Naomi Watts covers Harpers Bazaar Australia’s May issue. She’s wearing a pink Burberry dress with a gorgeous gray coat from the label draped over her arm. The editorial, shot by James White, is just beautiful and features Naomi looking ethereal in various designer clothes while sitting in a vintage truck. She looks so classic and pretty, they did a great job styling her.

Inside, Naomi talks about her decision to do comedy after being known for more serious, meaty roles. (She was in that horrible Movie 43 film, as were so many other celebrities, but I guess that doesn’t count.) The Daily Mail, which has some scant excerpts from Naomi’s interview, lets us know that she has three comedies coming out this year: Birdman, co-starring Michael Keaton, St. Vincent with Melissa McCarthy and Bill Murray, and While We’re Young with Ben Stiller. She’s been busy since the panned Diana biopic. Naomi says that her decision to move to comedy was prompted by her family and sons, Sasha, 5, and Sammy, 5. Here’s more:

[Watts] said she needed a change in direction after some intense and sometimes harrowing roles, such as her true-life character in The Impossible, for which she received an Oscar nomination.

‘It was really intense,’ the mother-of-two revealed. I’d walk through the door at night and my family needed my attention 100 per cent, yet you’re still linked to work. It was time to change gears. And accept laughter.’

Naomi, who got her big break in David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive, said that she initially found a niche in darker performances because she was looking for emotional characters, ‘that find themselves in situations that are evolving in some way.’

‘[Also] comedy is harder to get right than drama,’ the stunning blonde admitted.

‘And then I just stopped getting called [by casting directors] for comedy.’

The US-based star, who has been in a relationship with fellow actor Liev Schreiber for almost a decade, admitted she has her doubts about her ability to bring the laughs.

‘I’m not sure I can do comedy,’ she confessed of the drastic change.

‘It was scary being among that crowd – people who know what their [sic] doing. [Each movie] was a scary couple of weeks.’

In the glamorous photo shoot for the magazine which took place in Los Angeles, Naomi wears a range of coveted pieces from Balmain, Nina Ricci, Chanel and Burberry.

[From The Daily Mail]

If Naomi deliberately made a switch to comedy after feeling the weight of darker roles then good for her. I’ve always thought that actors just let the chips fall rather than making more deliberate career moves, but I’m just judging by my brief career as a tech contractor. Sometimes I’d have several choices but more often than not I took the jobs I was offered. More in-demand actors like Naomi probably do consider their options and decide to change course.

Also, I’m so glad that Naomi and Liev are still going strong. They usually don’t say much about each other or their family life, but at the Golden Globes Naomi admitted that she’s the one who asked Liev to take her phone number when they first met at a party. Before she left, after they hit it off, she asked him “don’t you want my digits?” That’s cute! They’ve been together since 2005 and I hope they make it for much longer. Don’t tell me he’s a cheater! I won’t believe you.

Naomi is shown outside the gym on 4-1 and out biking with Liev and their sons on 4-5. Credit: FameFlynet and PCNPhotos