“When you’re in love you have no control, you have to be with that person. I love acting, so I’m caught now.”

Cameron Diaz Interview
By EC Gladstone

Eric Gladstone: You broke out with the big broad comedy of the Mask. Why did you go from there to smaller films like Last Supper, She’s The One and this new one, Feeling Minnesota?

CD: After doing the Mask, I decided what I wanted to do was act, so it was really important for me to find something that I didn’t have any financial burden of carrying the film, and certainly to work with actors that I could learn from, in an ensemble piece. I like a challenge, and the challenge for me was to find a part that I could do all that in. The Last Supper was that for me, because I got to work with a lot of great actors in sort of on-the-job training. I’m not looking to make a film that’s going to put me in this or that ‘position,’ these were all films that   I really felt were a challenge to me, and I believed in and wanted to be a part of. What their status in Hollywood was, was after the fact.

EG: Keanu Reeves and Vincent D’Onofrio, your co-stars are both pretty seasoned and experienced—what did you learn working with them?

CD: Mostly the focus and dedication of both those actors, both were very honest with the characters.

EG: I heard the very first shooting day was that sex scene in the bathroom?

CD: [smiles] Keanu was so great with me on that day.

EG: Are you aware of your status on the internet, all the fan sites dedicated to you?

CD: I don’t even know how to turn the thing on.

EG: You’re next film is called My Best Friend’s Wedding—shooting in Chicago now?

CD: Making the decisions what film to go after is probably the hardest part of doing this, because you’re locked in for the next three months. I was a model, and models do the work and you never see it again, it ends up on a page someplace and nobody knows who you are. When I did the Mask, I had that mentality. But it’s sort of like love, when you’re in love you have no control, you have to be with that person, I love acting, so I’m caught now, I’m doing w  hat makes me happy but at the same time I’m preparing myself that at some point I’m going to have to swallow a pill

EG: You’re dating Matt Dillon now—has that given you any guidance as far as how to handle fame or celebrity?

CD: He handles it well, he’s a regular guy, he’s still friends with all the friends he grew up with, that’s who he still does everything with.

EG: Tell us about this new film you’re going to do with Danny Boyle [A Life Less Ordinary]?

CD: I’m so excited about doing it. It is sort of a love story, and what I find really interesting about these filmmakers is that Shallow Grave and Trainspotting were completely different films—[Trainspotting's] got this looseness to it, it flows with the character, like you’re being taken through it–and so is this film. It’s a chase, basically what happens is a Scotsman here in America loses his job and he takes revenge on the man who owns the company, my father, and he takes me hostage. And I’ve been kidnapped before and he’s never done it, so basically I teach him how.

Copyright 1996 ECG