JA Bayona reveals that Nicole Kidman and Angelina Jolie fought for the role of Naomi Watts in ‘The Impossible’

in manager JA Bayonne has revealed exclusively for FOTOGRAMAS that Naomi Watts had to face candidates of the stature of Nicole Kidman and Angelina Jolie to get her leading role in ‘The Impossible’and even that they suffered pressure to change a choice that, in the long run, turned out to be the most successful.

‘The Impossible’, the film that broke all Spanish box office records and that confirmed JA Bayona as one of the best directors of our cinema, turns 10. And he will celebrate it with a special screening in Barcelona of ‘The Impossible’ in which both the filmmaker and María Belón, the survivor of the 2004 Thailand tsunami on which the character of Naomi Watts in the film is based.

Let’s remember that the story focused on the marriage between Maria and Henry (Ewan McGregor) together with his three children facing the terrible consequences of the natural disaster that caused a gigantic wave in the Indian Ocean in 2004 that devastated several countries. When the tsunami reaches the coast, Maria and her eldest son Lucas (a very young Tom Holland) are separated from their family and embark on a long and tortuous path to survive and reunite with them.

Until the arrival of the phenomenon of ‘Ocho apellidos vascos’, ‘The Impossible’ remained in the top 1 of the highest grossing Spanish films in history with more than 42 million dollars collected (almost 200 million at the world box office), and the interpretation of Naomi Watts dazzled all over the world managing to be nominated for the Goya, the Golden Globe and the Oscar Awards. A milestone for Spanish cinema.

On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the film, FOTOGRAMAS has asked Bayona about the selection process for the British actress, and her answer has revealed one of the best kept secrets of ‘The Impossible’:

“I remember that at the time there were many actresses who wanted to play the role of Maria in ‘The Impossible’, people like Nicole Kidman or Angelina Jolie were interested in the role, really very important actresses that I would love to work with. But we we always kept naomi [Watts] as the candidate due to the pressures we had from many people. We bet on her and we were not wrong, she was the best Maria we could have had.”

We understand that the “pressures” were because at that time (and now) having Kidman or Jolie on a movie poster was synonymous with blockbuster (as Amenábar had verified in ‘Los Otros’ a few years before), as well as being tremendous actresses, but let’s not forget that Watts came from working with Cronenberg, Haneke, Lynch, Iñárritu, Woody Allen and Clint Eastwood and to break the box office with ‘The Ring (The signal)’. Therefore, she felt like a safe bet. And that’s how it ended up being.

This news also helps us better understand Kidman’s sudden “jealousy” when he refused to participate in a video supporting the Oscars candidacy of what has always been his inseparable friend, Naomi Watts. At the time of her, no one understood that the actress of Australian nationality did not do her part to help her partner, and this could be the reason. Did he hold a grudge against you for having “stolen” the role in ‘The Impossible’?