Naomi Campbell & Cameron Diaz
Interview (Russia) March 2013 Naomi Campbell

When you think of the Hollywood greats, you think of Marilyn Monroe, Jean Simmons, Liz Taylor, Audrey Hepburn. But there are modern greats too, and no one epitomises modern day Hollywood more than Cameron Diaz. I’ve had the privilege of knowing and calling Cameron a friend for many years now. We got to know each other during a holiday in Hawaii and really hit it off. She’s a real girls girl, we always have a great time. But when all is said and done, Cameron defines what it is to be a modern day movie star. I caught up with Cameron on a recent trip to Miami to get a rare insight into the world of Hollywood’s leading lady…

CAMPBELL: You started your career as a model?

DIAZ: Yes, I did.

CAMPBELL: And then you were cast in the movie “The Mask”.

DIAZ: Yes.

CAMPBELL: Is it true that when you auditioned and you got the role, you’d never done an acting lesson in your life?

DIAZ: I had done a bunch of commercials beforehand, but I never took any lessons while I was auditioning, cause I did like a bunch of auditions for it…

CAMPBELL: How many?

DIAZ: Like ten or fifteen. Maybe more. Yeah, I had to go in constantly. I think it was ten auditions for sure.

CAMPBELL: Is that normal?

DIAZ: No, I don’t think so. (Laughs) But it was, you know, at the time Jim Carrey was like… “Ace Ventura” hadn’t come out at all. It wasn’t like they were banking on him.

CAMPBELL: They were taking a risk on a new star.

DIAZ: I was the co-star. And they wanted somebody who had a name to that.

CAMPBELL: Great match! I remember it.

DIAZ: But nobody knew who I was, so I had to keep going and proving myself. Chuck Russell, the director, was like: “You are my Tina, I want you… I’m going to make this happen”. And finally, you know New Line, Bob Shaye, Mike… Oh my God, what’s Mike’s last name? I’m so bad. I love Mikey… They finally said “yes” and I ended up doing the part and loving making movies. I was just like, this is what I want to do! This is so much more fun! Modelling was great, modelling was unbelievable, modelling got me out of Long Beach, modelling gave me a future and led me to acting. I got to travel the world, meet amazing people, make money at a young age. And it taught me how hard you have to work as a model. People don’t give it enough credit but it is like hard ass, you have to work your butt off to be a model. And there is not a lot of…

CAMPBELL: If you’re going to give, you’re going to give everything.

DIAZ: Exactly! Giving.

CAMPBELL: You don’t have a home…

DIAZ: No, you’re just on the road, you’re travelling. And it’s just… Yeah, it’s a lot.

CAMPBELL: Is there a film you ever watched and thought: I wish I’d played that part?

DIAZ: No, you know, actually I feel like I was really fortunate with my parents, especially ’cause I started modelling so young. And at sixteen years old, rejection, it’s like a hard thing, and my parents said to me: “Look, you’re not being rejected and if it was your job, you would have gotten it. But if you don’t get the job, then it’s somebody else’s, it’s not because…”

CAMPBELL: It’s not your part…

DIAZ: It’s not your part. It’s not exactly your job. You didn’t get rejected. There is something else for you. And when you get a job and all the other girls didn’t, it’s not a rejection to them. It’s just that, that was your job. And they were like, this is your path, like you get these jobs as you go and they’re yours or somebody else’s. So I never watch a role and go like: Oh, I wish it was me. I always go: Wow! Even jobs I wanted to get and didn’t get, I was like: Oh yeah, I get it – it’s her job. She did it better than I could have and I see it in a totally different light…

CAMPBELL: You look at it with respect.

DIAZ: Yeah, I look at it with respect and gratitude that I get the jobs that I do get (Laughs). You know what I mean, because I could not get any job but I do get some jobs. Even now. It’s not a given that I’m going to work. You can’t ever think, ‘now I’m secure, now I’m locked in’.

CAMPBELL: I’m the same as you. People think you can walk the runway, that I can do it with my eyes closed – but No. I’m always anticipating. I’m nervous. I want to do the best.

DIAZ: It’s so great.

CAMPBELL: And you feel it in acting?

DIAZ: Gratitude is the only attitude as far as I’m concerned. And everything that I get to do whenever…

CAMPBELL: I’ve heard this about you. I’ve heard that people love working with you, you treat the crew extremely nicely. And this is important, they like you, they’re your sound, your everything. For those three to six months…

DIAZ: I love my crews. That actually was the first time I made a movie and what made me want to make another movie is because I never… You know when you’re modelling, you work like, maximum like a week and you’re done…

CAMPBELL: You’re finished and it’s done.

DIAZ: And you’re done. The most you’d work would be for a week if you were doing a catalogue job, and then you’d never see those people again. But on a film you become like a family. You have this group of a hundred people that you’re with every single day for three months and you become completely dependent. And you also depend on each other so much. I can’t do my job without any of the others. If one person was missing, I couldn’t do my job.

CAMPBELL: It’s a collaboration.

DIAZ: Yeah, it’s a collaboration from beginning to end. From DP (chief of the camera and lighting crew) to, you know, the gaffers (head of the electrical department) to the writers to the directors.

CAMPBELL: Which one of your films would you want to do the sequel of? I’d love to see the sequel of “There’s Something About Mary”.

DIAZ: (Laughs) It was a lot of fun. And I shot that here in Miami, which was a huge, awesome, amazing experience.

CAMPBELL: Which one you would like to do?

DIAZ: I don’t know. I feel so fortunate of all characters that I’ve gotten to play. I would play any of them again. I feel really lucky, I just love all of them. I’d love to revisit them. I love Lotte from “Being John Malkovich”.

CAMPBELL: Oh, that was a great film.

DIAZ: I loved her. And I had the access inside myself.

CAMPBELL: What was that in “Being John Malkovich”? They made rooms smaller? It was like “Alice in Wonderland”.

DIAZ: Well, it was 7½ floor. So it was where John Cusack’s character, my husband, his character worked on the 7½ floor doing his filings. And the history of the building was that the man who owned it married a woman who was a midget, who was small, and so he built this building and he built a floor that was sort of appropriate to her proportions – for her to be able walk in and grab the handle, so everybody else had to slouch down, but for her it was the perfect height.

