The Holiday star returned to screens this month in the new spy thriller Back in Action with actor Jamie Foxx after her retirement. Back in Action marks Cameron Diaz’s first film role since 2014’s Annie, in which Foxx also starred. After announcing her comeback to acting in June 2022, following a decade-long hiatus, Diaz and Foxx began filming the action-comedy as early as December of that same year.
The film revolves around Foxx and Diaz as a married couple on a high-octane thrill ride, forced back into their old jobs as spies. Years after leaving their lives as CIA agents to start a family, Emily and Matt are dragged back into the world of espionage when their cover is blown.
In an interview, Cameron shared that she was back in the world of film “at least for this” after 10 years of “not even paying attention.” She recalled receiving the script for this new project, saying that her musician husband, Benji Madden, encouraged her by saying, “Maybe it’s time to switch it up for the family a little bit because, you know, it’s Jamie.” Diaz admitted that after spending half a decade blissfully at home with their kids, it took significant persuasion from Foxx to convince her to join Back in Action. “I hadn’t considered anything other than this,” she said.
Jamie Foxx mentioned in an interview that he convinced Diaz to return to acting by promising they’d have fun. He shared, “I told her, ‘Do you wanna have some fun? Just have some fun!’ That’s what brought her to it,” Foxx said. “We sometimes miss special moments in our business, and I think this is a special moment.”
The film’s director, Seth Gordon, praised the duo’s dynamic. “They took turns in a really deep way supporting each other,” Gordon said. “They were totally finishing each other’s sentences, and seeing their chemistry and that energy together was really inspiring.”
Cameron’s amazing performance this year, marking her action-packed return after a decade, has inspired the filmmaker to consider working with the two on additional comedic projects.