up with Jude Law and Dustin Hoffman in David O. Russell's ensemble comedy I Heart Huckabees. She headlined and produced the semi-autobiographical drama Ellie Parker (2005), which depicted the struggle of an Australian actress in Hollywood. The film began as a short film that was screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 2001 and was expanded into a feature-length production over the next four years. Film critic Roger Ebert praised Watts's performance: "The character is played by Watts with courage, fearless observation and a gift for timing that is so uncanny it can make points all by itself." Watts starred in the sequel to The Ring, The Ring Two (2005), which despite a negative critical response, made over US$161 million worldwide gross (equivalent to US$ million in ). In 2005, Watts also headlined the remake of King Kong as Ann Darrow. She was the first choice for the role, portrayed by Fay Wray in the original film, with no other actors considered. In preparation for her role, Watts met with Wray, who was to make a cameo appearance and say the final line of dialogue, but she died during pre-production at the age of 96. King Kong proved to be Watts's most commercially successful film yet. Helmed by The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson, the film won high praise and grossed US$550 million worldwide (equivalent to US$ million in ). The Seattle Post-Intelligencer praised her performance: "The third act becomes a star-crossed, "Beauty and the Beast" parable far more operatic and tragic than anything the original filmmakers could have imagined, exquisitely pantomimed by Watts with a poignancy and passion that rates Oscar consideration." Alongside the movie, she reprised her role as Darrow in the video game adaptation of King Kong, for which her voice performance garnered her significant praise, leading to a nomination for a Spike Video Game Award for Best Performance by a Female. Watts and the other game's cast members also won an award for Best Cast. Her other 2005 film release was Marc Forster's psychological thriller Stay, alongside Ewan McGregor, Ryan Gosling and Bob Hoskins. At this point in her career, Watts stated the following: The romantic drama The Painted Veil (2006), with Edward Norton and Liev Schreiber, featured Watts as the daughter of a lawyer who marries a man for his reputation as a physician and bacteriologist. Comparing her portrayal with Greta Garbo's in