I’ve always wondered if Cameron Diaz was like the characters she’s played on-screen you know, kind of bubbly and free-flowing -not the type of girl who takes anything too seriously. After sitting in on a pretty large roundtable interview, I can say she is definitely that girl. When you read or listen to the interview you’ll see what I mean.

In the movie The Holiday Cameron plays a woman who lives in

Los Angeles and decides to take a break from her life. She trades houses with a complete stranger, played by Kate Winslet, and moves to outside London for two weeks. Since this is a Nancy Meyers romantic comedy, obviously Jude Law would be Kate’s brother, and nothing is easy or simple.

The Holiday is going to enjoy the benefits of its ridiculous cast - all four major characters are being played by big movie stars. While there are a lot of serious Oscar films in the theaters right now, those who want to take a break and enjoy some lighter holiday entertainment will probably dig Nancy Meyers latest.

Sorry… I sort of sidetracked there for a moment, back to the interview.

Here is Cameron Diaz, and for all of you who enjoy listening to the audio – here is the link for this interview as an MP3. And if you missed it – here is the Jack Black interview for The Holiday.

Question - Cameron, this movie is called The Holiday…

Cameron Diaz - Sure.

Question - And shockingly enough to me who would think that having a big Hollywood career would be everything, it seemed like you took a walk, a holiday from your career after Charlie’s Angels, you know, at the peak of whatever… something you worked so hard for… Why?

Cameron Diaz - You know, I’m not really in any race with anyone. I’m not really in competition with anyone. So I mean that in a way that I don’t think my career or my life is a competition, do you know what I mean? I don’t feel like I had to sort of be somewhere for any other reason other than I wanted to be there and I just sort of hadn’t found anything that really made me really want to jump into it.

To go back to work…?

To go back to work, yeah because as we do when were sort of on the beginning of our career, and were kind of like, I was learning about filmmaking and acting and wanting to sort of just keep the ball in motion I did film after film after film after film which was an amazing experience and I so thankful for it but I got to a point that I was sort of like I don’t have a house, I don’t have any place to put my bags, I haven’t been home, I haven’t seen my family, I have no friends you know what I mean. And there was a part of my life that was really going strong but I didn’t have this other aspect of my life so much like Amanda [Laughing] but not in the love aspect of it but in life you just have to have a balance and so I just kind of took a little slow down for a little while which it’s been nice. I probably should pick it back up but I really like it.

You have no regrets then?

No, I don’t believe in regret. I honestly do not believe in regret. There’s, I mean, you have to… I’ve always felt that the movies that I’ve made were the movies I was meant to make and the movies that other people make are the movies they are meant to make and if I see something that I admire, I admire it for what that person has done, but I don’t get jealous or I don’t get envious. I don’t believe in envy, at all. I don’t envy somebody else’s life or what their accomplishments, try to concentrate on my own so…

When you went away, so to speak, from your career, you still stayed this sort of figure in the news constantly…

That’s one of the reasons why I went away. [Laughing] I thought that if I didn’t do as many films then they would have to leave me alone because my mentality about this business is that this is my job. I’m talking to y’all because this is my job and this is an exchange that all of us have, you know, we have an understanding about and consented, you know. And I felt like, you know, if I just don’t make movies then they wouldn’t have any right to my life. And of course, that’s not the mentality of “that” media so. I realized, you know what, I’m not gonna be… if I make a movie or not make a movie they’re still gonna be there, so I may as well do what I love to doing and keep making movies. So I don’t have any plans not to make movies.

Or become a recluse?

Or become a recluse… no, I like life too much. The house is too small. [Laughing]

You say you’re somewhat like Amanda in terms of what you discover that “Live for today” philosophy which she doesn’t understand at all which she comes to the conclusion it’s not a bad thing to have. Is that the conclusion that you’ve come to, just to live for the moment?