CAMBELL: He really loved her…

DIAZ: Exactly, he really loved her. Craig was his character’s name, he worked on the 7½ floor. He was played by John Cusack.

CAMPBELL: Are there any characters that you absolutely love? That stand out in particular to you that you’ve loved playing?

DIAZ: I love Lotte, I also loved playing Natalie in “Charlie’s Angels”, that was a lot of fun ’cause she was just so innocent, but she was a bad ass. She could do anything.

CAMPBELL: You could see you were friends in that film.

DIAZ: Yeah, those were my girls. It was a great time.

CAMPBELL: You, Drew and Lucy Liu.

DIAZ: Yes, unbelievable.

CAMPBELL: And Demi Moore was a co-star.

DIAZ: Demi came in on the second one. But you know what, I have to say one of the raddest things in the first “Charlie’s Angels” was that Destiny’s Child did our theme song.

CAMPBELL: Of course they did!

DIAZ: And they give us a call out, like: “Lucy Liu, my girl Drew, Cammie D and Destiny!” (Laughs)

CAMPBELL: Oh, I love that! Beyonce calls out your name!

DIAZ: Yeah! (Laughs) I know!

CAMPBELL: She did that one on me, called “Naomi walk”, and I was just so honored!

DIAZ: Totally! (Laughs)

CAMPBELL: You’ve been fortunate to have starred alongside some of the world’s best, most beautiful leading men. Matt Dillon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Cruise, Keanu Reeves…

DIAZ: Jude Law.

CAMPBELL: Daniel Day Lewis. Are you still friends with them all?

DIAZ: I have to say that I feel so blessed by the actors that I’ve gotten to work with. They’ve been all incredible partners. Since it’s a collaboration, like we really depend on one another, and we’re partners in it. And I really feel that everybody that I’ve got to work with have been such great partners!

CAMPBELL: I love the film you did with Tom Cruise.

DIAZ: Oh – “Knight and Day” or “Vanilla Sky”? We did two.

CAMPBELL: “Vanilla Sky”.

DIAZ: I’m friends with all of them still. I love whenever I see them, I’m so happy. Yes, it’s the best. But you really depend on one another.

CAMPBELL: You’re a girls’ girl, and you’re a boys’ girl.

DIAZ: I’m very fortunate in that way. I got lucky.

CAMPBELL: You seem to be thoughtful and strategic about the choices of films that you take, you don’t seem to always go for the biggest or most obvious ones. What gets you to the decision where you read a script and feel, I like this script, I want to do it?

DIAZ: It’s all gut. Honestly, it’s all gut. When I read something I know whether or not I like it… There’s been scripts where I’ve read them and afterwards, I’ve just been like: ‘Hmm, okay, I see where I’m going to be the next three months. Like, I get it. And I was like, okay, I love it. I can do it, like I have to do it. Then there’s ones that I read thirty pages of and I’m like: ‘I hate this, I will never, there is no way I will ever do this’!

CAMPBELL: And in the end?

DIAZ: Anytime I’m reading a script that I want to stop and I hate it, I force myself because I know that there’s something in there that is making me feel that way and I need to know how it ends, I need to know why it’s making me feel this way, I need to know what the pay off is. And most of the time, with the ones that really dig into you, by the end you’re like: Oh my god, I have to do this!

CAMPBELL: Are there any films you’ve done with these life lessons or something for you in your life as an experience that could have touched an experience in the past or something you just needed to go through?

DIAZ: Somewhere in my life, there’s a parallel being drawn to the work that I’m doing. And I don’t know how it is, it’s not obvious all the time, it’s really embedded sometimes. Sometimes, it’s just like: “Oh my god! I didn’t even see it!” I’ll see it like six months later or I’ll see it when the film comes out. And I’m like that, I know exactly where I was, I didn’t even realize that. It’s not even like the forefront of the character. It might be something nuts, like, underneath in the character that allowed me to be able to play her. And tell her story that isn’t obvious to the audience that I was working on within myself for the character but I realize it’s something that was going on in my own life.

CAMPBELL: What’s great is that they will never know if it was anything that touched you personally in your life. You find it therapeutic?

DIAZ: I do. But it’s not obvious when you’re doing it. It’s not therapeutic. It’s like cathartic afterwards. When you watch it afterwards it’s more cathartic.

CAMPBELL: How do you feel when you go to watch the final cut? Do you take your family?

DIAZ: Well, you know, honestly, sometimes it’s like: «Oh, It’s great!», but most of the time, I have to say probably in 99.9 percent of the time, it’s really painful to watch. The first time of watching a movie is devastating. And I get really depressed.

CAMPBELL: Really?

DIAZ: I get really depressed and I wish that I could go back and redo the whole thing and I hate it. I just hate it so much.

CAMPBELL: Does that have anything to do with modelling when you do pictures?

DIAZ: It’s not an aesthetic thing… acting is such a strange thing. I’ve never played a character that I’ve gone from the beginning to the end of an arc and followed it all the way through. Because movies, you’re shooting it out of sequence. You shoot the beginning of the movie at the end of the movie, the middle of it towards to the end, the end towards the middle. And most of the work you’re doing is like prep work, trying to figure out where you would be, if you’d had the experience, but most of the time you never had the experience from before where you’re actually shooting that day, until you get to the end. And you’re like: “Oh, now I have enough to know sort of like what it might have felt like… but since it was…

CAMPBELL: Is it always like that?

DIAZ: Always like that. They shoot movies based on where they can get the location. So basically, say we were doing a movie and 4 scenes took place here in this very room and one is at the beginning of the movie, one is in the middle of the movie, one and two are at the end. They would shoot all those scenes in the same week all at once. You could be at the beginning of the movie or at the end, either way if you did a scene, if the scene took place at the beginning of the movie and you shot it at the end, you’d have more information. But if this scene took place at the end and you shoot in the beginning, you have no information.

CAMPBELL: You have no information at all. You have nothing to build on.

DIAZ: Nothing to build on. So it’s really, really challenging that way. So when I see it all together, then I go like: ‘I wish I knew!’ That’s how I was going to feel at the end of it! I can only guess when I’m shooting at the beginning of the movie.

