Cameron Diaz Was Floored Netflix Had An Anonymous Hotline To Report Misconduct On The ‘Back In Action’ Set: “The Industry Is So Different”
A lot has changed in the entertainment industry over the course of Cameron Diaz‘s acting hiatus. The star, who returned to the industry to film Back in Action for Netflix, admitted she was shocked by the different vibe on set years later, and noted that MeToo “changed everything.”
Diaz, who filmed Back in Action after her decade-long break from acting (her last role before the Netflix project was 2014’s Annie), said that “the industry is so different” now during her Jan. 17 appearance on Netflix’s Skip Intro podcast, per Variety.
“I definitely have to say that the #MeToo movement changed everything,” she explained. “I mean, it’s palpable. You walk onto the set and it is different. It wasn’t just like the higher-ups, you know what I mean? There was always just that one guy, you know, on set, that you were like always going, ‘God, here he comes again.’”
Diaz acknowledged “layers and layers of inappropriateness” that prevailed on past sets she’s been on, which she said “as women,” you had to just brush off with a laugh.
“Some people you have to be forceful with and put up the boundaries,” she added. “Others you can’t give them the time of day.”
Nonetheless, she doubled down on the fact that “it has changed,” explaining that “never in [her] entire career had HR come in prior to a movie and talk about what is appropriate and what is inappropriate behavior.”
Diaz has worked on some major releases throughout her career, including Vanilla Sky, Charlie’s Angels, My Best Friend’s Wedding, There’s Something About Mary and The Holiday. But she had never encountered what she found on the Back in Action set.
“[There is] a hotline, which Netflix has, to call anonymously to report any issues that you might be feeling,” Diaz said. “So, I was like, ‘Wow, that’s amazing.’ The level of security and safety you feel as a woman now on set is. … I never felt that before this film.”
Diaz noted that the #MeToo movement “happened several years after [she] stopped making movies.”
While speaking with DECIDER ahead of the film’s Jan. 17 release, Back in Action director Seth Gordon said Diaz’s co-star Jamie Foxx — whom she collaborated with on Any Given Sunday (1999) and Annie — helped get her back on set.
“[Foxx and his managers] seemed to know that there was a theoretical possibility that she could do it, even though she was known to be retired,” he said. “I think the echo between what’s happening with her character, and her own real life—it’s called Back in Action—spoke to her.”
As for whether or not fans will get more Back in Action, Gordon teased to DECIDER that the film is “definitely teed up for a sequel” and he “definitely has some ideas in mind.” However, the power is ultimately in Netflix’s hands, as he he explained at the time, “I think they’re waiting to see how it does, you know, as they do.”
Back in Action is now streaming on Netflix.
