Yahoo Lifestyle Cameron Diaz Was Shocked Netflix Had a Hotline to Report Set Misconduct: ‘Never in My Career Had HR Come to Talk About What’s Inappropriate Behavior’
Cameron Diaz recently appeared on Netflix’s “SkipIntro” podcast and expressed shock over how drastically film sets changed during her 11-year acting retirement. The Netflix original movie “Back in Action” started streaming last month and marked Diaz’s first acting job since 2014’s “Annie” musical adaptation.
“The industry is so different,” Diaz said. “I definitely have to say that #MeToo changed everything. It’s palpable. You walk onto the set and it is different. It wasn’t just like the higher-ups [back then]. There was always just that one guy, you know, on set, that you were like, ‘God, here he comes again.’ There were always layers and layers of inappropriateness that you just kind of had to put up with. As women, you just had to like [laugh it off]. Some people you have to be forceful with and put up the boundaries, and others you can’t give them the time of day.”
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“It has changed. It’s not the same,” Diaz said. “I have never in my entire career had HR come in prior to a movie and talk about what is appropriate and what is inappropriate behavior. And there’s a hotline, which Netflix has, to call anonymously to report any issues that you might be feeling. Wow, that is amazing. The level of security of safety you feel as a woman now on set is. … I never felt that before this film.”
Speaking at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit last year, Diaz stood by her decision to retire from acting for just over a decade.
“For me, it was just something I had to do,” Diaz said at the time. “It felt like something I had to do to reclaim my own life. And I just really didn’t care about anything else.”
“Nobody’s opinion, nobody’s success, no one’s offer, no one’s anything could change my mind about my decision of taking care of myself and building the life that I really wanted to have,” Diaz added. “It really comes to: What are you passionate about? For me, it was to build my family.”
Now that Diaz has returned to acting, many fans are wondering if she will keep booking roles or go back into a decade-long hiatus.
“I don’t know how I view it. It’s hard to say,” Diaz told Empire magazine last month. “If I say it then it becomes this thing. I reserve the right to say no to doing a movie ever again, and I reserve the right to say yes if I decide to. I’m not defining anything. I’m just open to whatever makes sense for me and my family at any given moment.”
“Back in Action” is now available to stream on Netflix.
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