Morton, Watson share screen time
CANNES, France (AP) -May 24, 2008 Morton, 31, and Watson, 41, co-star as variations of the same
character in "Synecdoche, New York," which premiered Friday at
the Cannes Film Festival.
"It's really weird. Over the years, I've been in situations
where people ... have mistaken me for her" or complimented her for
"Breaking the Waves," Morton said.
"And I went, `Oh, I wish,"' she said of the 1996 film that
gave Watson her breakthrough role and earned her an Academy Award
nomination. "And apparently, she's had a similar thing herself
with me, so the casting was incredible."
Morton, an Oscar nominee for "Sweet and Lowdown" and "In
America," plays an assistant who has a lifelong flirtation with a
theater director (Philip Seymour Hoffman) in "Synecdoche," the
directing debut of screenwriter Charlie Kaufman ("Being John
Malkovich").
Watson, who wasn't at a news conference with other cast and
crew, co-stars as an actress cast to play Morton's character in the
director's theatrical re-creation of the world at large, which
includes a massive New York City set built inside warehouses.
The two eerily resemble each other in "Synecdoche," sharing
distinctive hairstyles, mannerisms and speech patterns.
Spending a few days together on the set, Morton and Watson
developed a bond that went beyond their physical resemblance.
"We naturally started kind of dancing," Morton said. "Not
physically, but it became a dance, of how we would do things, and
it was just so wonderful."