In the 1990’s and early 2000’s, Cameron Diaz was about as big a movie star as anyone. She had a steady string of hit movies on her resume, and was considered a legit A-lister for years on end. But eight years ago, she decided to call it quits. But it appears that after this long hiatus, Cameron is once again about to show up on the big screen, in the form of an action-comedy called “Back in Action.” In this video, we’re taking a look at this new project, what prompted her to get back into acting, and why she quit Hollywood in the first place. So stick around, as Facts Verse presents: Cameron Diaz is Back After 8-Year Break from Acting!
In September of 2022, Cameron Diaz appeared as a guest on the Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon. But unlikely any other interview she’s given in almost a decade, Cameron was there to talk about an upcoming project she was about to act in. Fans of Cameron were no doubt shocked and elated that the once-retired superstar has finally decided to get back into the acting game again. Cameron talked to Fallon about her upcoming movie, Back In Action. It’s an action comedy that she’ll star in, opposite equally legendary Jamie Foxx. The project had been announced a couple months prior, in June, and it has made waves in the industry and amongst the millions of Cameron Diaz fans worldwide.
While on The Tonight Show, Cameron talked about what prompted her to get back into acting after more than eight years off, and whether or not she was excited about the decision. Diaz, who had already begun filming at that point, told Fallon that it was similar to doing anything that you used to do a lot. It had a lot to do with muscle memory, and getting back into the groove of a process that she knows incredibly well. But she also admitted that while she was able to fall back into the process fairly easily, it still is managing to feel different that it did in days past. She didn’t qualify the ways in which it felt different , but maybe those kinds of details will come up when the movie gets released, and she does more press for it.
Cameron Was Coaxed By An Old Buddy
Cameron told Fallon that her good buddy, Jamie Foxx, convinced her to end what she calls her “semi-retirement.” It’s a move that does make a lot of sense, when you factor in the fact that the two have worked toegehter before. They starred together in “Any Given Sunday” in 1999, as well as in Cameron’s last appearance: 2014’s “Annie.” The two have remained friends in the intervening years, which likely made it a much easier decision for Cameron when she was approached by Foxx to join onto “Back In Action.” She told Fallon that her decision was less of a challenge when she remembered that Foxx is, among other things, talented, professional, and easy to work with. She did admit to having some nerves when it came to filming with Foxx though, notably because he’s known for being a big ball of energy, both on set and off. She likened her friend to a racehorse, cause once he starts, there’s no stopping him. Cameron pointed out that her goal was to support him and his vision for the movie as they filmed. Hopefully that has proven true as the filming process has gone on.
Cameron’s Semi-Retirement
Diaz was a steadily working actress for two decades before she suddenly left the business in 2014. She starred in the remake of Annie, opposite Foxx and others, and then suddenly stopped taking the parts she was being offered. At that point, she didn’t make any public announcement or online declaration that she was stopping. She simply stopped acting. In 2018, she did a reunion for the movie The Sweetest Thing, alongside her costars in that movie, Christina Applegate and Selma Blair. The three were asked at the event whether or not they would be down to ever film a sequel to the popular movie. Cameron said that she indeed would be willing, and that she would love to get to spend time with the other two women. But in her answer, she causally referred to being in semi-retirement. Everyone seemed to take this comment in stride, assuming Diaz was kidding. But at the time, she hadn’t appeared in any movies since 2014, and didn’t have any reported movies in production. So as people began to take in her statement more, it became evident that she was being serious. It was a fairly shocking revelation, considering she’s been in 40 movies since her 1994 debut, The Mask. Plus, she was, at one point, the highest paid actress in town. So it struck many people as odd that she would abruptly hang up her hat on her acting career.
Why She Left Hollywood in 2014
A big component of why Cameron decided to stop her career, or at least give it a pause, was her personal life. The year after Annie came out, she announced that she got married to Benji Madden, who is the guitarist in the band Good Charlotte. Since then, the two have had a daughter, Raddix. Diaz decided she wanted to spend more time with her family, and joining on to endless movies would put a serious damper on that. In the early days of her daughter’s life, she was asked about this choice in an interview on a SiriusXM show. She pointed out that crazy hours that movie stars have to keep when they are filming a movie. She said that she couldn’t imagine having a child under the age of one, who needs to be constantly looked after, and going off to be on set for 14 or 16 hours a day. The two needs were completely incompatible. She readily admitted that there were many roles that she was offered, but made the active decision to hand them off to other actresses, a decision she has no regrets about.
She also saw the benefit of receding from the spotlight as her family was starting out. While she had a string of more public relationships, including big names like Justin Timberlake, Alex Rodriguez, and Jared Leto, her marriage to Madden has been one that she’s worked hard to keep a low profile on. When they gave birth to Raddix, they made an announcement on Instagram informing people of the birth, but made a conscious choice not to reveal much more. They didn’t include any pictures of their baby, for example. They noted that their desire to protect Raddix from the rigors of the spotlight made them decide they didn’t want to make her life a public one. They admitted that she was very cute, but refused to post any other details. So clearly Cameron has made a purposeful choice to withdraw from the spotlight. This has likely helped keep her marriage out of the tabloids, as well as keep her daughter out of the public eye as well.
In 2021, she went on Kevin Hart’s show, Hart to Heart, and talked about her decision to leave the business. She talked about how, as she approached the age of 40, it occurred to her that she’d been focusing on acting for so long, and with such fervor, that she felt like she was ignoring other elements of her life.
She also talked about how, when you’re filming a movie, you’re really on other peoples’ schedules. And that goes for A-listers as much as anyone. While they do get all the fame and money from the job, they are still subject to the shooting schedule of the particular film, and it can often be grueling and lacking flexibility. She talked to Hart about the fact that she was now fully in charge of her every day life. She mentioned that her daily routing is whatever she can manage to get done by herself. So clearly she was happy about the fact that her semi-retirement was allowing her to no longer be on other peoples’ timelines.
Career Decline
Though there are so many aspects that go into making a good movie, Diaz had begun to get some flack from critics after what they considered to be duds in the years leading up to her retirement. Vulture Magazine even took a shot at her in a big way, with an article called, “Why Can’t Cameron Diaz Make a Good Movie.” While Diaz hasn’t cited sentiments like this as a reason for why she went into semi-retirmenet, it can’t have felt great to be lambasted like this.
Non-Acting Work
Diaz hasn’t been completely taking off from work in the intervening years, despite not doing any acting. Firstly, she has written two self help books. The first is called “The Longevity Book: The Science of Aging, the Biology of Strength, and the Privilege of Time.” The other is called “The Body Book: The Law of Hunger, the Science of Strength, and Other Ways to Love Your Amazing Body.” She’s also launched a line of wines called Avaline. So Diaz has clearly been able to focus her time on expanding into other creative and business ventures.
But Diaz’s primary focus has obviously been to spend time with her husband and duaghte,r and raise Raddix in a way that suits both mom and baby!
Fans around the world are psyched about the release of “Back To Action” which will be out in 2023. Now it’s time to hear from you. Are you excited to hear that Cameron Diaz is back and will be in an upcoming movie with Jamie Foxx? Do you think you’ll see it? Let us know in the comments section below!
