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CAMERON
DIAZ
A Whole Lot of Charlie
Interview by Gareth Gorman
"I’ve pretty much behaved
like a knucklehead my entire life. You cannot embarrass me. It’s
unbelievable. I’ve been like this my whole life. I don’t
believe you should make fun of anyone but yourself. So, since I’m
willing to laugh at myself, I’m willing to do anything for a laugh.”
So claims the self-effacing Cameron Diaz about the natural enthusiastic
daftness that has permeated many of her roles since she made her first
film appearance in The Mask. And what an entrance that was!
I’m hard-pressed to recall
a more defining moment in cinema history. Diaz makes her way into the
bank, dripping wet, hair flailing, and busting out of her tight red
dress as if she were Jessica Rabbit incarnate. Jim Carrey and his bank-johnny
bud fall from their chairs and Carrey soon descends into cartoonish
overdrive. His eyes pop out of his head, his drooling mouth drops to
the floor, only for his salivating tongue to loll and roll out of his
mouth. And the thing is, this isn’t enough, it’s about the
only time in The Mask (and pretty much Carrey’s career) where
you can say he isn’t acting up enough.
As for me, I almost drowned in a sea of slobber and had to go and see
the film again to notice Jimbo and all those wondrous CGI effects paying
gracious homage to Chuck Jones and Looney Tunes cartoons.
Diaz was then eyeballed and pigeon-holed by virtually every producer
scrambling to cast that year’s blonde. With utter sass she opted
to take roles in low-budget films which stretched her acting abilities
and proved there was far more to her than being a vamp who looked good
in a dress and could dance up a storm.
If Looks Could Kill
She particularly proved herself as the psychotic do-anything-to-walk-down-the-aisle
bride in Very Bad Things, and as the big-haired, dowdy wife in Being
John Malkovich after overlooked roles in Feeling Minnesota and She’s
The One.
Such a diverse career pattern looks planned in retrospect, but Diaz
shrugs off any such accusations.
“I knew if I just took other parts that were exactly the same
as Tina, I would end up not having much of a career. I want to test
what I’m capable of.
“Also, I think there are enough stereotypes in this industry -
and in society in general. My Latin roots are very strong. All my life,
because I’m blond and blue-eyed, people who aren’t Hispanic
can’t believe that I am. And people who are Hispanic always think
I’m not, because I don’t look like them. Being Latin is
part of who I am - and I bring that part to every role.
“It’s such a weird
thing, looks. I can’t imagine somebody walking up to an actress
who’s 300 pounds with a big wart on her face and saying, “How
does it feel to be an unattractive woman, and do you think it helps
you in your roles?” But people think nothing of asking the opposite
about my looks. It’s no different. I’m doing the same thing;
I’m just out there acting. I’m doing my work the best that
I can.”
After a stint of showing her range, Cameron was then cast in he Farrelly
Brothers smash hit There’s Something About Mary where her natural
screwball zaniness really came to the fore - particularly in that spoofin’‚
hair-gel scene.
“I’ve never done this for the money,” claims Diaz,
who maintains she was attracted to work on A Life Less Ordinary due
to Danny Boyle’s work on Trainspotting and taking on Mary because
Dumb & Dumber and Kingpin just made her laugh.
“I will always want to do whatever it is that my heart is in,
and whether I get paid for it or not means nothing. It doesn’t
matter. I’ll do it if it means something to me and I want to be
a part of it.
“If I have any goal at all, it’s just to work with great
directors and great actors. I’ve never planned anything - I can’t
make plans, I can’t keep ‘em, I’m so bad. But the
one thing that has always been consistent, I think, with my choices
is that it’s always been about the people I get to work with,
people I admire, who are creative and wonderful.”
Bubble-Headed Booby
Most recently, we've found Cameron getting obsessive over Tom Cruise
in the lacklustre, pointless rehash that was Vanilla Sky, followed by
the daft girl-talk comedy, The Sweetest Thing, where her trademark giggling
persona is the only thing propping up a film without a heart, plot or
point.
Indeed, Cameron’s stories about the filming of scenes for that
film are far funnier than anything that made it on screen; witness her
breast obsession.
“The weird thing is, my boobs fluctuate. Like, before we shot
that Piña Colada Song scene, they grew. So, the top I was wearing
looked even smaller. It’s unbelievable, actually. I’m always
like, Oh God, why? Wow! And it’s like, just weigh them, please!
Just weigh them to let me know how much more I have to carry around
month to month.”
A total turnaround occurred in the much-delayed Gangs Of New York, where
she portrayed the vivacious street pickpocket Jenny Everdeane, the love
interest of Amsterdam Vallon played by Leonardo DiCaprio.
