CAMERON DIAZ plays Amanda Woods in THE HOLIDAY
Please begin by describing your character in THE HOLIDAY?
CD: My character Amanda Woods is just like every other girl. She has one part of her life all tied up…at work, that works and this other part of her life is a total mess at all times. She has her career figured out, she is doing something that she loves, she is very successful but she hasn’t quite figured out how to make love work. Her biggest challenges are that she hasn’t taken time to know who she is.
Is one of the messages in the film that true love can often be elusive?
CD: I think it is hard out there. You don’t fall in love every day. You don’t fall in love with every person that you meet. It’s special. Like Nancy Meyers says…when you see someone walking down the street holding hands you think…’Gosh, that’s so great. They found each other!’ It is something to be celebrated for sure. Our world is so complicated that it does take a lot to make things work. But I think that the basis of all of it is that you can’t really please someone until you know how to please yourself. You can’t really be happy with someone else until you are happy with yourself. That’s what Amanda doesn’t understand. She doesn’t understand that she doesn’t know who she is. She doesn’t even know how she functions; outside of what she does on a day-to-day basis she has no idea. She hasn’t read the books that she wants to read, she hasn’t gone anywhere, she hasn’t taken any time off. She doesn’t even know what she would do if she was sitting in a room by herself. She goes through this whole voyage of self-discovery. She is in this little cottage in the middle of nowhere; going ‘what now, what do I do now?’ It is through all that process that she figures out who she is. When she does that she realises that she is actually capable of being open to the possibilities of having real love come to her.
There is a great scene in THE HOLIDAY when Jude Law breaks down in tears. What was that sequence like for the two of you?
CD: What is so great is that Jude is not afraid to cry. In this film he’s not afraid to let his character fall in love. A lot of guys are like…I’m not going to fall in love. They don’t give themselves over to that and he really does and it’s wonderful and his character is a self-proclaimed weeper and he makes light of it. But there is a moment where he really does have his moment where he is feeling it…and it’s lovely. It was very sweet.
Another emotion that we see in THE HOLIDAY is anger when your character punches Ed Burns. Did that feel good and did you really connect?
CD: It’s movie magic; it’s all tricks, angles and such. Eddie was great, a real trouper on that. We had such a great crew of professionals who could make it look like I made that deep connection. But no, I didn’t actually hit him. I was miles away.
But if you had hit him it would have hurt him because you looked as if you knew what you were doing.
CD: Yeah! I threw a few punches here and there. He took it on the chin. He took it good. Eddie is fantastic in the film. I wish he were in it more.
The idea of leaving sunny California for miserable, cold England is interesting. Is it something that you’d actually do for Christmas?
CD: Oh for sure! I am from Southern California so most of my Christmases are big blue skies with billowy clouds and 70 degrees. It is always crisp and beautiful. I would love to wake up one morning with just a little flurry of snow outside the window for Christmas.
If you were in England for Christmas what might be on your menu?
CD: I don’t know why I have not discovered this before in the many years that I have been coming to England…scones, clotted cream and preserves! I don’t know why that has not been in my stomach. Why I was not introduced to that sooner – it’s the most beautiful thing.
So that would be the ideal present from someone from this country who was trying to woo you…scones and clotted cream?
CD: Yeah, scones and real clotted cream. I did this thing that I called a ‘knife scone’. When the scones were all gone and there was still cream and preserves left, I would scoop that all up with the knife and make a knife scone! Then I’d eat it all. There was a scene that got cut out of the film when I am in a café and there is a big thing of scones and clotted cream in front of me. We shot it for a week. I’d take the top off the cream every time.
Are you a collector of DVDs and what do you like about them?
CD:I love DVDs because you can push ‘pause’. I love that ‘pause’ feature. I also appreciate all the specials on them. It’s always great to see a director’s extra cut…the scenes that did not make it to the theatrical release and the process of the filmmaker. The commentary is also great.
DVDs also let you dip into classic movies.
CD: Yes that’s true. There is a lot of restoration happening. It is a great way to preserve films by just having the DVD in your collection.
Question & Answer Text Copyright Universal Pictures UK