CAMPBELL: So it’s hard to just drop in like that.

DIAZ: Well, it’s just impossible to have a full experience with it. There’re very few movies that are shot in sequence. Very, very, very few.

CAMPBELL: You were saying earlier today, now you don’t do it anymore, but to go and sit for six months in one place to just be ready, that’s tough. That’s really hard and a long time.

DIAZ: I’m sure that actors who are professionally trained might find it easier (Laughs).

CAMPBELL: Let’s just go back to this. What was it like working with Martin and Leo in the Gangs of New York in Rome?

DIAZ: Oh, it was amazing. Marti is the best, Marti is so smart, he is basically a historian of whatever it is that he is speaking of. He researches it. It’s his interest. It’s his passion. Whether it’s film or…

CAMPBELL: Did you audition?

DIAZ: I did audition. I auditioned with Leo.

CAMPBELL: And how did you feel? Was it more like an acting lesson than a…

DIAZ: Well, Leo and I knew each other. It was a really great audition. We were really comfortable with each other. And we just had a really great time and Marti was there and he kind of watched it and he saw what was happening, the dynamic between the two of us. And he was like… Yeah. I got the job…

CAMPBELL: It does help.

DIAZ: It helps when you have… But it was acting. The dynamic between us was helped by the fact that we had chemistry already.

CAMPBELL: Because you knew each other as friends.

DIAZ: Yes, we were friends outside of it. We were acting together, we were playing characters.

CAMPBELL: And Daniel?

DIAZ: Daniel was unbelievable. I mean he is clearly… He’s amazing. To get to witness what he does and see and just be able to go like. You know what …

CAMPBELL: I know him from Jim Sheridan.

DIAZ: Oh, Jim is so great too. But the thing that Daniel does is so unique. Ok, there is only one Daniel Day Lewis in the world so I don’t have to kill myself trying to be… like figure out what he does, because nobody else can do it. Only he can do it. So it’s ok.

CAMPBELL: And how was he with you and Leo? I heard he is wonderful to work with on set too.

DIAZ: He is wonderful. And of course only calls us by the names of our characters the whole time.

CAMPBELL: Really? (Laughs)

DIAZ: Yeah.

CAMPBELL: I love that.

DIAZ: Yeah, he stayed in character.

CAMPBELL: I heard that about Lincoln now, only when the Director says: “That’s a wrap, people”, and Daniel says: “Let’s go and have a beer” – in his Irish accent!

DIAZ: He never actually spoke without his accent. He played his character, even when we wrapped, he would still stay and call me Jenny. It wasn’t until we did reshoots when I saw him. It was like six months later. And that was the first time I met him as Daniel.

CAMPBELL: Wow. Lots of Hollywood actors have been on the bright lights of Broadway. Is theater something that interests you? As a friend, I think that you would be amazing on Broadway. I don’t know why I see it. Your timing is fun.

DIAZ: Laughs.

CAMPBELL: It’s about timing. Comedy is not easy, right?

DIAZ: No.

CAMPBELL: I was told that by Joe Pesci – Timing is always a part of comedy. Your timing in all the movies you’ve done is on point. Don’t you think you would ever like to try it?

DIAZ: Well, there are two things to that. One – I’m not a trained actor, I don’t know how to be on the stage. Like, I don’t know what it is.

CAMPBELL: But nowadays everyone is doing it.

DIAZ: I know, but still. Two – I’m terrible at remembering my lines. I’m terrified to get on the stage.

CAMPBELL: I think that’s a part of you that will come.

DIAZ: The part that I do want to experience is playing a part from beginning to end and having the actual experience of the arc in continuity. I’ve never done that before and that is something that I want to experience. And I think I can probably only do that on stage somewhere. But it doesn’t mean that I have to go on Broadway. We could do it in LA in the Valley somewhere. You know what I mean?

CAMPBELL: No, not in the Valley. Because you are who you are. People are going to want to see you and will pay for the tickets to come and see you.

DIAZ: Yeah, but I might just want to do it for myself and not just make money from it.

CAMPBELL: Absolutely. I don’t think most actors that do Broadway make that much money. It’s not about the money. It’s the experience. The discipline.

DIAZ: Yes, the discipline, and have the experience to have the same place for work every day. Being scheduled like that.

CAMPBELL: And the audience is different so you can react differently.

DIAZ: Honestly. As an actor in film because you don’t get an applause. You don’t see how people enjoy it for a whole year after you’ve done it. It’s a weird thing. Because the crew don’t react to it. Because it’s put together in bits and pieces.

CAMPBELL: They get their prep for what they have to do the next day or the next week.

DIAZ: Yeah, like if I’m doing one part of the joke, you don’t see the other part of the joke until it’s filmed, then cut together. So it’s not the same. You don’t ever know if it really works, because there might be a pay off that happens two scenes later to the joke.

CAMPBELL: Is there any Broadway show or production that you love? Did you see The Book of Mormon?

DIAZ: I did see The Book of Mormon. I loved it. I saw it four times!

CAMPBELL: Actually, you told me to see it. I loved it too.

DIAZ: It’s amazing!

CAMPBELL: I mean, that guy is great. It’s great to see him on TV too. He is not a child, but he can play a childlike well.

DIAZ: No, Yeah, exactly! Josh Gad, is that his name?

CAMPBELL: Yes, that’s his name. Les Miserables has had incredible reviews. Can you sing?

DIAZ: I haven’t seen it yet. No, I can’t sing.

CAMPBELL: Would you ever be tempted to play in a production like this?

DIAZ: Never.(Laughs)

CAMPBELL: You never wanted to try?

DIAZ: I’ve tried, but people just told me to stop. (Laughs.) They said: “Don’t even try… Just stop”. (Laughs)

CAMPBELL: It’s the award season right now. You’ve been nominated for Golden Globes, BAFTAs. Most actors claim that they don’t prepare a winning speech. Is it true or is it something they just say?

DIAZ: The good thing is that I’ve never won anything so I don’t, I didn’t and I never had…

CAMPBELL: When you were nominated?

DIAZ: Well, I mean I’ve been nominated. I guess I’ve won, like, a People’s Choice award and an MTV award.

