Jamie Foxx convinced Cameron Diaz to come out of retirement for their fun new Netflix spy movie
It's hard to watch the action-packed trailer for Netflix's new spy comedy Back in Action, starring Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx, and not imagine that when Diaz says lines like "For the first time in a really long time, I felt alive again," she's also kind of talking about herself.
In the movie, which hits the streaming giant on Jan. 17, Diaz and Foxx play Emily and Matt -- two one-time CIA spies who left the life of the secret world to start a family, and who then get dragged back into the game when their cover is blown. I should also point out, before we continue here: Actual veterans of the agency can't stand it when stories refer to characters like these as "spies." Technically, they're either officers or agents. The people that CIA agents recruit to inform on their own country and fellow citizens: Those are the spies. But that's neither here nor there.
To my point above about Diaz's character feeling "alive again," Foxx wanted to co-star with Diaz in Back in Action, deciding that she'd be perfect for the ass-kicking secret agent mom role. So he set about convincing her -- successfully, it would turn out -- to come out of retirement, after she'd stepped away from Hollywood in 2018 to focus on her family. How did Foxx sell her on the project, you might ask? He simply convinced her that they'd have fun together. Jamie Foxx wants you to give up your quiet life and come away to have a little fun ... who could say no to that?
Streaming giants like Netflix, by the way, have certainly given us all kinds of espionage-related content to enjoy over the past year or so. And it's run the gamut, from Netflix's Black Doves -- with its bloody action and sinister global conspiracy overtones -- to Paramount+ With Showtime's atmospheric new CIA drama The Agency, starring Michael Fassbender, as well as Peacock's excellent The Day of the Jackal, with Eddie Redmayne playing the titular assassin. One thing that each of those titles has in common is the way they aim for if not authenticity, then at least a certain degree of gritty realism.
Netflix's Back in Action falls on the opposite end of the espionage spectrum, characterized by unserious vibes and the fact that it's a generally entertaining romp -- not that there's anything at all wrong with that, provided it's done well. For a Gen Xer like me, seeing Diaz onscreen again is also quite a nostalgic delight (and Foxx, of course, is a charismatic funnyman who can pretty much do it all). "In Back in Action, Foxx and Diaz play seemingly average parents with a big secret: They used to be incredibly skilled secret agents," Netflix explains.
Adds Diaz, in a promotional interview with the streamer: “We’re on a mission, and we take this opportunity where people might think we’re dead, to disappear off the face of the planet and start a new life and raise our family." It doesn't take long, of course, for their old life to come knocking and drag them back into the career they left behind. Overall, an enjoyable Netflix new release coming next week (Jan. 12-18) during a seven-day stretch that's pretty starved for much of any interesting new content to try out. For a complete look at what's coming next week from Netflix, check out our full rundown here.
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Jamie Foxx convinced Cameron Diaz to come out of retirement for their fun new Netflix spy movie originally appeared on BGR.com on Thu, 9 Jan 2025 at 16:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.