Left and right, Naomi Watts behind the scenes at the Angel shoot; middle, Naomi Watts at the Met Costume Institute gala wearing a Mugler dress.Seventeen years afterThierry Mugler spritzed the world with his iconic scent Angel, the fragrance is getting a face worthy of its renown. Naomi Watts, the Oscar-nominated actress who starred in 21 Grams and King Kong, will become the perfume’s first official ambassador, appearing in a worldwide advertising campaign set to launch in October. In addition to a print campaign, photographed by Ali Mahdavi, a television spot of Hollywood proportions, directed by Oscar-nominee Bill Condon (Dreamgirls), will introduce the fragrance’s angelic new spokesmodel.

Thierry Mugler’s Angel Les Parfums Corps.This is Watts’s first foray into the industry of beauty endorsements. “It’s very flattering,” she says. “It’s a very feminine, classic perfume, but it’s also got a lot of pizzazz. The packaging, the marketing—everything about it feels very stylish and chic.” The actress hopes to do for Mugler’s product what her good friend and fellow Aussie Nicole Kidman did for Chanel No. 5, in 2004.

Left, Bill Condon; middle, Thierry Mugler; right, Ali Mahdavi.Mugler, who became enamored with the beauty after watching her breakout performance in Mulholland Drive, sees Watts as the human embodiment of his fragrance. “Naomi is an angel,” he says. “She is fragile and strong at the same time.” With the help of Condon, who also wrote the Oscar-nominated screenplay for Chicago, Mugler created a fairy tale, featuring Watts wandering through a crystal cave full of glistening Angel bottles. “The stage [Hollywood Center Studios] that we’re shooting on is where I Love Lucy was shot,” says Condon, a relative newcomer to the world of commercials. “The sense of Hollywood history here is wonderful … There’s something very exciting about being in touch with that tradition.” Indeed, the grandeur and the glamour of Hollywood are apparent in every detail of the Angel campaign, from the musical orchestration to Watts’s costume, to the elaborate set, to the digital enhancements.

The launch of the advertisements will coincide with the debut of Angel Les Parfums Corps, a collection of nine body products. They will be sold exclusively at Nordstrom for the month of September, and will be made available worldwide in October.