Cameron Diaz has reflected on how much the MeToo movement changed the environment on movie sets after her decade-long break from acting.
The Holiday actor took a step back from acting in 2014 for 10 years but has made her return alongside Jamie Foxx in the Netflix movie Back in Action, which sees the pair play former CIA spies who are pulled back into the profession.
During Diaz’s decade of absence, the entertainment industry was rocked by the #MeToo movement in 2017 following the exposure of numerous sexual abuse allegations against high-profile film producer Harvey Weinstein.
Diaz remarked in a new interview with the SkipIntro podcast that she has noticed seismic changes in the industry upon her return to acting – namely the environment cultivated on movie sets.
“The industry is so different,” she said. “I mean, I definitely have to say that MeToo changed everything.”
Diaz remarked that pre-MeToo, she found that there was always that “one guy” on film production sets who would make women feel uncomfortable.
“You walk on to the set and it is different. There was always just like that one guy, you know, on set, that you were like, ‘God, here he comes again.’”
“There were always layers and layers of inappropriateness that you just kind of had to put up with.”
Reflecting on returning to set to shoot Back In Action, Diaz said she was shocked when a representative from HR notified her of an anonymous hotline for cast and crew to report any issues of inappropriate behaviour.
She said: “I was like, ‘Wow, that’s amazing’. The level of security and safety you feel as a woman now on set is great. I had never felt that before this film.”
Speaking about the reason why she took a step away from acting, she said during Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit: “It felt like the right thing for me to reclaim my own life and I just really didn’t care about anything else.
“Nobody’s opinion, nobody’s success, no one’s offer, no one’s anything could change my mind about my decision of taking care of myself and building the life that I really wanted to have. I think it really comes to, ‘What are you passionate about?’ For me, it was to build my family.”
Diaz is married to Good Charlotte guitarist Benji Madden, with whom she has two children.
Speaking about her return, she revealed she “couldn’t say no” to Foxx’s offer.
“He said, ‘Come with me.’ And I was like, ‘OK, let’s do it.’ It’s our third film together.”
Diaz previously discussed her decision to semi-retire on an episode of Gwyneth Paltrow‘s Goop Health: The Sessions, saying that making movies had started to consume her entire life.
The actor said that she “had gone so hard for so long, working, making films and it’s such a grind”, adding: “When you’re making a movie, it’s a perfect excuse – they own you. You’re there for 12 hours a day for months on end and you have no time for anything else.”
She remarked that being in the spotlight was “intense”, adding: “There’s a lot of energy coming at you at all times when you’re really visible as an actor and doing press and putting yourself out there.”
Diaz’s big break arrived in 1994 with Jim Carrey’s The Mask as the character Tina Carlyle. The actor’s other roles, including My Best Friend’s Wedding, The Holiday and Shrek, solidified her as one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood.
She will return to voice Fiona in a fifth Shrek film and has signed up to appear in the dark comedy Outcome, which stars Keanu Reeves and is directed by Jonah Hill.