I’ve always lived that way, yeah. I’m pretty much… I’m terrible at making plans. [Laughing] I remember when I first started doing press junkets, my first, at The Mask. Every single person asked me, and I think it was because I was new…

We didn’t know who you were.

Yeah, exactly so they were like, “Ten years from now, what kind of movies do you see yourself doing?” and I’d be like… “I don’t know.” I’m like, I don’t know, “…what do you wanna be doing?” and I was like, “Well, whatever I’m doing ten years from now, I don’t know if I’ll be making movies. I don’t know if I’ll be doing something completely different. Whatever it is ten years from now, I just hope… I want to be happy. Period. And I don’t know if it will be making movies that make me happy or if it’s… whatever it is, you know… I don’t know. Milking a cow!” Kind of on a milking a cow trip right now. I don’t know why?

Where did that come from?

I don’t know. I just think of… for some reason I have this imagery of like, five o’clock in the morning, this like, sort of meditatively [pretends to milk a cow] like in meditation. I don’t know. [Laughter]

Well, it’s been ten… twelve years. How happy are you? And are you surprised you’re where you are?

Well, I have no idea where I’m at… [Laughing] I am very happy, I can’t complain, um, although I do. [Laughing] But over all I’m very happy with everything, you know, life is a journey. You know what I mean? My life is no different than anybody else’s life. And like, some days I’ve got it all figured out and some days I’m like, what the hell is going on, you know what I mean? It’s just like everybody else. You know, that’s the human experience. The experiences… the term of your life may be different and what you go through to have that experience may be different but it’s all… experiences is the same.

Is there any particular scene, any particular line that really resonated with you in terms of relationships you’ve been in, are in?

Not for me personally as far as nothing relates to me in these women’s relationships to my own. Other than I know that, it’s sort of, like I said, the circumstances are always different but I think that we’ve all spent either too much time in a relationship or not enough time in a relationship. You know what I mean? That’s what I think is so great with this film, it’s so relatable. You know, we’ve all been through it. We’ve all had both of these relationships. And what it comes down to I think, is that these women have not taken the time to get to know who they are. You know, Amanda can’t even cry, that means she’s completely cut off from her emotions. That means she probably doesn’t ever ask for anything or knows how to really give anything over because if she connects to that emotion she’s gonna lose everything that she’s been trying to hold together. And Iris doesn’t value herself she doesn’t know what she has to offer. She doesn’t know what she’s worth, you know. So she let’s somebody walk all over her all the time. And those situations I think are, you know, that’s the human experience of traveling through this crazy journey of life, trying to figure out how to make love work. And the foundation I think that, love [works] the best from what I’ve seen as examples as well as experiences, you have to really love yourself and know what your worth, what your capable of giving, what you want to receive and know how to be brave enough to be open and to trust people and trust yourself to be able to give and receive those things. So… and that’s what I love about the journey in this film. Obviously it’s a romantic comedy, it’s light, funny, it’s humorous but I think it’s also very honest. And I think that’s why it works on so many levels. It’s not this thing where you’re going, “Oh… That doesn’t happen!” we don’t end on this movie with these people standing on an alter together. You don’t pan off the wedding ring up to, “I do.” [Laughing] There’s still the question there at the end of the day. You know, at the end of the film you go, “Will this relationship actually work between these two people?” It’s not about the end result with them, it’s the fact that these people decided to be open enough to take the chance to take the journey of finding out whether or not they’re love can actually work for any amount of time. And I like that because it’s not unrealistic, it’s just what we do everyday. You’re just seeing how it goes.

Continued on the next page -------------------&gt

||SPLIT||

There is a very good thing about how Jude Law’s character deals with being with a woman who’s successful with her own company.

