Peter Jackson: "Naomi Watts Deserved King Kong Oscar"  4/10/06

Director Peter Jackson is outraged Naomi Watts failed to bag an Oscar nomination for her performance in his King Kong remake, because she had to work alongside an invisible co-star.

Watts only had the giant ape in her imagination when she played heroine Ann Darrow, while the Academy Awards nominees for last month's (MAR06) ceremony - Reese Witherspoon, Keira Knightley, Charlize Theron, Felicity Huffman and Dame Judi Dench - acted in less challenging scenarios.

Oscar-winner Jackson says, "Naomi's performance was superb. She is not acting with a huge, 25-foot-tall ape. She is creating so much of that in her mind.

"Naomi should have been nominated. I thought it was a shame. It was a year of independent films. It was a very strange year for the Oscars."