‘Kong’ star knows this role well

Everyone’s talking about Naomi Watts’ surprising performance in Peter Jackson’s epic “King Kong.”

In one of the most widely anticipated movies ever made, Naomi Watts plays the role of a sweet, naive and struggling actress in Depression-era New York. Turns out she’s actually done quite a bit of rehearsing for this role-of-a-lifetime.

Watts also played a struggling actress (Betty/Diane) in her breakthrough role in David Lynch’s “Mulholland Drive” released in 2001. And Watts was again the struggling actress in “Ellie Parker,” an indie written and directed by her friend Scott Coffey, currently in theaters.

“We’re obviously hopeful that audiences who love her in ‘Kong’ will come to see her in ‘Parker,’ ” said Marcus Hu, head of Strand Releasing, which released the film in the U.S.

“Parker,” based loosely on Coffey’s and Watts’ personal experiences, was first shown as a short at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. But Coffey wrote and shot more scenes (in digital video), expanding the feature over the last three years to prepare for its theatrical release.

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‘Geisha’ blossoms in Los Angeles

Half a dozen pink kimono-clad geishas tried to “stop a man in his tracks” as they coyly greeted guests at Sunday’s “Memoirs of a Geisha” premiere after-party. But they didn’t have a lot of luck.

“Are you kidding? In this town?” cracked one partygoer.

Admittedly, the guests -- including Diana Ross, Alicia Keys and Sting -- were probably hungry after seeing the film at the Mann Chinese Theatre. And they were probably distracted by the Kodak Ballroom, transformed into a magical Japanese Zen garden with a giant Buddha, tall bamboo trees, arched bridges, colorful paper lanterns and dozens of cherry blossom trees in full faux bloom.

Star Ziyi Zhang, in a sweeping strapless Peter Som gown, cozied up for photographers with Ken Watanabe, her on-screen love, clad in a natty gray striped suit. Michelle Yeoh, in a cobalt blue satin gown, chatted with Sony chief Howard Stringer, while Kaori Momoi, who plays a stern landlady, posed playfully with party geishas.

Director Rob Marshall is drawn to films with strong female characters and notes that “Chicago” and “Geisha” are similar; both are about women’s search for love in a world of performance that is physically demanding and fiercely competitive.

Which is probably why producers Lucy Fisher and Doug Wick wanted him so badly. Getting him was another story. “We’d heard he liked the book, so we called and he didn’t return our call.... So we started sending presents,” Wick recalled. “First we sent sake, then vintage photos of geishas, and finally we sent him a Geisha Barbie, and that got his attention.”

Hey, whatever works.

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Robert Downey Jr. leaves his mark

Robert Downey Jr. left the audience shaking their heads at the UNICEF Snowflake Ball, held at the Beverly Regent Hotel last week.

After bearhugging his new wife, producer Susan Levin, for photographers on the red carpet, the “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” star took to the stage to present the Danny Kaye Humanitarian Award to Trudie Styler.

“This is actually an intervention,” said Downey, wearing red-tinted sunglasses. “Trudie, you’ve been doing way too much philanthropy for UNICEF and we are deeply concerned that this behavior is indicative of a deeper problem. And I thought I should be the one to do this intervention because I know about addiction, I’ve lived it and I understand diseased behavior.”

To research Styler’s accomplishments for his introduction, Downey said he went Web surfing. “I found a link to Trudie on MrSkin.com with a section called ‘not nude but sexy’ and a spot that read ‘click here for film clips’ so I did. Then Sting [who is married to Styler] dropped by and said he preferred to watch the clips alone. But I wasn’t really comfortable with that because it was my computer.”

Pausing for the nervous laughter, Downey rambled on, at times mumbling. “I found out that as well as being one of the most philanthropic rock stars, he also has a heck of a left jab,” he said, removing his sunglasses with a grand flourish, to reveal a nasty black eye.

Downey hugged Styler and went back to his table with a big grin. Some of us wondered, did Sting really give him a black eye? Was it just makeup? Did he run into a door?

We checked later with his publicist, Alan Nierob, who explained, “The black eye was from a kung fu workout.”

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A fresh face for ‘New World’

Come 2006, we predict that Calvin Klein, Valentino, Karl Lagerfeld, Roberto Cavalli, Oscar de la Renta and Giorgio Armani will soon be fighting to dress a teenager whose name they won’t be able to pronounce: Q’orianka Kilcher (repeat after us: kwor-e-anka).

After initial Los Angeles screenings, the striking 15-year-old has been getting a lot of buzz for her role as Pocahontas in Terrence Malick’s “The New World,” which tells the bittersweet tale of a love affair between English settler-explorer John Smith (Colin Farrell) and the teenage Native American maiden.

Malick’s camera clearly fell head over heels for the young beauty, who conveys curiosity, playfulness, love, faith, loss, distrust, despair -- without uttering more than half a dozen complete sentences.

So who is this girl?

Her name means “golden eagle” in the Incan language of Quechua. And she’s related to pop singer Jewel, both descended from Yule Kilcher, an Alaska state senator.

Q’orianka never lived in Alaska but has strong roots there. Her grandfather was Alaskan mountaineering legend Ray Genet. Her mom, Saskia Kilcher, once fished commercially out of Kodiak as a teen and traveled to Peru, where she met Q’orianka’s father, who is of Quechua and Huachipaeri descent.

Saskia moved the family to Los Angeles to help launch her daughter’s career as a singer. According to the Anchorage Daily News, Q’orianka performed wherever mom could find a stage -- talent shows, the Santa Monica streets -- until a casting agent spotted her head shot and the worldwide search for Pocahontas ended.

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Elizabeth Snead writes “Styles & Scenes” as a blog for The Envelope (theenvelope.com), a Times website devoted to Hollywood’s awards season. She can be reached at elizabeth.snead@latimes.com.