CAMPBELL: Did you prepare a speech? Or is it from the heart?

DIAZ: Never, It’s from the heart.

CAMPBELL: If you got an Academy award now, who would be the first five people that you would thank?

DIAZ: Oh, five people, I thought you said black people. (Laughs) That’s hilarious. First five people. Okay. My mom and dad and my sister. Rick Yorn. But my mom and dad and my sister, family is one, right? So, Rick Yorn. Nick Styne, Marcy Morris, Brad Carfarelli, Jesse Lutz.

CAMPBELL: I know Nick Styne, he’s lovely!

DIAZ: Nick Styne is my agent.

CAMPBELL: He’s been with you since the beginning!

DIAZ: Since The Mask. He got The Mask, then he introduced me to Marcy, then he introduced me to Rick. Then I got Brad.

CAMPBELL: Who is Marcy?

DIAZ: Marcy Morris is my lawyer. She’s amazing!

CAMPBELL: He is lovely, Nick. I remember him and his wife.

DIAZ: And Chuck Russell of course.

CAMPBELL: You’ve won lots of awards over your career, does any one stand out in particular?

DIAZ: Awards?

CAMPBELL: Yes, any award that you love? People’s Choice…

DIAZ: I won for Nickelodeon, “The best burp”.

CAMPBELL: Kids Choice awards.

DIAZ: Yes, Kids Choice awards. I won “The best burp”. (Laughs.)

CAMPBELL: For me, kids are everything. Talking about the award season, what are your Oscar predictions?

DIAZ: I don’t know. I love Django.

CAMPBELL: It’s a fun movie.

DIAZ: I think Django is amazing! It’s unbelievable. It’s genius.

CAMPBELL: I am a woman of color … And I hear that people are not sure about the racial aspect of the story… I don’t see it.

DIAZ: Me neither.

CAMPBELL: I don’t see it. It’s fun. It’s a love story.

DIAZ: Not only that. It’s like, what’s it called? Wish fulfilment. Here is a black man who gets to do all the things to white people that every black man wished he could at that time. You know what I mean? Like he is in there and he blows that shit up. He blows the fucking plantation up. It’s a wish fulfilment.

CAMPBELL: We’re talking about Django Unchained, Harvey Weinstein’s film here with Jamie Fox, Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L. Jackson and Christoph Waltz. So moving on from films… Just being a massive superstar means you get a fair share of column inches. What is the most ridiculous story you’ve read about yourself?

DIAZ: Oh my God. It’s unbelievable.

CAMPBELL: They’re beyond. Do you read the papers? I don’t.

DIAZ: I don’t read rag mags. Occasionally, when I get my nails done, I look at one. But I don’t actually go on the internet. I don’t look at anything. The only time I know what’s being said about me is when they are obliged to tell me that they are writing something about me and I can either say: “If you write it, I will sue you”. I send it to my lawyer. I don’t really mess around with that stuff. I don’t really like having lies told about me.

CAMPBELL: You are very private.

DIAZ: Yeah. I don’t like putting things out there at all.

CAMPBELL: You want to maintain your privacy.

DIAZ: I understand…You know… All the girls that are becoming actors now, who are trying to become working actors, who know that fame and celebrity is a part of it. They know that. But when I started acting and I became famous …

CAMPBELL: You are an actress, you are not a famous celebrity. There is a difference. And people don’t realize the difference.

DIAZ: I worked for my career. I did not depend on tabloids to sell my life to be able to create my career.

CAMPBELL: And create the persona.

DIAZ: And create my persona. I have done all that work through my film work. So when people say: “Oh, you knew what you were getting into”. I go: ” No, It wasn’t that way when I started acting”. There were no tabloids, there were no paparazzi. And now people depend on those things. They need that to be a part of their existence.

CAMPBELL: I call those people celebrities.

DIAZ: But you know what celebrity means? It means that you have a cause to be celebrated. And these people, they don’t actually have anything to be celebrated for. They’re using the media to boost their careers without any offerings.

CAMPBELL: You sued the National Enquirer. Do you think the media have too much power now? It’s changed from back in the 90s when you were modelling and got into acting. It’s not the same.

DIAZ: It’s just changed. I think that social media and the internet and everything has really changed. It’s changed – you know the appetite from the public to know about other people’s lives. And even you know how tweeting… I thought it was really funny how Twitter just before Christmas and New Years was talking about how Facebook bought Instagram.

CAMPBELL: It did? I didn’t know that.

DIAZ: Oh, yeah, for a billion dollars in September. And since Instagram have no income, there’s no revenue. There’s no advertising. You don’t have to buy it. It’s free. They figured out that they needed to bring some revenue and they just spent a billion dollars on it. So anyone who was posting on a public feed to Instagram, any of the pictures put on it became public property of Facebook and so they could use it and sell it to whomever they wanted to.

CAMPBELL: Oh no, dear…

DIAZ: So everybody came up with this opera: “This is my life. You can’t take my images and sell them to people!” I was laughing. Hello! You will look at images taken of people’s lives, of celebrities, but when it comes to your life, if you make it public, if you put it on a public feed, all of a sudden you don’t want people to… You’re actually putting it out there. You’re putting your life out there. You’re asking people to look at your life. But in our experience, we’re not asking people to watch our lives. We’re just out on the boat or we’re sitting at your home and somebody comes by and steals that moment.

CAMPBELL: But people seem to want to buy it. Whatever the compromise and intrusion. They don’t want the authorized image that you’re giving. How many people between us do we know whose lives have been ruined?

DIAZ: It’s ridiculous. For a period of time, it was made very uncomfortable, that’s for sure.

CAMPBELL: Okay, you had an altercation with a photographer. You had an invasion of your privacy. How did you deal with it?

DIAZ: Okay, so the thing is if somebody comes at you, your nature is like a caged animal, a caged tiger put into a corner. What happens? What do they do? They strike at you, they try to fight their way and go into defense mode.

CAMPBELL: Absolutely.

DIAZ: So when you’re not expecting something – that’s what happened with the photographers that I got in altercation with. I was walking up a dark street in the middle of the night literally at midnight, and they jumped out of the bushes and all I could think of was to protect myself.

