I Would Like to Thank Cameron Diaz
For her 20 years of stunning film work
Apparently, Cameron Diaz dropped out of the entertainment industry back in 2014! How did I not know this? According to an interview she did with Gwyneth Paltrow’s “In goop Health: The Sessions” series, Cameron decided to quit making films in order to focus more on her family and friends.
And herself.
I get that. I imagine being in the spotlight of Hollywood’s glare from the paparazzi’s flashbulbs constantly must get tiring. Finding any semblance of privacy must always be a challenge.
Kudos to her for putting herself first!
If I had the opportunity to speak with her though, I would seriously thank her for a few movies that deeply touched my heart!
Even though she is most well-known for her roles in “The Mask” in 1994, “There’s Something About Mary” in 1998, and “Vanilla Sky” in 2001, those are not the movies that stand out in my mind when I think about Cameron Diaz.
My Best Friend’s Wedding
This is the first movie I had ever seen with Cameron Diaz in it, which may be why it stands out in my list of faves. Her sweet innocence as Kimberly Wallace was played to perfection. Imagine having to compete against Julia Roberts to keep the heart of Dermot Mulroney!
This story could have gone in a totally different direction, with Kimberly playing down and dirty to keep her man just like Julia Robert’s character Julianne was doing. But writer Ronald Bass decided to keep her character sweet and innocent, so whoever that casting director was did an excellent job in casting Cameron.
She pulled of SWEET and INNOCENT like a champ! And of course, she beat out Julia Roberts and kept the heart of her true love.
The Holiday
Again, her sweet innocence won my heart over in this Christmas classic (at least in my home!) Her character in this film, Amanda, was fighting herself more in this movie than “fighting” another woman like in My Best Friend’s Wedding. She is fighting her own insecurities and issues while trying to connect with Jude Law’s character Graham.
Nancy Meyers, the writer of this film, is a genius in my opinion. I think it is brilliant that she realized how much us human beings talk to ourselves, and she included Amanda’s thoughts as part of the dialogue of the film. And it’s only her thoughts we hear!
Being a part of her internal struggles enables the viewers to feel a deep connection to Cameron’s character. Don’t we all have doubts and insecurities? Listening to her work through some of her issues is so heartwarming and fulfilling!
Of course, she gets the guy in the end. Wouldn’t be a particularly good love story if she didn’t! But to be able to be privy to her deepest thoughts is what makes this film so memorable to me.
The Other Woman
One of her last films of 2014, I think by far this is my favorite film of hers. Even though it doesn’t start out with her character, Carly, seeming too innocent — I mean, we do discover promptly that she is dating a guy Mark (play by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau — umm, can we say yummy Jaime Lannister! But I digress…) who is married to Kate (played by Leslie Mann).
However, we soon discover that she does lean more towards the sweet and innocent persona. She didn’t know Mark was married. She would have never dated him if she knew he was married, and she stopped seeing him as soon as she found out. And she felt bad about it.
She befriends Kate, plus one of Mark’s other “other” women, Amber (played by Kate Upton). Together, the three of them plot and succeed at taking the evil Mark down! Plus, the three of them become best friends, and of course — Cameron’s character, Carly, ends up with a handsome guy of her own, Phil (played by Taylor Kinney).
Shrek
Lest we not forget, Cameron is the voice of the lovely Princess Fiona in all the Shrek movies. To me this shows another side of her extraordinary talent. Obviously, Cameron Diaz is an exceptionally beautiful woman. But to be able to get us to fall in love with an ogre Princess with just her voice is true talent.
Hollywood “Time”
It’s funny, we don’t really think about actors or actresses until we hear of another movie they are starring in (except for the gossip of course). A few years can go by, then Hollywood announces a new Tom Hanks film; or a Tom Cruise blockbuster coming out soon. But we don’t sit and think about Tom Hanks or Tom Cruise daily. I haven’t thought about Cameron Diaz in a while, but I never would have guessed she had walked away from acting if I hadn’t seen the news about her interview with Gwyneth Paltrow.
I am delighted for her though. From listening to her interview, it sounds as if she is genuinely happy. She is married to Benji Madden — the singer for Good Charlotte — and they had their first child at the beginning of 2020.
Even though we won’t get to experience any new films from this incredibly talented actress, she did leave us 56 movies to enjoy for the rest of our lives. And for that, I am deeply grateful.