Cameron Diaz always turns heads when she walks into a room.
The tall, lovely, outgoing actress recently turned more than her share of heads with a glittery gold cardigan sweater over a sheer, V-neck top with skin-tight white jeans and stilettos.
The beauty was candid and open in her remarks during a recent chat for her latest movie, the romantic comedy The Other Woman.
The film, which is showing in UAE cinemas, co-stars Leslie Mann, Kate Upton, Taylor Kinney, Nicki Minaj, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.
Here is the low down on the movie; after discovering her boyfriend is married, Carly (Cameron Diaz), tries to get her shattered life back on track. But when she accidentally meets the wife he’s been cheating on, (Leslie Mann), she realises they have a great deal in common, and they become friends. When yet another affair is discovered with a third woman, (Kate Upton), all three women team up to plot revenge on the cheating, lying, three-timing man.
Diaz is like rich, creamy chocolate — you never seem to get enough of her. And in her newest movie, The other Woman, this moon-eyed actress continues to give audiences — and box offices — a sweet high.
Diaz was born in San Diego and left school at age 16 to become a model. For the next five years, she travelled the globe, working in Japan, Australia, Mexico, Morocco, and Paris.
Becoming an actress, she says, completely changed her life. Diaz returned to California at age 21 and was unknown in the film industry until she was cast in her breakthrough role as the target of hyper-animated Jim Carrey’s affections in The Mask. Subsequent film roles include Feeling Minnesota, Gangs of New York, My Best Friend’s Wedding, There’s Something About Mary, Shrek and its sequels, Charlie’s Angels, The Holiday, Knight and Day, and The Green Hornet. She became the second actress to join the coveted $20 million club (Dh73.4 million) after Julia Roberts, when she was paid that amount for 2003’s Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle.
With her name near the top on virtually every list of Hollywood’s sexiest actresses, and firmly established as one of filmdom’s hottest properties and most sought-after actresses, Diaz appears to possess everything necessary to become one of the superstars of the new century.
Ultimately, the movie is about a friendship among three women who would normally not be friends. Is that one of the things that drew you all to this script and this project?
Absolutely. I felt this was such a unique film when Julie Yorn, the producer, came to me with the idea for Melissa Stack, the screenwriter to write the script. It sounded like a great idea. There’s nothing like that out there. Usually when it’s a story about three women all being involved with the same man, it usually ends in some sort of eyeballs being scratched out and some weaves being snatched off. We decided that wasn’t the story we wanted to tell. We didn’t want it to be a story about revenge. We wanted it to be a story utilising the commonality of the three of them having a relationship with the same man as the catalyst to bring them together because otherwise, these three women would not know one another otherwise.
What else was involved for you?
It is not only just a story about friendship and women and how we support one another and how we’re there for one another, but it also shows how different these women are. They have their own strengths and weaknesses, and those strengths and weaknesses help each one of them in their own way. They actually empower one another because of those strengths and weaknesses.
I am of the generation that saw 9 to 5 and this reminded me of it. Did you see that film?
Funny you say that because 9 to 5 is actually one of my favourite movies. I watched it 1,000 times when I was a child, literally 1,000 times. My girlfriend had a VCR and she had four movies and that was one of them, and we watched it constantly. That was something that I loved about this movie. It was the same thing: It was three women who would never have come together for any other reason except for they had something in common, which was this common cause. That really was the feeling that I wanted this movie to have. It was a huge influence for it.
Do you believe in one soul mate for each person, or are there multiple matches out there?
I believe there are many soul mates because my soul has a lot of different facets. But in friendships, too. Friends, too, can also be soul mates.
Since this is a romantic comedy of source, I was wondering, who taught you about romance?
My parents, who have been married for more than 40 years. They also taught my sister, Chimene, and I about independence. I often heard from my dad that I should go after what I want.
This is a female bonding movie, so which women have inspired you throughout your work and personal life?
My mum and my sister are my closest friends — to be loved so unconditionally is amazing.
What was it like doing the physical comedy scenes with Leslie?
Her centre of gravity is always low. And I am like up here teetering, tottering. Her torso is all torque. It is like a combustion engine has torque. It revs up. She powers up and she torques and torques and torques and, all of a sudden, she explodes, and I am holding her doing it. [She gestures as she describes it] And her leg locks around on me. One hand is here, and I pull it off, and there is another one here. And I pull that off. So, it just became basically like sticky balls. You throw it on and it sticks. It kind of turned into that. It was funny because in the script, there was no physical comedy scripted. We started finding it in these little places as we did it. She would just hold on to me and I would writhe in any way possible and try to get her off.
Obviously, the film deals with cheating. Have any of you been cheated on and was there a moment when you…?
…had a cathartic moment, where we were like, ‘Oh, my God. I totally know how this feels?’ I think we have all gone through some kind of betrayal, whether it is a boyfriend, a friend, or a family member. I think that is why this is relatable to everybody as we all know what it feels like to feel that betrayal.
You were involved in petitioning the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) for the rating for this movie. How common is that for actors? What did you say to convince them?
I am not certain how common it is for other actors to do it. Myself, the studio, of course, and the producers felt very strongly. I completely admire and understand and respect that there are guidelines in which we have to be under to get a certain rating. I appreciate the MPAA for what they do and how they structure that. But we just felt that it was a PG-13 and not an R movie. We felt very strongly about that. In the end, we were able to plead a case that showed that they agreed as well.
Was there a specific thing?
I am not certain because I don’t know why they voted the way that they did. All I know is we went and pleaded our case and they gave it to us. We are very grateful and happy for that because we really think that it is a PG-13. There is nothing that, to us, feels like an R film in this movie.
Box:
Being an actress
“Acting gave me a voice and an inner resolve. It gave me the power and personality to say ‘yes’ and ‘no’ to different projects and temptations”.
Celebrity status
“I love acting, I love making film, and I love being on the set. I love the collaboration, the process of working with groups of people to create. People go their entire lives doing something they feel they have to do and not ever enjoying it. I’m blessed that I actually get to do something I love to do.
“Everyone’s going to look at it differently and experience what they think it’s like, but you’ll never know what it really is until you have experienced it. As for dealing with the celebrity facets, such as the tabloids, I just deal with it. You just find a place for everything in your life.
Keeping it private
“I prefer to not say anything about certain things in my life. Not that I don’t wish that I could go scream at the top of the hill everything that I feel for that experience, but I feel like it’s better to keep it to myself, because I cherish it more than anything, and it deserves to be my own private experience”.
Box:
Male stars in The Other Woman
“These guys, honestly, Nikolaj [Coster-Waldau] plays one of the ugliest villains. We had to create such a horrible guy because he is the bad guy in the movie. We took him as far as possible — as pathological as possible. I really feel that Nikolaj did such an amazing job of being that character, so we could have the fun of the revenge to make it so that we looked good and he looked bad. We appreciate that. Taylor [Kinney] portrayed just the essence of a man that we all love and appreciate. He’s a brother and a best friend. He gives heart to the movie that is otherwise stolen by the revenge of it all. So, these two guys really showed up for us and they were great partners to the three women. Although, we did a movie about heartbreak, I feel we really also celebrate love in this movie. I appreciate that these guys were there for us as partners to tell that story”.
