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| Naomi Watts dedicated her Donostia Award to David Lynch Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival/Gari Garaialde |
The British star said it "wasn't an easy trajectory" to establish herself as a Hollywood name.
[imageright id=[34467]She said: "There was so much rejection. A lot of people telling me I wasn’t going to make it."
Speaking about Lynch, she said, he "saw me, and all those wounds from all that rejection now appeared as growth. He gave me the role that you couldn’t even dream for. He really just changed my life. He gave me a different understanding of what it meant to act, to trust instinct, to embrace uncertainty, and to not be afraid of the strange or the unexplained. But more than that, he believed in something in me before I fully believed in myself, and that is a gift that you never forget. So tonight, I do really feel like this award is very much about David."
The star's latest feature The Housewife is screening at the festival. She was presented the award by Juan Antonio Bayona, whose film The Impossible, about a family hit by the tsunami in Thailand, earned her an Oscar nomination.
Full of praise for the actress, Bayona said: "Naomi, I want to thank you for having trusted that young director who was scared to death.
Recalling having to do 30 takes in a water tank, Watts observed of her young co-star Tom Holland, who was 15 at the time: “Tom Holland called it the best water park he ever went to. I called it pure pain!”
The 57-year-old also talked about shifting the narrative regarding roles for older female stars. She added: "I still have lots more in me and I’m still reaching for the stars. So thank you for giving me the privilege of doing what I love to do." Lifting up her Donostia Award, she added: And David Lynch, I miss you!"
The Housewife sees her play the wife of a man in New York, who a journalist suspects is a former Nazi officer in hiding. San Sebastian Film Festival runs until September 26, it also presented a Donostia to Werner Herzog.
