"Time costs money": Back in Action star Cameron Diaz shares production details of the chart topping Netflix movie

After an extremely long hiatus, actor Cameron Diaz makes a successful comeback to the world of acting in the Netflix film titled Back in Action released on the streaming site on the 17th of January in 2025.

The film has been directed by Seth Gordon and it stars Cameron Diaz and Jamie Fox in the lead role.

In this article, we will be exploring some production details of the chart-topping Netflix movie as shared by Cameron Diaz in an interview given to Netflix.

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Production Details and Cameron Diaz’s Return in Back in Action:

Cameron Diaz is finally back in the world of acting after a long high hiatus with Back in Action, currently streaming on Netflix.

The Netflix spy action-comedy starring Cameron Diaz and Jamie Fox released on the 17th of January 2025, and not even a few days in, has rapidly become a chart-topping hit, achieving around 46.8 million views within the first three days of its release.

In the film, Cameron Diaz plays a character named Emily Reynolds who is a former CIA agent and is now living undercover as a typical suburban mom in America. Her character, along with her husband Matt who is played by Jamie Foxx, is eventually pushed back into the world of spying when suddenly their secret identities have been exposed.

The film has been directed by Seth Gordon and it offers a mixture of action, humour, and some beautiful family dynamics as the couple try to pull through exhilarating missions while also raising their teenage children, Leo and Alice.

Cameron Diaz highlighted the importance of working with Jamie Fox who was also her co-star in Annie and Any Given Sunday. To this, she says –

“If I haven’t done a film in 10 years, if I’m going to go back to doing what I really was happy stepping away from, then who I do it with is really, really important…. If I’m going to do it, Jamie’s the guy.”

With her return to acting through Back in Action, she also went ahead and recalled a really important lesson she learned about time during the production of her debut film; The Mask.

“I realized how I was being managed on the set,” Diaz said. “They’re like, ‘Where are you going? Do you need something? We’ll get it for you. Oh, don’t let your feet touch the ground. Here, sit in this chair here.’ And it was because they wanted to know where I was at, because if they didn’t know where I was at, it costs them time, and time costs money.”

She says that she had realized that all of this special treatment given to her wasn’t really about her. It’s about how to run things effortlessly because all of the time they spend on her, costs money.

This lesson struck a chord within Diaz and built on her professional attitude that she also brought forward towards filming Back in Action on Netflix.

Why Netflix and Why Now?

Diaz’s choice of a Netflix release of Back in Action on Netflix was a deliberate move. The streaming platform’s international reach authorized the film to capture millions of viewers all around the world gaining more reach.

The action-comedy film rapidly cut to the chase and ended up becoming a global sensation, garnering almost 50 million views within just the first three days of its release.

For Cameron Diaz, returning to the world of acting has been a natural transition. While giving out an interview to Netflix, she explains that –

“It’s like riding a bike, you know what I mean?... When you go back to something that you’ve done, there’s so much of it that you don’t have to think about. I was like, ‘Oh man, I just know how to hit my mark. I know what questions to ask the cameraman.’ The set was second nature to me.”

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Cameron Diaz’s successful return with Back in Action highlights her ability to seamlessly mix into a Netflix role after years of being absent from the industry.

This Netflix hit attained the hearts and minds of audiences all over the world due to its record-breaking success.