"I mean, you just have no idea. Banks are very powerful things and they talk you into doing all kinds of things with your money despite what you're really capable of doing with your money and what you should be, and that's how people get so hideously in debt," said Watts at The International's LA press day. "And this particular bank, it's so ugly and grim and there's so many people involved it just doesn't stop. And it's impossible to expose them. And that's what I loved about the film, is that these two characters are standing up and going against something, despite their odds. And the very people that should be policing them are fueling it, the whole system."
The story, and the idea of starring opposite Owen in a film directed by Tykwer, appealed to Watts. "I've always been a fan of Clive's work, and was pretty familiar with Tom's work too, and so that was what led me to reading the script. And then I read the script and it's a good fast page turner and a thinking man's thriller and good characters within a heavy plot. I met with Tom and I was thinking, 'This is a huge film, I don't know if I can do this.' I was told about the dates and I thought there's just no way. I had a baby due around the time. And so Tom and I sat down and he said, 'Look, I can make this doable for you. I can condense your dates.' He went away, and came back and said we can actually do it in five weeks - despite all the travel and everything," explained Watts.
"By the time I got to Berlin, they had been shooting for about eight weeks already, doing all the end of the film basically, the Guggenheim and all that, so I shot three weeks in Berlin, and then two weeks in Milan. But it was definitely still a struggle with a newborn, I had a three month old baby, yeah."
Watts had been looking forward to working with Owen, and the actual experience was just as positive as she imagined it would be. Owen plays an Interpol agent so totally fixated on taking down the bad guys that he doesn't care in the least about how he looks while doing it. "He's terrific in the film and yeah it makes it so human, doesn't it? You can relate to the character a lot more if he's not too slick and glossy and he's got his inner turmoil going on and [my character] Whitman is someone who's trying to keep him on the straight and narrow and keep him together and not get too emotional."
Watts says her character is operating in a man's world in the film and has to be strong. "I met with an M.A.D.A in New York before I started filming and she said, 'There's no time for girlyness. There's no time for that sort of, running around in little cute suits and high heels," recalled Watts. "It's like we're on the job, we're dealing with this, and if you want to be taken seriously - particularly by the cops and all the other men and women around you - there's no frills. And, yeah, they have a great working relationship. They're bouncing off each other all the time and they rely on one another and trust each other, although she operates very much from an above board background, she doesn't want to get too crazy and go off course. She is the law so she's keeping him focused."
It's apparent these two characters have connected on more than a professional level, yet the film doesn't include any romantic elements. "Well, there was an almost romantic scene that obviously Tom decided at the last minute to edit out," revealed Watts. "I think the great thing about Tom is he's so focused on authenticity that he probably just didn't feel it rang true and it was awkward and so he decided to get rid of it. But it was even so slight… It was like one of those moments where they're caught up in tension, emotion and they almost kiss."
Life Outside of Acting
Watts is the mother of two very young children and she's dealing with issues every new mother faces. Watts is attempting to balance work and home life, and she admits she's still trying to figure things out. "This film, The International, is the only one I've done since I've been a mom. So I think it's going to be an endless struggle. Your family is something that you'll always have to put first and or will want to put first, so while I'm someone who doesn't want to give up my work - I love what I do - I will have to consider things carefully and how it will affect the family and, 'Can we be on the road for this amount of time and if we're separated, how long for?' and all those things."Asked what's been the biggest surprise about motherhood, Watts was quick to reply. "I knew that everyone goes through a monumental amount of sleep depravation, but you can never prepare for that. It's brutal!"
Watts added, "The biggest surprise is I cannot remember anything. I cannot. I call it lactose lobotomy. I've literally lost half my brain. I don't know when it's coming back. Actually it was halved and then halved again. So yeah, I go back to work on a film next week, I'm just doing 10 days on a little film called Mother and Child and I'm just trying to work out how I'm going to remember my dialogue."
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The International hits theaters on February 13, 2009 and is rated R for some sequences of violence and language.
