How Jamie Foxx Convinced Cameron Diaz to Do Her 1st Movie in 10 Years (Exclusive)

Cameron Diaz is returning to acting for the first time in 10 years in “Back in Action,” starring opposite her friend Jamie Foxx!

“Extra’s” Mona Kosar Abdi spoke with Cameron and Jamie, who are fresh off the Berlin premiere after the Los Angeles premiere was canceled due to the tragic wildfires.

Jamie reflected on suffering a stroke while filming the movie and how good it feels to be back.

He shared, “A couple little things that I eyed when the movie was on, I said, ‘Ooh, that was, you know, it was around that day when things kind of got weird.’ But look, man, to be back and that [stand-up] special was cleansing for me… It’s a way for me to get it out, it’s a way for me to let people know, it’s a way for me to say thank you, and now it’s a way for me to say go check out ‘Back in Action.’ Go see the bounce-back, go see how good it feels to be back.”

Cameron also opened up about how she was feeling during Jamie’s ordeal. Jamie and Cameron have been friends for 25 years.

She noted, “For every person who knows Jamie, like, it was terrifying. For everybody who loves Jamie, the world, like, everybody was concerned… I can’t even imagine how he feels. I’m so proud of him, how brave he was to do his show, to let us all know. But you know, it’s hard. You walk up to him and he’s like, ‘Everybody cries’!”

Foxx chimed in, saying, “For a while, everybody was crying. Snoop was crying! I was like, ‘Crips don’t cry, brother — c’mon!’ But now, it’s the joyous time and to be over here in Berlin and watch the movie play and people enjoying it, I mean that’s what it’s about, being able to get back to what you do, and what we did do is really good.”

As for how he got Cameron to sign on for the project, Jamie responded, “Listen, we were very humble in our ask. We were very respectful in our ask. There was a couple of promises. I was like, ‘I don’t want your feet to touch the ground. I want this to be fun thing for for you to do.'”

Cameron added, “But even with that promise, which he upheld, he did take such good care of me, it was really about the fact that I knew that if I was going to leave 10 hours a day, leave my family, that I was gonna get, you know, to do the work with, you know, the most talented man in showbiz. Professional, a fantastic partner. I knew that it was gonna be worth my while to go no matter what and that we’re going to have fun.

She continued, “To be privileged enough to still be able to come back and do a movie after 10 years, you know, to get to make movies still and do it at this level and to make something this entertaining and fun for everyone, that was, you know, to me, I felt really honored to be able to do and do it with Jamie.”

In the film, Jamie and Cameron play a married couple who are forced to come out of retirement when everybody’s trying to kill them.

In real life, Cameron is coming out of acting retirement. Was there a part of her that wanted to show her kids that she’s a major movie star?

She answered, “Well, one of the parts of the storyline that I love the most is how these kids are like every other teenager — they don’t care who their parents are. You know what I mean? Like, we talk about it all the time, all of our friends who are, like, icons. Jamie is an icon. His kids, they don’t care. It’s whatever. You know what I mean? One of my fantasies about this film is that, you know, parents will be sitting on the couch with their kids and halfway through their kids will be like, ‘Who were you before me?’ If the parents tell them some stories, they might actually believe them and see them in a different light.”

Jamie and Cameron also shared their heartbreak over the L.A. wildfires.

Jamie was grateful that, “People are safe, lives are safe.”

Cameron elaborated, ”We both know so many people, dozens of people, who’ve lost their homes, and then there’s thousands more that we don’t know and our heart goes out to everyone. We feel heartbroken and devastated to what’s happened to everyone’s homes and to the city and the firefighters that are working night and day to try to protect, to stop it. You know, it’s devastating and it’s not over, and we’re just gonna see, you know, what it’s going to take to build it back.”