Well I think that success is all relative. I mean it means something different to everyone. I think that with Amanda, yes, she’s certainly a successful… you know, she makes a good living, she has a big house in Brentwood and we all know how expensive that is. [Laughing] She’s got a great wardrobe, she owns her own company. But I think most importantly to her is that she’s good at what she does and she loves what she does. She’s actually successful in something that she loves doing and she’s good at it. So to me, that is… that’s something that I consider, what is successful now if you do that, you don’t always make a lot of money at doing that, you know what I mean? Like there are people who just do what they love doing and they’re good at it but they don’t make a lot of money at it. That could be just as… that could cause as much problems with somebody who makes a lot of money doing something they hate doing, you know, they might be envious or feel inadequate to the person who’s actually accomplishing what they want, you know. So, you can’t say… in what’s sort of going to be that wedge in a relationship. But certainly I think that men have a need, an innate need, you know, its breed into them that they have to provide. And then today’s society, it’s about how much you make and they feel… they work constantly. That’s their priority, to be responsible for that and I think that the ball is in the mans court in that case, as far as whether or not he allows that aspect of life to be something that gets in the way with a woman. Because a woman actually, I don’t believe she should hide who she is, or lessen herself…

Or feel guilty?

Or feel guilty of hide any of that. She should be who she is and find a man who is strong enough to handle that within himself.

Right.

Just because a woman’s also… just because Amanda’s successful doesn’t mean she’s a difficult person that man has to learn how to handle a woman that’s SO successful because it means something different about her character that she’s a handful, or something like that. Like I said, I think it’s about the man and his own… within himself, whether or not he can handle it.

I don’t know, I thought Amanda was kind of a difficult person, she’s…

She’s slightly neurotic.

Yeah.

In some areas but not like… she’s not bad she’s just…

She’s not perfect.

Yeah, she’s not perfect. But I don’t think she’s like… difficult. There’s no signs other than… she’s pretty open. The problem with her is that she’s not ready to connect. You know, so she goes, “Come on in! Okay, goodbye!” [Laughing] “Oh, alright, come on! Um, no, no, no!” and that’s frustrating, you know what I mean, but that doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that she’s successful in what she does. It just means… [Laughing] she’s unsuccessful at what she does as far as relationships go.

Do you think she has a “sixth sense” about Ed Burns character and how he’d cheat on her? Do you think women have a sixth sense?

I believe women know, for sure. For sure, I think, I think when you’re connected to somebody it’s hard… there’s no way you can’t tell when something’s off, you know? But as far as that goes with they’re relationship, I think that it’s not working on so many levels that, that’s not it.

Infidelity…

Exactly, that’s not it at all. You know, it’s just, like I said, she doesn’t cry. She’s clearly not connected. There’s no communication whatsoever.

Is it difficult to play? There’s a couple of scenes where you’re almost crying and you figure actresses have to learn how to cry… was it difficult to play that and not cry?

Yeah. It’s interesting because, when you’re going through an emotion [Answer is interrupted when Kate Winslet comes in and when she leaves another question is asked]

Are you the type to get depressed or just get over things in regards to relationships?

Ah. I don’t know. It’s like everybody. I’ve been slammed before and then other times it’s like, “YES. This is awesome!” [Laughing] I think you just go through it. Having you’re heart broken is never fun but you’ve gotta get over it at some point right?

What advice would you give women?

Well, I say, it’s like Amanda and Iris… I think it’s just like everybody ah… like Iris and Amanda, it goes back knowing yourself, being connected to yourself, being happy with yourself. You always have to start there first. It’s really awesome growing up in a very narcissistic society, because [Laughing] they finally figured out that it’s all about us, when all this time they were like, “It’s not about you. But really it is.” [Laughing] So, I encourage you to figure it out within yourself.

What made you want to do this movie?

Nancy Meyers!

Was it?

Yeah, Nancy… she’s the raddest. I love that woman. She’s so smart she’s so funny, she’s so talented. The vision… this movie is her vision from beginning to end. You know what I mean? It’s, from the first letter on the first page, to the last letter on the roll of the credits on the screen, know what I mean, it’s all her. And I think she’s just so good. She’s just the best at what she does.