CAMPBELL: That’s the normal thing to do. To come on your grounds, to be in your home, to be in the bushes – that’s invasive.

DIAZ: They were right outside my house, like two houses down as I was walking up to my house in the middle of the night.

CAMPBELL: When I lived in LA, I had that problem. I stayed in LA for a year and I couldn’t live there, I couldn’t do it. I love it, I love to go to LA, I have great friends there, I have you. You know I just go there for four or five days and I’m out again. I was surprised because I thought with all of these wonderful artists and talent that live in that city, they would give the respect.

DIAZ: But it used to be that way, that was before the tabloids. I used to literally go and drop off my own dry cleaning and nobody gave a shit (Laughs). I could go to a grocery store, I could go on the street, walk around. Nobody cared. People were like… they actually wanted to show you how they didn’t care about you and how unimpressed they were about you. But now because the whole city… Because we don’t film movies in Hollywood anymore and the whole city…

CAMPBELL: Why is that?

DIAZ: Because of taxes. And taxes incentives in other states and countries now allow you to shoot for a better rate. They give you tax breaks. California is too expensive to shoot. So we now rely on tourism and we have all these buses and vans that go around and do tours of Hollywood. That is the only sort of the income that we have now for our film industry. So now it’s geared towards telling people where celebrities are. So that people can go and have the experience that they want in Hollywood. Seeing paparazzi, taking pictures of celebrities.

CAMPBELL: Do you think they need to reign it in? There needs to be a boundary line, because one paparazzo just died, taking photos of Justin Bieber’s car. That goes to show that there needs to be a line drawn: this is how far you can go as they are also human.

DIAZ: I think so too but that’s for them to draw, I mean the problem is that there is nothing legally binding… Like, they can come right up on you as long as they don’t touch you, they can come as close as they want. They can say anything to you.

What I’m saying is that if you leave a restaurant and are getting in your car, they can come as close as they want without touching you, they can come within millimeters.

CAMPBELL: I can deal with the photographers, but what I cannot deal with is being filmed. For me, it’s something personal to have one’s voice, so I never speak. I’ve seen you in public with your fans, you are very nice to them when they come up to you.

DIAZ: I try to be very gracious.

CAMPBELL: That’s the right word. You’re very gracious with them.

DIAZ: Yeah, of course.

CAMPBELL: I never forget when we were in Nobu in London and that little girl from Russia with red hair came over. And I can imagine her going back to her mother and father and saying: “Oh, my god! I was talking to Cameron Diaz! You know what I’m saying?”

DIAZ: Yeah, that was sweet. That’s how I give back and how I get to show my gratitude.

CAMPBELL: But not everybody is like you. You know that.

DIAZ: It only matters for me.

CAMPBELL: If you hadn’t been a model or actress, what do you think you would like to have been?

DIAZ: Well, it’s funny because people have always fascinated me, and I always said when I was a kid I wanted to be a zoologist or sociologist, and in essence that’s what I’m doing now… because as an actor, you study behavior and you study the behavior of animals, but humans more (Laughs).

CAMPBELL: You recently said that you feel better at forty than you did at twenty-five. I’m with you on that one, totally.

DIAZ: Yes, better, stronger and more clear. You’re just better. We don’t give enough respect to ageing, we think of it as a superficial thing, as an aesthetic thing.

CAMPBELL: You’re not afraid of ageing?

DIAZ: I’m not afraid of ageing.

CAMPBELL: I’m not afraid of ageing, it’s our anatomy’s progression.

DIAZ: Look, you know what ageing is about – it takes time. Okay. So one day, there is a time when all of us look different to ourselves. You catch your reflection, and you’re like: ‘Who is that person?!’ And you’re like: ‘Oh my God, that’s me!’ And you’re like: ‘Okay. It’s going to take a while for me to get used to catching that reflection and recognizing it as myself. But now that this is a part of my life, and it’s going to take a while to get to know that person, but that’s who I am. That’s who I’ve become.’

CAMPBELL: Do you not feel that, with the more years that you have, the deeper you can go for roles?

DIAZ: I feel deeper in every sense. I mean, I feel…

CAMPBELL: I would not want to go back to twenty-five.

DIAZ: I would never want to be back to twenty-five. I would never want to be back to thirty-five. Honestly.

CAMPBELL: I feel I’m just understanding about letting go. We all have our path.

DIAZ: We do. We don’t give enough respect to ageing, we want to stay young when really true happiness starts when you hit forty. I take care of myself. I try to find things that are less invasive.

CAMPBELL: I was going to ask you about that next. What is your secret as the only fountain of youth is exercise and good nutrition?

DIAZ: (Laughs) Truly on a cellular level or the experience of life. Sure, you can put a crème on your face and it will take away your wrinkles or shoot something in your face and change something…

CAMPBELL: It’s important to feel good inside, to be honest, I took a lot for granted with the body.

DIAZ: We all do. (Laughs)

CAMPBELL: I really think, until I met Vlad, I didn’t realize how important it is. To take care…

DIAZ: Of your body.

CAMPBELL: I went to India to grasp the true feeling of yoga, to understand the balance and the calming effect it has. It took me until forty-one to get to that! But it’s never too late.

DIAZ: It’s never too late. To move your body, to be connected to your body. It’s not just burning calories.

CAMPBELL: Do you eat well? You’ll have a little naughty something but you’ll moderate.

DIAZ: I try to. I eat moderately and a major part of what I eat is good.

CAMPBELL: Modelling now seems to be incorporating more actresses. I just saw your Tag Heuer campaign. Actually, I took a picture of that at an airport in Paris, I should send it to you.

DIAZ: The new campaign is better.

CAMPBELL: You’re still doing the job you first started out doing.

DIAZ: By the way, I could never have done the cover of Vogue if I wasn’t an actress, because modelling is too competitive and I was never working at all as a model in an editorial way.

CAMPBELL: How did you parents feel about that? Mom, dad, sister?

DIAZ: My family is so supportive. So amazing. They’ve given so much support. I’m just really, really lucky.

CAMPBELL: There is just you and your sister? And your sister sounds like lot of fun, I would love to meet her.

DIAZ: My sister is awesome. She’s a Gemini too.

