Naomi Ellen Watts

Her next film was The Painted Veil with Edward Norton and Liev Schreiber. Watts played Kitty Garstin, the daughter of a lawyer, who marries Walter Fane (Norton) for his reputation as a physician and bacteriologist. The film centres on the relationship of the couple at the time they move to China, where Fane is stationed to study infectious diseases. Comparing her portrayal with Greta Garbo's in the original movie, The San Francisco Chronicle wrote "Watts makes the role work on her own terms – her Kitty is more desperate, more foolish, more miserable and more driven ... and her spiritual journey is greater. For her only other film of that year, she provided the voice of a small role, Suzie Rabbit, in David Lynch's psychological thriller film Inland Empire. Also that year, she was announced as the new face of the jewellers David Yurman and completed a photoshoot which was featured in the 2007 Pirelli Calendar.
She later appeared in David Cronenberg's crime thriller Eastern Promises with Viggo Mortensen, which premiered at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival, to critical acclaim. As the movie, Watts also generated positive feedback among critics; Slate magazine remarked in its review that she "brings a wounded radiance to the overcurious midwife Anna. Though it's a bit of a one-note role, it's a note she's long specialised in, a kind of flustered moral aggrievement". Eastern Promises grossed US$56 million worldwide, (equivalent to US$67.9 million in 2016). In 2007, Variety reported that Watts and George Clooney would star in the remake of Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 film The Birds, which would be directed by Casino Royale director Martin Campbell. On 16 June 2009, Brad Fuller of Dimension Films stated that no further developments had taken place, commenting, "We keep trying, but I don't know." Martin Campbell was eventually replaced as director by Dennis Iliadis in December 2009. In an interview in December 2010, Watts said, "It sounded like a good idea, but the script's not there yet. I'd love to have been a Hitchcock blonde. A few directors I've worked with have been heavily influenced by Hitchcock, so I feel like I've gotten close." She worked with Tippi Hedren, the original star of "The Birds", in David O. Russell's I Heart Huckabees (2004). She said of Hedren: "I was pretty fascinated by her then, because people have often said we're alike." Later, she dressed up as Hedren's title character from Alfred Hitchcock's Marnie for a 2008 photo shoot for Vanity Fair magazine.
She appeared with Tim Roth in Michael Haneke's Funny Games (2007), a remake of Haneke's 1997 film of the same name that opened at the London Film Festival. The director said that he agreed to make the film on condition that he be allowed to cast Watts, according to UK's The Daily Telegraph. She portrayed Ann Farber, who with her husband and son are held hostage by a pair of sociopathic teenagers. Watts also served as a producer, as this charge was for her "one way to spice up the deal and be involved in all the creative decisions". The movie generated mixed reviews and received a limited theatrical release in the United States, grossing $7 million, on a $15 million budget. Newsweek felt that Watts "hurls herself into her physically demanding role with heroic conviction". David Stratton, from At the Movies concluded that she was "as usual, really fine". However, New York Daily News criticised her part for being half-naked throughout most of her appearance, considering that it was "an awfully strange way to make a righteous point about exploitation".