Did she give you the script or did she just call up and say, “I’ve got an idea…”

No, she had finished the script, actually I read the script.

Can you tell us what’s going on with the next Shrek?

Shrek the Third will be coming out next year and I will be happy to talk to you about it then. [Laughing] cause I’m not sure how much… first off I don’t know a lot about it, I only know my part of it. This film, you know, we do in sections I don’t really ever see the other part of the film. But I know the storyline it’s a lot of fun. You guys will have a really great time with it. They’re so great over there, they just keep stepping it up every time. It’s a lot of fun.

Is it weird to you that your best known role is a big green ogre?

[Laughing] Well, in certain circles it is. In the three to ten year olds they know me… but, no, I like it. I love Fiona.

What about when people step away from their career and then return with a new image… and I was thinking, with you and Kate in this movie, Kate since she’s been a teenager has always been this Oscar nominated, serious actress even though she’s blonde and pretty and you’ve always been the comedienne and looked upon as the bubbly… do you think you are undervalued in a way… put on a box and…

I don’t think there is anything wrong with that. [Laughing] I don’t think that there is, I mean I’m not going… I’m happy with the things I’ve accomplished. You know, I’m not ashamed for being a happy, bubbly, funny person. I think that’s just as valid as being the dark, brooding, tortured, Oscar nominated one, not that that’s what Kate is, I don’t think that’s what she is at all. But certainly if you want to start putting people on boxes, I don’t have a problem with that, I think that it’s great and I don’t think that I’m undervalued because I think that whatever we all offer… I’m surprised at actually that people would want me… I’m honored, I’m really just honored to actually be in the position that I am and that I get to share that with people so I’m not going out there going, “I need…”

The Halle Berry or Charlize Theron transformation role where…

You know, I like to explore a lot of different things and done a lot of different movies and not all of them have been successful in a way that the ones I’m known for mostly… you just, you just do what you do… I do it for myself. You know, and movies like this I do for the audience, I want people to go and have a good time and laugh and enjoy it, or else I wouldn’t make them.

If you had to trade lives with anyone, who would it be and why?

Um, I don’t know. That’s a tough question. I’ve been asked it a lot. Every time, I want it to be somebody different just for once. But it always seems that the person that jumps into my mind is Jack Black. [Laughing] I think, “…well, who do I want to be?” and Jack’s there in a blue leotard and a mustache and I’m like, “What would it be like to be that guy?” I don’t know... I’d like to know.

Jude Law or Jack Black or a mixture?

Mixture is awesome. They’re both such lovely men by the way couldn’t be two nicer guys, and funny, charming and down to earth and professional, respectable and just awesome people. So they’re great on their own so a mixture of the two… forget about it. It’d be crazy! [Laughing] I don’t know if the world could handle that.

We’re going to talk to Justin [Timberlake] in a couple of weeks for Alpha Dog, and now that he’s acting have you thought about doing something together?

Probably not.

What’s your dream holiday spot?

I’d like to be near the water so I’m always kind of an islandy girl. Or the mountains, I like the snow. I like both.

Have you ever had a life changing holiday like the one in this movie for these two women?

You know, every time I like to go on holiday’s with a group of friends or with my family, like those holidays are the ones where I come out sort of rejuvenated on another level that I don’t get when I go someplace… when I’m with the people that I love and I get to share their lives…our lives together, that’s always the one that I like and I leave that going, “Ah, can’t wait to do that again!”

What’s the best present that you ever got?

A can of whoop ass. [Laughing] Have you seen those cans of “Whoop Ass”?

Whoop ass.

Yeah! [Laughing]

Recent Collider InterviewsTuristas – Josh Duhamel - John Stockwell - Beau Garrett and Olivia WildeGhost Rider - Mark Steven Johnson - Nicolas Cage - Eva MendesThe Fountain - Darren Aronofsky