Naomi Watts says new film The Book of Henry features an interesting bit of role reversal

WHAT would you do if you thought a child in your neighbourhood was at risk, but your only source of information is your 12-year-old son?

The thing is, Henry is not your average 12-year-old. He is gifted.

So when Susan hears about Henry’s concerns, she trusts her son 100%.

Naomi Watts stars as Susan — alongside Jaeden Lieberher and Jacob Tremblay as her children Henry and Peter — in The Book Of Henry, out this week, and she reveals that the film really grabbed her attention.

“I loved this story,” Naomi says. “I just thought it was an interesting bit of role reversal.

“Susan’s kind of being taken care of by her child — obviously not what you should ever allow to happen as a parent, but it just seems to work really smoothly and he’s really good at it.

“She just relaxes into it and there’s a trust there, but things change gear quite dramatically at a certain point in the film and she learns to be the best mother that she can be.”

So what is the film actually about?

“It’s hard to talk about when there are some great twists and turns, but you want to keep the suspense going for the audience,” teases Naomi.

“It’s one of those movies that you can’t put in a box.

“You’re going to be on a fun ride. There are emotions. There is suspense, there’s drama.

“Basically, it’s about a family, a small family, there’s obviously one parent missing and Susan is just trying to do her best on her own with these two boys.

“She has a big epiphany in the film and she grows up and learns how to be a better mother.

“Something is going horribly awry next door and they take the situation into their own hands,” she adds.

“They try to do everything the right way, reaching out to have the professionals take care of it, but they’re not listening, so they take matters into their own hands.”

From what the trailers reveal, next-door neighbour Christina is being abused by her stepdad, a man who also happens to be the Commisioner of Police.

“It might seem like a small movie compared to some others that I’ve starred in, but inside of it, a lot of big things are addressed,” reveals Naomi.

“Being the mother of two boys in real-life, it was something that I could really relate to.”

It seems that she has, in a sense, adopted two more sons as Jaeden Lieberher, who plays Henry, revealed their chemistry as a unit was genuine.

“I love working with Naomi and seeing as we’d both worked with her before — Jaeden in St. Vincent and Jacob in Shut In — it helped with our chemistry as an on-screen family,” he reveals.

While Maddie Ziegler, who plays Christina, hadn’t worked with Naomi before, she loved the experience, saying: “I had an amazing time.

“She really helped me out on set. I learned a lot from her.

“I play a girl who lives a rough life at home. Some really terrible things happen to her, but nobody really knows about it apart from Henry and he’s trying to help her out and rescue her in a way.”

n The Book Of Henry is in cinemas from Friday, June 23.