Angels With Dirty Faces
Now we have the second Charlie’s Angels instalment Full Throttle,
helmed by MTV and Jackass graduate, the oddly-monikered, McG.
This time, Diaz, Barrymore and Liu have to deal with the likes of Robert
(Terminator 2, X-Files) Patrick, Luke Wilson, Justin Theroux and fallen
angel Demi Moore, as well as the Crispin Glover’s thin, creepy,
smoking man in black.
The plot (if you really want one) finds the Angels going undercover
to retrieve two missing silver bands. These are no ordinary wedding
rings. They contain valuable encrypted information that reveals the
new identities of every person in the federal Witness Protection Program.
When witnesses start to turn up dead, only the Angels can stop the perpetrator,
using their expertise as masters of disguise, espionage and martial
arts. But of course.
“We started training in June and filmed it from August. I took
time out for a year and it has been so nice. It’s such a luxury.
How many people in their lifetimes can say, ‘I’m not working
for a year.’ The weird thing is, I’m just now getting to
the point where I feel like I’ve let the work go. It took a while
for my body and mind to catch up to tending to life in a real way, rather
than in a way that’s bound to a career. I’m just now feeling
human. And if I didn’t know what I was getting into with Charlie’s
Angels 2, I probably wouldn’t have gone back even that soon -
there would have been another year off.”
Obviously filming something black-hole-compression-heavy like Gangs
Of New York caused the need for a break away from filming, but that
she was actually looking back to filming Charlie’s Angels 2, belies
all those rumours about there being trouble in heaven when these particular
big screen Angels get together. Director McG accepts Cameron’s
deft handball in a chivalrous manner.
“We had some heated conversations about which way to take the
film, but that’s the passion that I would expect out of a group
of creative people. I wouldn’t want people to be so uninvolved
that they weren’t subject to some spirited conversations. It’s
nothing more than you get out of a family dinner table where your brother,
your sister, your parents speak plainly and forthright. Fortunately,
we all had a really clear idea about what we wanted to do with this
one. We did indeed have some script challenges with the first one. We
didn’t have a finished script when we started shooting and that
put us in a tough spot. But we were able to create a story that supports
the weight of the film and gives rise to some great character performances
and now we’ve built upon it.”
It would seem McG’s understanding and respect for Charlie’s
Angels goes way beyond the call of duty.
“I made a point of watching the entire body of Charlie’s
Angels. There’s the Shelly, the Tanya and the Cheryl days, as
well as the Farrah, Jackie and Kate days. I saw them all and discovered
Charlie’s Angels is more than just a television show. It’s
like a piece of the American cloth. It’s like global property.”
Burpin Safari
But back to Cameron, cos that’s why you’re still reading,
right? Well, I tell ya...you’ve just got to love her. Sure,
she’s
got an infectious, spontaneous laugh that erupts during moments of
her performances, she’s not afraid to look daft as she has
many times - singing off-key in My Best Friend’s Wedding, that
butt-wriggle dance in Charlie’s Angels and pretty much most
of A Life Less Ordinary where there was even THAT kiss which may
not have been the
longest in cinema, but certainly had the longest trail of spit hanging
between its two actors. Better than all that though is Diaz’s
anti-yearning for coveted awards. Don’t expect any cry-baby
antics a la Gwyneth Paltrow or Halle Berry from this lady who probably
prefers Oscar The
Grouch to Oscar the Trademark.
“Being recognised by your peers is cool. But personally, I’m
not one to put much weight on awards. I think the best one I’ve
ever received is the Nickelodeon Burp Award. That’s on my desk
at home. I competed at the show. I chugged a Diet Coke right before
going on. I think they might have been rigged, because I don’t
think I performed that well. They may have added some effects to it.
The worst thing was I only got out a little bit in the beginning, because
I chugged it and then 20 minutes later, I was walking backstage and
it was, like, ‘Bwaaaaaaaap!’ So, I thought, I’ve got
to chug it before I get there. Be prepared! Know my lines!”
And if the acting work ever dries up - unlikely as it seems - or in
a more likely vein, if she does decide to take a really long sabbatical,
Cameron knows exactly where she’s going, thanks very much.
“I’ve always been interested in zoology and photojournalism,
so I’d probably go on an ultra-long safari.”
So there you have it, Cameron
Diaz coming soon to an African Savannah, Tropical Rainforest or Amazonian
Basin near you!
Gareth Gorman is a
freelance writer from Perth, Western Australia, who now lives in London.
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