MovieChat Forums > Nóz w wodzie (1963) Discussion > Eerie Similarities to Natalie Wood

Eerie Similarities to Natalie Wood

posted 9 years ago by kelkyl
2 replies | jump to latest

Jolanta Umecka, who plays Krystyna, bears an uncanny resemblance to Natalie Wood.

This was slowly revealed to me as Krystyna is very ”closed” at the beginning of the film: fully clothed in a sweater and pants, rigid posture, hair up tightly in a knot, and wearing glasses. But as she begins to “open up”, exposing more of her facial features(and figure), the resemblance becomes more evident. It really hit me after she changes out of her wet bathing suit, brushes her hair out, takes off her glasses, and comes over to sit down at the table with the two men as they begin to play pick-up sticks.

Another, quite disturbing similarity is that Krystyna is aboard a yacht with her husband and another younger man both vying for her attention. In reality, on November 29, 1981, Natalie, her then-husband Robert Wagner, and guest Christopher Walken were aboard the Wagner’s yacht. Wagner was thirteen years older than Walken.

And the third and most haunting parallel is that one of the three, also the only one that doesn’t know how to swim, falls into the water. The exact events and circumstances of that night are known only to the three people present, but Natalie mysteriously “fell” into the water. Unfortunately, unlike the young man, she drowned.

Weird!



[–] TheAnimalMother 9 years ago

I would agree she does look a good bit like Natalie, (I thought the same thing.) though she looks a good bit different as well; And yes most of the film takes place on a boat. I knew of the accident when I first saw this film, but I think there are no real parallels here other than the looks factor. For instance you draw a parallel between them vying for the females attention. How do you figure? Walken by this time was already a huge film star and not in need of stealing anyone's wife, nor in need of showing off to her. He was not young and unskilled like the young film character at all. Walken has in fact been married to the same woman since 1969 until the present day. His wife actually was the casting director who put Christopher and Natalie together in Brainstrom, in other words Wood met Christopher only due to his wife. His wife is still a casting director today and has worked on shows such as The Sopranos and Entourage in recent years. Your third parallel is just as bad, maybe even worse. First off, their were four people on the real boat, only three in this film. Secondly, the character in this film lies and says he can't swim, yet in reality he can. You're really grasping at straws besides the looks and sure, they're on a boat. She's probably not even the only actress who looks similar to Natalie and has been on a boat in a film. There is nothing at all eerie or haunting about this. I just hope you're not coming down with some sort of schizophrenia issue. I've heard that over identifying coincidences is one of the first signs of the disease. Whatever the case, all the best to you kelkyl...

My body's a cage, it's been used and abused...and I...LIKE IT!! [Evil2]

[–] kelkyl 9 years ago

Hi AnimalMother,

I don’t know how old you were in the 80’s but I clearly remember the mystery and controversy surrounding Ms Wood’s tragic death in 1981, and would like to respond to your comments to my post.

First, a couple points of general knowledge, though maybe not concrete evidence, that certainly provide a sound foundation for the second parallel I make between the film and the real-life tragedy which you contest:

1. It is widely accepted that everyone was drinking heavily that night. According to the coroner’s report Wood had 2x legal limit of alcohol in her system along with motion sickness medication and painkillers that likely increased her level of intoxication;

2. Wagner and Wood had been arguing according to several witnesses, and did not retire to the same cabin that night. Even Wagner himself admitted to having had a fight with his wife.

Now to address your specific comments about my observations:

1.

you draw a parallel between them vying for the females attention. How do you figure?

Not so much of a stretch, methinks. I’m not a fan of gossip (you can look at my other IMDb posts), but just Google “Christopher Walken and Natalie Wood affair” and you will get pages and pages of related items.

I lived in Fort Lauderdale and had a sailboat when I was in my twenties back in the 1980’s. I’m telling you that every sailor (I don’t mean US Navy… on second thought – include them too) wants to impress any pretty girl on board his boat. And if there are other sailors also interested in the same pretty girl, there will be competition, vying.

Secondly, I think everyone will agree that if there is a pretty girl in a bikini on board a boat alone with you and liquor is involved, any straight guy is going to find a way to get in her pants. By the way, Ft “Liquordale” was THE spot to go for Spring Break back in the 80’s, and “hey good-looking, want to go sailing” was the best pickup line I ever used!

Lastly, I submit that EVERYONE in Hollywood is a hound dog , probably more so than the general population as there are soooo many beautiful people with big egos there! So if you can hook up with a hottie without anyone finding out (alone on a boat, on the beach, etc.), you go for it. South Florida, especially Miami Beach, has a similar vibe.

2.

their were four people on the real boat, only three in this film

I’ll give you that as I did not count the captain. I assumed he had either secluded himself away from the trio, or left the boat completely as it was securely anchored close to shore. Regardless, the main activity was between the three main characters, thus still a valid parallel.

3.

the character in this film lies and says he can't swim, yet in reality he can

Agreed. So I stand by my parallel of the person drowning being the one that can’t swim: in the film, the couple does not know that the young man can swim as he told them he could not, so their reactions to his staged drowning are real. Ms Wood could not swim in real life. (There are even reports that after it was apparent she had gone overboard, no one attempted to rescue her!)

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So I conclude that I still find eerie similarities (not coincidences) between the film and the Wood tragedy. You don’t have to agree, but I hope I provided a little more support to my post for you to ponder.

One last thing: I don’t know what made you jump to the conclusion that I am paranoid. I assure you I am not. This situation has always smelled fishy to me and has never seemed to me to be just an accident. I believe the situation turned malevolent, fired by jealousy (most likely initiated by a sexual encounter), and fueled by drugs and alcohol that held others back from taking the appropriate actions which would have saved Ms Wood from drowning. Not murder, but not an innocent accident either. I think a lot of people agree, hence the rumors that persist to this day.