NAOMI WATTS - WATTS KNOWS OF HOME HOSTAGES

WATTS KNOWS OF HOME HOSTAGES

NAOMI WATTS' harrowing new film FUNNY GAMES was made all the more traumatic for the actress because she actually knows of two people who were held hostage in their own homes. The King Kong star plays an upperclass wife and mother who is tormented and tortured by psychotic home invaders in the ultraviolent film, which also stars Tim Roth and Michael Pitt. And it wasn't so fictional for her. She explains, "I know two people quite well who've been held hostage in their home. It does happen and it's really freaky - but it's not always as nightmarish as this, thank God. "One of them lived in Beverly Hills, in a rich neighbourhood." Watts accepts the Michael Haneke remake is tough to watch - but she hopes film fans come away from the movie with a new hatred for violent films. She adds, "We are so addicted to violence. We go to the cinema and we are numbed by someone's brains hitting the wall because that is a bad guy that just lost his brains so we feel it's OK. "In fact not only do we feel it's OK, we cheer it on because we are so pleased. "Haneke is saying this violence is inexcusable and it's grotesque and the fact that you never actually see it in this film makes it even more brutal and more authentic and more powerful. "Hopefully next time we go to the cinema we're more mindful of that... I felt disgusting after seeing Funny Games, but I still liked that I walked away and wanted to discuss it."