Cameron Diaz Unretires From Acting for an Annie (2014) Reunion

The grapes at the Avaline vineyard will simply have to wait to be plucked or wither on the vine, because Cameron Diaz is going back to acting, baby. Diaz stars opposite Jamie Foxx in Back in Action for Netflix. Read on for the cast list, production woes, plot, and release date.

Diaz will break her cinematic fallow period (vineyard term?) with a Netflix action-comedy called Back in Action — which has nothing to do with the 2003 Looney Tunes action-comedy of the same name. Diaz will star opposite Jamie Foxx, whom she shared the screen with in her last film role to date as Miss Hannigan in 2014’s Annie. And because the only thing everyone agrees on and loves more than the 2014 version of Annie is Tom Brady, Foxx surprised Diaz with a call from the quarterback, because he’s “relatively successful at unretiring.” Ha! Jamie Foxx surprising someone with a three-way call? How very Lizzie McGuire of him.

But Tom Brady is not in this movie. Exclude him from this narrative! Back in Action instead co-stars Kyle Chandler, Glenn Close, Andrew Scott, Jamie Demetriou, McKenna Roberts and Rylan Jackson.

Back in Action very nearly didn’t happen. In April 2023, Jamie Foxx was hospitalized for an undisclosed illness that he says left him unable to walk for a time. I wouldn’t wish what went through on my worst enemy because it’s tough when it’s almost over, when you see the tunnel…” Foxx said at a Critics Choice Association event. “I saw the tunnel, I didn’t see the light!” Production briefly halted on Back in Action, but Foxx was able to return to work.

There were other reports that the set of Back in Action were fraught. The Sun claimed Foxx had a “meltdown” and fired four crew members, as well as being scammed out of money and halting production. Diaz has refuted these claims.

Art imitates life in Back in Action, as the plot follows Diaz and Foxx being forced out of retirement. Not from acting, from the CIA. “Years after giving up life as CIA spies to start a family,” the logline reads, “Emily and Matt find themselves dragged back into the world of espionage when their cover is blown.” The comedy was co-written by Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses) and Brendan O’Brien (Neighbors), with Gordon directing.

Back in Action comes to Netflix November 15.