Cameron Diaz on Taking More Risks: “I’d be like, yeah, 10 years from now I’d love to think that I’d be able to take risks, even have the opportunity to take risks. But I remember when I first started, my first press junket, ‘The Mask.’ And everybody - for some reason the question was really popular - people kept asking me, I think it’s because it was the beginning of my career, people kept asking me like where do you see yourself in 10 years? And I’d go, ‘Wow, in 10 years…’ I was like 22 and I was like, ‘Well, hopefully I’ll be happy. I’d really like to be happy.’ And they were like, ‘What kind of roles do you want to be taking?’ And I said, and this has been my answer since then every time it’s asked me, ‘I don't know if I’ll still be acting in 10 years. If I’m still happy doing it and it still excites me and it still makes me happy and I want to show up for it and it’s how I want to spend my time, then I’ll still be making movies. But if it doesn’t make me happy and it’s not something that I want to be doing, then I’ll be doing something else.’
Everything’s a risk, by the way, these days. Every film you make is a risk. There’s no guarantee. People love this film. Everybody we’ve talked to…in the last two days have loved the film. It’s so gratifying to know. We’ve all been kind of swimming in delight of people’s appreciation for this film. It’s overwhelming and it makes you want to show up and know that people want to see this film. But will people see this film? Will every audience that goes see it get the same thing out of it? We don’t know. So to me, it’s always a risk.”
Cameron Diaz on When She Knew Making Movies Was For Her: “Actually, it was ‘The Mask’. It was my first film. I went, ‘Hey, this is fun! I wanna do this. This is how I wanna spend my time.’ I like making movies. I like the camaraderie, I like the collaboration. I love the expression. I love making people laugh. It’s very gratifying to me.
Chuck Russell, who is the first director I worked with on ‘The Mask,’ I think he really set the tone for me because he was such a wonderful [director]. He really brought me in and he really collaborated with me. He really gave me guidance, as well. He was just such a great first director to work with and great director to work with - period. He made a wonderful film. So working with him really set the tone that I kind of went into my career going, ‘I want to work with people who are fun to work with, who collaborate, who have a vision, who want to produce something fun and unique and also give it heart.’ He was a great person to set that stage. And it made me want to make films.”
Cameron Diaz on Dealing with the Public’s Interest in Her Life: “It’s an interesting existence. Who would have thought? Who would have thunk it? It’s gotten to a different place in the last few years for everyone, not just me. I mean, we all can be - I think everybody can be honest about that, knowing that there are more rag magazines than ever and the interest in people’s lives… You are wondering why they have any interest at all in those people. I mean, I go all the time, ‘What do they want from me?’”
Doesn’t she long for the days when she could just go to the corner store by herself? Diaz says, “Yeah, totally. It’s strategic. It becomes, seriously, like warfare. It does. It becomes like it’s you against them and you have to be very strategic about your life. It’s really a huge waste of energy. I oftentimes go, ‘God, I wonder what I would be able to think about right now if I wasn’t worried about the 16 guys following me and whether or not they’re going to attack me when I get out of my car. Hmm, that would be nice to have other thoughts.’”
Cameron Diaz on Changing Her Appearance: “You know, when I did ‘Charlie’s Angels’ I wanted to have brown hair. And I had brown hair up until about two weeks before we shot and then the studio said, ‘Put your hair blonde.’ And that’s why I had really short hair because all my hair broke off. So in certain films you can do it. Like ‘Being John Malkovich,’ they said, ‘I don’t care. Wear a wig, put brown contacts in.’ Certain films you can do it with, certain characters call for it, certain characters don’t.
Maybe it’s not so far away from what people are used to seeing me, but for me I do different things for my characters that I wouldn’t normally do for myself unless they’re close to me, which they haven’t really been.”
The Status of “Shrek 3:” “I’m still in the middle of it.” Diaz says that she really enjoys doing voice work. “Whenever I don’t' have to wear makeup, it’s a good day.”
Cameron Diaz Still Believes “Shrek” Challenges Her: “The challenge is that you don’t know what you're doing until you get there, literally. You don’t know what you’re saying until you get there. You see the script on the day. That, to me, is a challenge because I like a little time. Script for an actor is like a bible. You carry it with you, you read it over and over, you go to your passages.”
