Naomi Watts the new scream queen

Naomi Watts jokes that she has become the new Scream Queen of film.

Naomi Watts climbs on the shoulders of one of the most revered beasts in Hollywood history - and into her first blockbuster.

This English-born, Australian-raised actress muses, "Even though I've never done an event movie or anything this huge, I didn't take on this movie to become a bigger star."

Of playing the beauty in the beauty-and-the-beast tale, Watts, 37, says, "This is definitely the first time I've played the pretty girl. I'm not the typical person you would imagine for this role but the casting in general is a little off. The casting is what makes it clever and unique."

Watts, known for her gritty roles in movies such as 21 Grams and Mulholland Drive, takes the hype surrounding her with a grain of salt.

"I can't tell you how many times I've heard it all before that this movie will make me a big star and all of that, especially with the success of The Ring movies, but I keep managing to maintain the same life. Yes, I get more phone calls; yes, my pay cheque is higher; but I never get recognised. I think I look very different from what I look like on film."

Playing the role Fay Wray made famous in the original Kong, this incarnation of the classic blonde damsel-in-distress has been updated. "Well, yes, she runs, and yes, she screams, but she's able to put up a good fight. They wanted her to be more dynamic and contemporary so there's an element of the survivor in there as well," Watts says. "And I have to say, those desperate times bode her well in the jungle and that's why she doesn't get eaten."

Joking that she has become the new Scream Queen, having done her fair share of yelling and crying in the Ring movies and now King Kong, she says David Lynch (Mulholland Drive) was the first to say she reminded him of a Tippie Hedren, a typical Hitchcockian woman.

"I see the comparison and I love playing with the emotion of fear."

Watts didn't have to try too hard to act empathetic with the beast in question.

"I've always had a fascination with the primates. There really isn't much that separates us."