Older actresses stand to gain longer careers, Naomi Watts said at the San Sebastián Film Festival, arguing that recent awards and casting choices have expanded opportunities for women past 40. Watts made the remarks during a press conference where she received a Donostia Award for career achievement.
Watts, who rose to prominence with Mulholland Drive in her early 30s, recalled being warned her career would end at 40. "I started, by Hollywood standards, quite late," she said, adding that she is now in her late 50s. She pointed to last week’s Emmy nominations as evidence that the industry is changing, noting there were "a number of women in strong categories over 50," and called that heartening.
At the festival Watts framed the shift as a response to audience demand. "Women are consumers of film and TV. Their stories should be reflected," she said, adding she is "grateful to be a small part of that shift." Those comments came ahead of a screening of her latest film, The Housewife, which plays at San Sebastián the same evening as her Donostia presentation.
The Housewife, directed by Ben Shirinian, is set in 1964 and follows Hermine, played by Watts, and her husband Russel, played by Luke Evans. The plot centers on a New York Times journalist, Joseph Lelyveld, portrayed by Tye Sheridan, whose inquiry into a tip from a Holocaust survivor raises the possibility that Russel might be a Nazi in hiding. Watts described the part as a challenging "mind twister," and said the story’s basis in real events drew her to it.
Asked whether there are directors she still hopes to work with, Watts named Paul Thomas Anderson. The film community will see Anderson’s next project, a concert film shot at Carnegie Hall featuring Geese frontman Cameron Winter, debut next month at the New York Film Festival, with A24 set to release it in cinemas.
San Sebastián runs until September 26, and Watts’ appearance underscores how festivals now serve both as platforms for career retrospectives and for launching films that test whether the industry’s shifting attitudes toward older actresses translate into more complex roles on screen.
