Cameron Diaz made her highly anticipated return to the red carpet, and she did not disappoint. The actress arrived in Berlin, Germany, for the Back in Action premiere at Zoo Palast on January 15th, stunning fans with her presence. It's been five years since she stepped out of the spotlight after famously retiring—and later unretiring—from acting. Her last red carpet appearance was in April 2019 with her “Charlie’s Angels” co-stars for Lucy Liu’s Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony.
This marked Diaz’s first movie premiere in a decade, with her last being for Annie in 2014. The 52-year-old looked incredible wearing her signature red lip with an all-black ensemble featuring a sheer blouse, high-waisted jeans, and a floor-length coat, showing everyone exactly what they’ve been missing.
In addition to solo red carpet shots, Diaz posed with her co-star Jamie Foxx, whose journey to the premiere has been equally eventful.
Production on Back in Action was halted in April 2023 after Foxx suffered a serious medical complication, later revealed to involve a brain bleed and stroke. Despite the challenges, the actor made a strong recovery and returned to finish the film.
A Hollywood Reunion
The Netflix movie marks Diaz and Foxx’s third on-screen collaboration. The pair first worked together in Any Given Sunday (1999), where Diaz played a football team owner and Foxx a quarterback, and again in Annie (2014), where she portrayed Miss Hannigan.
Annie was also Diaz’s last film before stepping away from Hollywood to focus on family life with her husband, Benji Madden, who she said encouraged her to return to acting. The couple now shares two children, Raddix and Cardinal Madden. Reflecting on her decision, Diaz told Variety in October 2024, “For me, it was just something I had to do to reclaim my own life. I didn’t care about anything else.”
She credited Foxx for coaxing her out of retirement, joking in a Netflix promo, “How do you say no to Jamie Foxx?” She added, “If there’s anyone I’d spend months laughing with on set, it’s him.”
A Bumpy Road to Release
Directed by Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses), the film follows a retired woman returning to action “smarter and stronger than ever,” per IMDb. The cast also includes Kyle Chandler, Glenn Close, Andrew Scott, and Jamie Demetriou.
However, the production wasn’t without its share of drama. Before his hospitalization, Foxx reportedly had an on-set meltdown, allegedly firing several crew members, including an executive producer and his driver.
Rumors of tension swirled, but Diaz, who recently shared rare insight into her marriage, set the record straight during an appearance on Molly Sims’ Lipstick on the Rim podcast, calling the reports exaggerated. "Jamie is the best, I love that guy so much,” she said.
“He’s such a special person, and he’s so talented, so much fun. I really hate all the things that were being said about our set, which at the time, you want to scream at the top of your lungs like, ‘What are you talking about!’” adding that the hiccups on set were “natural.”
Back in Action premieres on Netflix this Friday.