CAMPBELL: Does your mother have English ancestry? And do you feel a special connection with the UK?

DIAZ: Oh, sure, I do. I love England. I love London.

CAMPBELL: When is your next film, The Counselor, coming out?

DIAZ: I think in November this year.

CAMPBELL: Oh, they hold it long. You’ve been vocal for the Democrat Party. Do you like what Obama is doing? Do you think he is doing a good job?

DIAZ: I think It’s really difficult to do his job. I think that when you inherit such a terrible, terrible situation as he did, I think that it’s really hard to get anything done, especially when you have your opposition. These four years were a very difficult time for him.

CAMPBELL: Would you like to see Hillary Clinton as the next President?

DIAZ: I would love to see her as a President. Absolutely.

CAMPBELL: That would be the first female President in American history. Do you think it’s shocking that the US, unlike the UK, Germany, Brazil and India, haven’t had a female president?

DIAZ: I think things are changing. I really do. I think that we can’t expect things to happen overnight. It takes time to make these changes. But very rapidly we’re coming to a point in history where…

CAMPBELL: Women are stronger… (Whispers)

DIAZ: I was just going to say, we’re coming very rapidly to point in time in our history where… it’s ridiculous that it hasn’t happened. But we just got our first black President in America, so that just goes to show we’re moving. We’re progressing.

CAMPBELL: Have you ever been interested in politics? Would you ever run for anything?

DIAZ: No.

CAMPBELL: Running for politics is a definite opener for intrusion into your life.

DIAZ: Well, politicians were the original public people. Persons of public. Which allowed all this intrusion in the first place. If you were running for an office, your constituents should be able to know what kind of person you were morally. Saying public person, like identifying a public person came from the politicians, who were the person of public interest… because you’re making the decisions for them. You’re putting yourself out there saying: “Let me make these choices for you”. Actors are not public figures. We don’t make choices about people’s lives.

CAMPBELL: You’re involved with a lot of fund raising for Veterans of the Iraq and Afghan wars. Do you think it’s important that soldiers are supported and not overlooked?

DIAZ: A thousand percent.

CAMPBELL: Even if people think the war itself was unjust?

DIAZ: Absolutely. I mean the soldiers have nothing to do with that.

CAMPBELL: They went to work. They put themselves out there.

DIAZ: We need an army. We need our marines, soldiers, we need our navy, we need our air force, we need these people. It’s a part of being a nation. We’ve been empirical for the last hundred and fifty years. But that’s not their fault. They just do the job that’s given to them.
They’re sacrificing everything I mean they’re sacrificing their lives. Even if they don’t die there, when they come home, everything is ruined.

CAMPBELL: Do they take care of them psychologically?

DIAZ: Yeah, that’s what happened to the Iraq veterans that I work with.

CAMPBELL: Cause there’s a lot of Vietnam vets who did not get care.

DIAZ: Well, they didn’t. Of course that’s not where our country, you know… really screwed up with the Vietnam vets…

CAMPBELL: They didn’t get proper psychological care.

DIAZ: No, they didn’t. We’re now starting to understand the trauma of concussive issues. Where soldiers come back with concussions and post traumatic stress disorder. The fear and terror that they live with there.

CAMPBELL: Do you feel that when you’ve reached a certain height in the industry, there’s a bit of pressure for you to stay there? That’s something I’ve felt in modelling, a sense that a woman of colour has to be represented. If I don’t do the job, there may not be a woman of colour represented at all.

DIAZ: I just have a work ethic. I was very, very fortunate by my parents to be shown a strong work ethic on both sides. My mom and dad both worked full time jobs. They took it very seriously – every job that they taught me how to do around the house, whether it was scrubbing the toilet, doing the dishes, they showed me that you had to do it to the best of your ability. You have to take pride in it. And if you didn’t, there is no excuse.

CAMPBELL: The Jamaican background is the same: you take your turn to wash the dishes at night, you have to wash your socks and your underwear, your PE outfit. These are things I had to do at eight.

DIAZ: I was doing my laundry since I could push up a stool against the washer, jump up on top of it and turn and dial, I didn’t know what it was saying, I only knew where to put the arrow. My mom taught me how to cook.

CAMPBELL: Discipline, that’s what your parents instilled in you. It’s a wonderful thing.

DIAZ: I can do any job. I don’t care whatever that job is. My parents used to say, if I came home with the test score, whether it was a C or an A, they’d ask: ”Did you do your best?” And if I said “yes”, they said: “Okay, that’s all you can do”.

CAMPBELL: And that gave you responsibility.

DIAZ: They were like: “You don’t have to please us, all you need to know is that you know how much, how hard you worked”.

CAMPBELL: Do you feel that some of this discipline that you had as a child definitely helped you to be who you are today?

DIAZ: Yes, a thousand percent. I don’t think I’m a great actress, I think that I get by on my acting, but I think what I get mostly, where most of my success comes from, is my work ethic.

CAMPBELL: Do you think people look at you under a microscope?

DIAZ: I don’t pay attention.

CAMPBELL: When you went out into the world, when you went travelling for your first modelling job, were you afraid or were you happy to explore?

DIAZ: I was so excited. I was like, there is no other way out from where I was and where I grew up. I had no other out. My parents couldn’t afford college. I didn’t have grades that gave me a scholarship. I didn’t know what I was going to do. I had no idea. All I knew was I wanted to travel and I wanted to get away. I just had a bigger sense of the world and I didn’t worry about it. I just didn’t know how it was going to come to me and it came by way of modelling.

CAMPBELL: You trusted your gut instincts.

DIAZ: Funnily enough, my father is an atheist, my mother is very spiritual, but no religion. Every weekend they would take and drop me off, since I was five years old, at whatever. I had about six different denominations of religion around me from Lutheran, Catholic, Christian, Protestant – all these different churches around me, all these places of worship. And my father didn’t believe in God, he was against it. But he would take me every weekend on a Sunday and drop me off to whatever school… He just said: “This is your choice! I can’t tell you what to believe in. I can’t tell you who you are. You’ll find out who you are. You can go and listen to whoever you want.”

CAMPBELL: That’s great that he didn’t infringe his non belief onto you. He wanted you to make your choice.

