Naomi Watts reveals ‘mortifying’ encounter with fellow A-list actor

Hollywood A-lister Naomi Watts has recalled a horrifying incident with another fellow “very high profile” actor.

British actress Naomi Watts arrives for the 2024 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 6, 2024, in New York. Photo: Angela Weiss / AFP.

Naomi Watts has opened up about a “mortifying” encounter with a fellow A-list actor.

During a roundtable for The Hollywood Reporter alongside Jodie Foster, Brie Larson, Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Aniston, Ana Sawai, and Sofía Vergara, the actor said she was once asked to make out with a “very well-known actor” for a chemistry test, but things quickly spiralled.

Naomi Watts opens up about an awkward encounter with an A-list actor in the May issue of The Hollywood Reporter. Picture: supplied.

“It was mortifying because we didn’t hear a ‘cut,’ and it just kept going,” Watts, 55, explained. “Then they were like, ‘OK, OK.’ And we both were like, ‘Oh, sorry, we didn’t hear …’ I did feel a bit rattled.”

“I was auditioning, and I didn’t get the job, so clearly I did not do a good make-out,” she joked.

She described so-called chemistry tests as “impossible” and said she was “shockingly bad” at auditions during the beginning of her career.

“I could feel the energy in the room where people were like, ‘Hurry this along.’ I’d even go, ‘Yeah, don’t worry, I’m out of your way in one second. You don’t even have to look me in the eye and shake my hand.’”

Aniston then shared her own experience, saying that she has “always” been “a terrible auditioner” and the stress of chemistry tests didn’t help.

“If you’re a nervous auditioner to begin with, to then say, ‘Now let’s have you make out with a complete stranger,’ it’s very uncomfortable,” the former sitcom star said.

British actress Naomi Watts arrives for the 2024 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 6, 2024, in New York. Photo: Angela Weiss / AFP.

“When you’re in an audition room, you’re already at a disadvantage,” she continued. “Maybe you’d have chemistry with this person if you were in a different environment and not, like, ‘Create chemistry. Ready? Go!’”

Their remarks were in response to Anne Hathaway telling V Magazine recently that she made drastic changes to the auditioning process of her film The Idea of You after having a few unsavoury experiences as a young actress..

“Back in the 2000s — and this did happen to me — it was considered normal to ask an actor to make out with other actors to test for chemistry, which is actually the worst way to do it,” the Oscar winner, 41, said.

“I was told, ‘We have 10 guys coming today and you’re cast. Aren’t you excited to make out with all of them?’” she recalled. “And I thought, ‘Is there something wrong with me?’ because I wasn’t excited. I thought it sounded gross.”

Originally published as Naomi Watts reveals ‘mortifying’ encounter with fellow A-list actor