Dust off your scratched DVD copy of Charlie’s Angels and schedule an appointment to cut your hair into a choppy layered bob, because Cameron Diaz is officially un-retiring from acting.
That’s right: It’s an amazing day to be a person who saw The Other Woman multiple times in theaters. What’s that you say? Nobody else watched the terrible 2014 comedy starring Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann, and, for some reason, Sports Illustrated model Kate Upton? Well, first of all, I feel bad for you, and second of all, this is a celebratory occasion nonetheless.
Netflix shared the exciting announcement on Wednesday afternoon, tweeting that Diaz will be teaming up with her Any Given Sunday co-star Jamie Foxx for a new movie. The streaming service retweeted Foxx’s post, in which he wrote, “Cameron, I hope you aren’t mad I recorded this, but no turning back now. Had to call in the GOAT to bring back another GOAT. @CameronDiaz and I are BACK IN ACTION – our new movie with @NetflixFilm. Production starting later this year!!”
Along with the tweet, Foxx shared an audio recording of a phone call between himself and Diaz. On the call, Diaz confesses that she is anxious about the announcement. “I feel excited, but I don’t know how to do this, you know?” she says to Foxx. Luckily (I guess?), Foxx has Tom Brady on the other line—he’s the GOAT, meaning Greatest of All Time, that he refers to in his tweet. The NFL player famously retired back in February only to immediately realize that being good at football is kind of the only interesting thing about him and promptly un-retire.
“I was talking to Jamie and he said you need a few tips on how to un-retire,” Brady says to Diaz on the not-at-all staged call. “I’m relatively successful at un-retiring.” I don’t really get why Tom Brady had to be involved in this, but there’s always a catch with news this good.
Plot details are currently under wraps, but the aptly named Back in Action will be directed by Horrible Bosses’ Seth Gordon. Gordon co-wrote the script with Brendan O’Brien (Neighbors, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates).
Back in Action will be Diaz’s first movie since she was tragically miscast as Miss Hannigan in Will Gluck’s 2014 remake of Annie (which, coincidentally, also starred Foxx). Prior to Annie, Diaz’s ’90s and early aughts filmography was unmatched—There’s Something About Mary, My Best Friend’s Wedding, Charlie’s Angels, the Shrek movies, for crying out loud! No one has ever made drinking red wine in bed look as glamorous as Diaz did in The Holiday. And no stunt has ever been as impressive as Diaz sprinting a mile through the snowy English countryside in stilettos at the end of the same movie. Tom Cruise wants what she has.
Not to be dramatic, but this news breaking on the same day as the trailer drop for a Julia-Roberts- and George-Clooney-led romcom is indicative of a new golden age of cinema, and we are lucky to be alive to witness it.