DIAZ: Exactly, it led me to understanding my own self because I didn’t have to define myself. I heard all the stories and they were the same. It’s just a different way of telling the story. (Laughs) But it’s all the same story, which is a story I was getting at home. Have faith, know that the universe will provide. Everything happens for a reason.

CAMPBELL: Is there any one thing you would tell yourself if you were sixteen?

DIAZ: Oh, Gosh. No. I would want her to learn everything she learned. If you don’t learn you’re going to make the mistake again and again.

CAMPBELL: And we want to try not to make mistakes when we are older but we are human.

DIAZ: Exactly. And by the way, learning that mistake may take time.

CAMPBELL: There is this Jamaican saying: You have to feel until you learn.

DIAZ: Mmm, I love that.

CAMPBELL: Do you think that the pressure of the industry has compromised your life in any way?

DIAZ: I could look at it like that, if I wanted to…

CAMPBELL: Or do you ever wish to have anonymity?

DIAZ: Well, anonymity is something that’s long gone for me…

CAMPBELL: But I think it’s gone in this day and age.

DIAZ: People give it up so easy. I remember the time when I was literally the death of my anonymity. It took me about two years to let go, I mourned it for about two years, I was really sad. I would cry and felt this sense of loss and hurt my heart, and I just didn’t know how to handle it. And when I broke through on another side I was like: ‘Oh, this is my life and I have to be grateful for it.’

CAMPBELL: You don’t have to lose your life.

DIAZ: Cause you’re not trying to hold back so much. The way to get through this is to give.

CAMPBELL: And embrace it.

DIAZ: Take it in and give it back out.

CAMPBELL: What have you yet to achieve? Do you feel there is anything?

DIAZ: Oh… There’s a lot of things… I have a lot of things I have to achieve. (Laughs)

CAMPBELL: I know you like to stay fit. Tell me a bit about your daily regime.

DIAZ: I work out five days a week.

CAMPBELL: Do you still surf?

DIAZ: I surf though I haven’t in a while, actually. I snowboard. I think, the thing about training and working out and being fit is that you have to realise that you go through stages.

CAMPBELL: People love you for being the good time, fun girl. Do you ever suffer from that image?

DIAZ: On a daily basis, like everybody else, I have moments of being able to be outside of myself and other days, I really need to be within myself. I don’t worry about it.

CAMPBELL: What do you feel about movies like Feeling Minnesota?

DIAZ: Feeling Minnesota was a dark comedy.

CAMPBELL: It was a great film.

DIAZ: I loved it but that was like my 4th or 5th film. I loved doing that movie. There is a lot of movies. I’ve been very fortunate.

CAMPBELL: And a great message in that movie.

DIAZ: The thing is, that film… You make these movies in a period of your life and look back on it later and it’s so wild. You’re like: ‘Who is that person?’

CAMPBELL: Is there anything you regret? Just normal things that we all do?

DIAZ: Oh, I mean, I do a lot of stupid shit. (Laughs)

CAMPBELL: We all do.

DIAZ: And regrets I try not to have, I don’t believe in them. It’s an excuse. Everything is a lesson.

CAMPBELL: And everything is meant to be.

DIAZ: Everything is meant to be. Everything gives you the next opportunity. Whether it’s good or bad. Whether you make something of it or blow it again and then you have to start over again. Regret is a terrible place to live.

CAMPBELL: Amen. When you were doing What to Expect When you’re Expecting, did you learn anything from that? Did it make you feel maternal in any way?

DIAZ: What I learned from that movie was that I know I want a family and I will accept it any way it comes to me.

CAMPBELL: You wore this t-shirt once, ‘I won’t vote for a son of a Bush’, I want one. (Laughs) Do you still have it?

DIAZ: I have it somewhere.

CAMPBELL: Which artist, actress, actor would you say is a close friend? You’re a very loyal friend.

DIAZ: I have great friends.

CAMPBELL: You have great friends. The three that I know are Leo, Gwyneth and Drew.

DIAZ: Yes, those are good friends, and you. My girlfriend Lake Bell. Kate…

CAMPBELL: Kate Hudson, right?

DIAZ: Aha. I’m very fortunate. You know Jude (Law) and I are also close friends still.

CAMPBELL: But it makes sense, because you understand each other’s lives. When you’re doing a movie for three, four, five months … there’s no love lost. There is no unspoken word. They get it. They know it.

DIAZ: You share something with each other. It’s just such a great thing to be able to understand.

CAMPBELL: How was it to grow up under the Hollywood spotlight? You seem to have dealt with it well.

DIAZ: I’m very lucky that I came from a very strong family. I got to watch Hollywood change a lot too. From say, sixteen to thirty. People came there who were creatives and there were no paparazzi and no tabloids. We really got to be there and be young and free. If people saw the shit we did in our 20s, we wouldn’t have a career. Seriously the same way these girls get busted.

CAMPBELL: There has to be some type of release.

DIAZ: You should … You have to be able to be young and not be judged for it.

CAMPBELL: Do you believe in eternal love?

DIAZ: I believe in soulmates..

CAMPBELL: Quality time.

DIAZ: That quality time together, yeah. Like, I have girlfriends who are soulmates. You know. It’s not just men. I have my mom, my dad and my sister and they are all soulmates.

CAMPBELL: You could have been a rebellious child, but you are very close to your family.

DIAZ: I am very close. Like we all are here.,, Every relationship you have has a quality to it that serves a purpose now and that person will serve a purpose again in another lifetime.

CAMPBELL: How would the perfect man look like to you?

DIAZ: I’m not gonna pretend I know.

CAMPBELL: I think it’s a very hard question, to be honest. For me, it’s a connection from the heart. How important is beauty in other people for you?

DIAZ: I think beauty is in the eye of the beholder. (Laughs)

CAMPBELL: How do you live?

DIAZ: Very simply.

CAMPBELL: You’re low key. You drive yourself. And you are very independent.

DIAZ: I like being independent.

CAMPBELL: Do you follow a special diet and which one do you vouch for?

DIAZ: I don’t follow a special diet. It’s not a diet. It’s a way of life, primarily it’s our body’s function.

CAMPBELL: You eat well. You eat clean.

DIAZ: I try to think initially about what I need. What I’m asking my body to do.

