page_title: Rachel Keller
section_title: Casting and characterization
hierarchical_section_title: Rachel Keller / Development / Casting and characterization
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Naomi Watts au festival de CannesEnglish: Naomi Watts at the Cannes film festival
context_page_description: Rachel Keller is a fictional character in The Ring film series. The character, created by writer-producer Ehren Kruger and portrayed by Naomi Watts, serves as the protagonist of The Ring and The Ring Two, sharing similarities with Reiko Asakawa from the original Japanese films.
  Introduced in the 2002 film, Rachel is an investigative journalist who must figure out a way to escape death after watching a cursed video tape that she discovered while investigating the death of her niece. In The Ring Two, Rachel must delve into the history of Samara Morgan after her son gets sick with a mysterious ailment.
context_section_description: In an interview, Watts revealed that she was originally hesitant to accept the role because she feared being typecast and discussed her character saying, "it's such a great role, especially the protagonist being female when that kind of part is normally reserved for the guys. She gets to go through such an incredible journey, not just with the struggle and chaos that's happening around her, but her own personal journey." and stated "I like her complexities and the fact that she thinks everything's OK because she's not fighting with her son. She then discovers that throughout the journey that she needs to be a better mum, has a moment to reflect and think: OK I've learned something through this, which I liked." In another interview, Watts discussed her character saying that "It was the character that drew me to this project," and elaborated further by saying "What I think sets it apart, is that the character has her own personal journey to go through. She starts out as a flawed person and not a very good mother, and after all the chaos, she learns to recognize what her child needs."
  Following the success of the 2002 film, Naomi Watts revealed that she was contractually obligated to star in The Ring Two, stating that she "didn't have the power of choice"  but said that she did not have any second thoughts about reprising her role as Rachel stating that her character "had a lot more substance and it was about confronting the situation, the psychological aspects to it, and moral dilemmas, which I think have come up again in the sequel. They took a long time with the script, DreamWorks are very clever people, they know how to make it right and they persisted. We have a great director, who directed the original one, and we have a great cast. I think there is always that fear of doing any sequel but we took our time in trying to make it the best we could, while also give a nod to the audience."
  In an interview with BBC, Gore Verbinski discussed Watts performance saying, "Naomi's great. She's completely dedicated to her performance and not to her image. That process allows her to become Rachel in this movie and go to some darker areas that I think a lot of actors wouldn't feel comfortable doing." While discussing Rachel's character arc in The Ring Two, Watts stated, "Well, emotionally she's obviously in a very different place. And, you know, she's living with this enormous guilt and, there's no one she can talk to. What have I done? Did I do the right thing? She needs so much to, share a connection with somebody else. But she can't, she's too ashamed and so, it's just her and her son. So, the best thing she thinks she can do is move to another environment and create almost  a whole new identity."
caption: Naomi Watts portrays Rachel in both The Ring and The Ring Two.
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