When I think back to what really got me into movies, if I’m being honest, tracing the line alllll the way back – I’d have to say it was probably Quentin Tarantino. The things he did with his camera, how he manipulated traditional plot structure, the overt stylistic techniques–it was all new to me then, and fascinating. I fell in love with the idea that nothing had to have rules, not movies, not anything. That things could happen differently. That movies didn’t have to be just story; they could also be show.

That brought me to David Lynch, which was equally earth shattering. But it wasn’t until I saw Naomi Watts in Lynch’s Mulholland Drive that I was really hooked, officially closing in on that blurrily defined “buff” territory. Alone, what I loved in that film was the same that caught my interest in Tarantino, that complete and unapologetic middle finger he gave to mainstream cinema and the very idea of tradition. But Watts, it was her performance that, probably for the first time, connected with me on a genuine emotional level. She wowed me in a way I’d never been before, truly showed me something new. And ever since, she’s been on a sort of pedestal of mine, the blonde, all-powerful dragon I’m chasing every time I fire up my DVD player or feel the lights go down in theaters.

So imagine my surprise when I read in The Hollywood Reporter that Forbes Magazine rated Watts the #1 actress in Hollywood to bank for her investors.
The list said that, according to the amount each actress makes per film and how much their films make, Watts brings in the best returns, having made box offices about 44 bucks for every 1 she earned in her last 3 big movies.

Now, the list is a little misleading because the actresses you might have expected make way more a movie than Watts, obviously skewing the ratio. But still. I hope this means more good things for her career. She’s been great in everything I’ve seen her in but none of her parts have had even close to the amount of fire as Mulholland’s, or they’ve been overshadowed by CGI, or not leads.

So I’m still waiting for something to come along that’s as risky and dynamic, a film she could carry and get credit for carrying. It’d be ridiculous at this point for me to compare her to any of the “Greats,” your Kate Winslets or Meryl Streeps, your more “proven” actress with more rock-solid filmogs, but maybe in a few years. After a few more parts she could really sink her teeth into, maybe that comparison wouldn’t be totally out of the question.

Until then, is it weird that I take this news as something of a personal victory?

Here’s Watts in a one of my favorite scenes from Mulholland Drive. Row Three actually just posted a dissection of it yesterday. (They must have read my rough draft). No spoilers if you haven’t seen the film.

(But you should really see the film)

(Seriously)

(Now)