"Our central character, Rachel, is an investigative reporter, who learns about the tape through a personal tragedy, when her niece, Katie, becomes its latest victim," the director continues. "Then the questions begin: Where is the tape? Where did it come from? Who made it? Is it haunted?· When Rachel finally gets her hands on the tape, she watches it-of course."

Naomi Watts, the Australian actress who last year drew critical and audience acclaim for her work in David Lynch's "Mulholland Drive," stars in the pivotal role of Rachel Keller, whose investigative curiosity puts her in a race against time to cheat the deadly curse of "The Ring."

"I saw 'Mulholland Drive' and immediately responded to her performance," Verbinski states. "I think Rachel is a tough role, and Naomi is a very gutsy actress."

Parkes agrees, "Naomi is a very serious actress, and I think her role within the particular story we are telling required that. What Rachel Keller has to go through has to do with not only her own survival, but also that of her child. As a result, the part demanded some very intense, very real, acting moments. Naomi has the ability to be extraordinarily intense, yet she delivers those moments in a way audiences will be able to relate to."

Watts offers that the demands of the role were only part of what drew her to "The Ring." "This is definitely a genre film, but what I think sets it apart is the story is very clean, very straightforward and moves with a lot of momentum. You watch this video-which is incredibly scary on its own-then the phone rings and you're told you have seven days to live. Right there, that one sentence sets up the kind of suspense that makes your skin crawl and the hair stand up on the back of your neck."

The actress adds that she also responded to the character of Rachel, whom she describes as "very driven and strong, but at the same time, she's a flawed person, which made her more interesting to play. She's a mom, but perhaps not the best mother. She is obsessed with her own life and career until her sister asks for her help in finding out the cause of her daughter's-Rachel's niece's-death. At first, all this information is coming at her about a videotape that seems ridiculously implausible·nothing more than teenage gossip. But then she finds it and watches it and the phone rings... She gets more and more scared as coincidences begin to happen that really start to tap into her own psychological beliefs and self-doubt. Could this be true?"

As Rachel's skepticism is gradually eclipsed by fear, she turns to her friend Noah, whose own cynicism takes over. "Noah represents the devil's advocate in the beginning of this whole thing. He thinks, 'A videotape that kills you? You've got to be kidding.' He doesn't take it seriously until he's forced to," Verbinski says.