CAMPBELL: What’s always in your fridge?

DIAZ: There is always quinoa, lentils, brown rice, kale, chicken breast, chicken stock, anything green, as much green as I can possibly get.

CAMPBELL: What would you never put inside to your fridge?

DIAZ: Cookie dough.

CAMPBELL: (Laughs)

DIAZ: I couldn’t do it (Laughs) or I’d eat the whole thing.

CAMPBELL: If we gave you a spray can what would you write on the wall behind you?

DIAZ: Faith.

CAMPBELL: You like champagne or vodka?

DIAZ: I love champagne.

CAMPBELL: Window or aisle?

DIAZ: Window.

CAMPBELL: Tea or coffee?

DIAZ: Tea.

CAMPBELL: Hip hop or rock concert?

DIAZ: I can’t choose. Both the same.

CAMPBELL: Live in the moment or live forever?

DIAZ: Live in the moment.

CAMPBELL: What’s your favorite smell in a kitchen?

DIAZ: Garlic. (Whispers)

CAMPBELL: (Laughs) I love garlic!! What dish can you cook best?

DIAZ: I don’t know… I roast a mean chicken…

CAMPBELL: Did you roast a chicken for us in Hawaii?

DIAZ: I might have… I don’t think I did but I’m gonna roast it when you come to my house, I’m gonna make the best chicken for you. I’ll make you some Cuban food too, for sure.

CAMPBELL: Last drink or last supper?

DIAZ: Last supper (both laugh).

CAMPBELL: What’s a super power you would like to have?

DIAZ: Invisible.

CAMPBELL: You were born in San Diego.

DIAZ: Raised in Long Beach.

CAMPBELL: 1972. So by the late 70s you were already seven, so what are your memories of California back in the days, cause I’ve heard California was amazing then!

DIAZ: California was awesome. My parents were really young, they had me when they were 22. So I remember California being about…youth…

CAMPBELL: And good living.

DIAZ: My parents were partiers.

CAMPBELL: Did everyone come over at the weekend?

DIAZ: Everybody came over. My parents were young, like 20. So all their friends would come over and we were the only kids, none of their friends had kids.

CAMPBELL: I used to love being around grownups. Trying to act like one and thinking I was.

DIAZ: Oh me too, I loved that.

CAMPBELL: Can you remember your first shoot?

DIAZ: Yes, it was with Jeff Dunas, the photographer who started me on modelling. And he set up pictures so I could create a portfolio, so I could go and meet Elite agency.

CAMPBELL: I remember Peter McCafferty.

DIAZ: Yeah, Peter and Jeff Dunas.

CAMPBELL: Who was a model you loved back then?

DIAZ: Linda Evangelista, Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington.

CAMPBELL: You liked my group. (Laughs)

DIAZ: I liked your group! (Laughs) Great group.

CAMPBELL: According to the press, you’re one of the best paid actresses in the business. What does money mean to you? Do you have a guilty pleasure? I think you’re very responsible.

DIAZ: I’m very responsible.

CAMPBELL: I feel like you don’t spend frivolously.

DIAZ: It’s important for me, I spend most of my money on the people I love. I’m not a big shopper. I’m not opulent..

CAMPBELL: When do you really get to wear clothes? You go to the awards, then you do the shoots, the clothes are there.

DIAZ: You’ve seen me, I’m gonna put on some jeans right now and a sweater.

CAMPBELL: I think we should wear little black dresses tonight.

DIAZ: But I don’t have a little black dress.

CAMPBELL: I have a little black dress you can wear, Alaia! You’ve done a lot of comedian roles. Is there a role that you feel you still have to play?

DIAZ: No, I don’t know what it is. I really feel with parts – they find me. I don’t look for them, they find me.

CAMPBELL: Would you ever do TV?

DIAZ: I don’t know, maybe at some point when I want to be just at one place for a really long time.

CAMPBELL: The new film, The Gambit, where you play an unpredictable southern rodeo queen…How do you like Texas?

DIAZ: I love Texas. Texas is America. Like, very Americana. Actually, we didn’t end up filming in Texas, we went to New Mexico. I went to Texas to do my research.

CAMPBELL: So you do go and do research? They don’t tell you to do it, you do it on your own?

DIAZ: I did it on my own.

CAMPBELL: The screenplay was written by the Coen brothers. Name me your favorite movie by them.

DIAZ: Raising Arizona.

CAMPBELL: Yeah, I love that film.
Do you like to play in action movies? Best trick you ever learnt for “Charlie’s Angels”?

DIAZ: I love action movies. I love being physical, “Charlie’s Angels” was amazing, cause we got to do kung fu, we got trained by Cheung-yan who was the unbelievable master of kung fu. And we worked our asses off, we did eight hours a day, seven days a week for three months. It was insane.

CAMPBELL: What is on your iPod?

DIAZ: So many things (Laughs).

CAMPBELL: Eclectic. You like rock, you like rap…

DIAZ: I love everything. I love it all.

CAMPBELL: Describe your perfect evening or day.

DIAZ: With friends.

CAMPBELL: Your favorite place in America?

DIAZ: Oh, that’s hard….. I love New York.

CAMPBELL: Tell me…. What you’re doing now, I don’t want to say too much so whatever you want to say…You care very much about young girls…

DIAZ: I really want to inform young women about how their bodies work, on a scientific level with nutrition and fitness. Why it’s important what you eat. I want to empower girls to understand it. Their bodies are who their bodies are. They can’t change that. But they need to know this. They can make their body as best as their body can be, by understanding nutrition, fitness.

CAMPBELL: So also, I would feel that self esteem fits into that. It’s a psychological part too.

DIAZ: Absolutely, 1000 percent.

CAMPBELL: They need to feel good about themselves

DIAZ: But you could only do that by knowing yourself.

CAMPBELL: You have to know as nobody tells you that and you’re a great role model for young girls to be able to share this.

DIAZ: I want to give girls understanding of what their responsibility is about their bodies.

CAMPBELL: I wish you so much love.

DIAZ: Thank you so much! I love you, girl! I’m so happy! And thank you for this weekend. It’s been amazing.

© 2013 Interview (Russia).

Cameron Diaz Source
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