“Back in Action” will be test screened this week. This means they have some kind of cut of the film that’s ready for release. This is great news for those hoping to see Diaz back on the big screen, but after the “cursed” experience she had on this film, maybe it’s best to go back to retirement.
Bear with me here, while I try to, in not too many words, recap one of the more troubled film shoots in recent years.
In June 2022, it was reported that Cameron Diaz was coming out of retirement for Seth Gordon’s “Back in Action.” The film was also set to star Jamie Foxx, Andrew Scott, Glenn Close and Kyle Chandler.
Foxx actually persuaded Diaz to come out of retirement to make her first film since 2014, telling ET that he asked her, "'Do you wanna have some fun? Just have some fun!' And I think that's what brought her to it...we're so happy that it's happening and looking forward to it".
“Fun” is the last word I’d use to describe the production of “Back in Action.”
Shooting began in London from December 2, 2022 to April 2023. The DailyMail summarized it best, detailing all the disruptions, characterizing the movie as being “cursed.” An assortment of bad omens inflicted the shooting of “Back in Action,” including an on-set medical emergency, multiple on-set meltdowns, firings, and even total disruption of principle photography due to the discovery of a WW2 bomb.
To put the icing on the cake, with just two weeks left to shoot, Foxx was hospitalized for a medical emergency, and body doubles were used in place of him on the set to film the remaining scenes. He never came back. We’re still not sure what health issues he had, but they were severe enough for his family to say, in a statement, that they were “praying,” but “expecting the worst.”
Foxx, miraculously, got out of his health scare and was released from hospital a few months later. There had been rumors that the film was never completed, but the good news is that they have some kind of cut ready to be seen.
The short version: "Woman Unknown" was a compromise. The jury deadlocked over "Possible Love" and "NAZA," not able to com to terms, fell back on their #3, May el-Toukhy's film.