’d like to know that myself. He’s just wonderful. I’d love to.

Naomi Watts at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival premiere of "Mother and Child" in Park City, Utah

What’s it like when you take your kids back to your native Australia?

The first [trip] was such a big deal to me, going down to Bondi Beach, where I have so many memories, and dipping [my son’s] feet in the water despite the fact that it was freezing cold. I’ve had my babies such a long way from home and this is like my water and my country, and now you are back, too. It really was a big deal for me. Samuel Kai [my second child], he came to Australia for the first time this past Christmas .

What are your thoughts on seeing your significant other, Liev Schreiber, perform on Broadway in "A View From the Bridge"?

He’s just magnificent, as he always is. He gets better and better and I don’t know how that’s possible, because I believe he’s the best-reviewed theater actor there is in New York. He keeps blowing everyone away. And it’s so wonderful to see him play a brilliant character that has a great strength but vulnerability at the same time. I wept. I must’ve seen it about five times, and every time it got me.