After ten years of absence, Cameron Diaz returns in this Netflix film

This is a major feat. In his new action film, titled Back in Action and available since Friday January 17, 2025 on Netflix, Seth Gordon (How to kill your boss?) features two former CIA agents who quit to have a family, but whose cover is unmasked a few years later.

In the casting, the American director brings together two big names: Jamie Foxx, and Cameron Diaz, who has not set foot on a film set for ten years. Why did the actress agree to return in front of the camera?

Cameron Diaz and his great friendship with Jamie Foxx

In 2014, Cameron Diaz starred in the musical Anniedirected by Will Gluck (Sex between friends). The general public did not yet know it, but it was a matter of of his last appearance in the cinema. Four years later, she announced that she was ending a career rich in notable roles (Mary at all costs, Gangs of New York, Charlie’s Angelsetc.).

So why this sudden return? In an interview given to EmpireDecember 13, 2024, Cameron Diaz explains that the main reason is none other than his on-screen partner in Back in action : Jamie Foxx. Friends for 25 years, the two actors have already shared the bill in two feature films : Sunday Hell by Oliver Stone in 1999 and… Annie. It was the actor himself who suggested that Seth Gordon ask Cameron Diaz.

“I thought if I was going to come back and make a movie, the only person I would come back and do it with would be this man,” she tells Empire. Seriously. I had other opportunities along the way and I was always like, ‘No. I don’t do it, I told you…’”. But when Jamie Foxx asked her, she didn’t hesitate for a single second : “What? Jamie asked? Jamie? Oh, I can make a movie with Jamie!”.

A second film with Cameron Diaz in preparation for Netflix

For this unexpected return, Cameron Diaz did not do things by halves. The actress, who has appeared in numerous action films, practically performed all of her stunts. “She did all the hard work preparing for the stunts and the many hours of training that it requires,” says Seth Gordon in the film’s press kit.

Netflix, however, had to take out the checkbook to convince Cameron Diaz to return in front of the camera: according to Bloombergthe streaming platform signed a $45 million contract to the actress to shoot two films. If no information has yet filtered out on this second feature film, Cameron Diaz “reserves the right to say no to the idea of ​​making a film again” as she “reserves the right to say yes if [elle] decides.”

“I don’t define anything,” she explains to Empire. I’m just open to whatever makes sense to me and my family at any time.” With a fixed rule that she sticks to: “No more romantic comedies, only mom comedies”.