KEY POINTS:
Cameron Diaz wanted to make What Happens in Vegas, a romantic comedy that pairs her with Ashton Kutcher, ever since her first look at the script. "I laughed when I read it," she recalls by phone from the set of the drama My Sister's Keeper, "and, if I laugh reading it just off the page, that's a good sign. I just liked the tone, the way that these two people related to each other, the humour surrounding their circumstances and how they handle it.
"I knew, as I received the script, that Ashton was looking at it as well," Diaz continues, "so I was able to keep him in mind as I read it. I thought it was hilarious, just picturing him saying those lines and doing the action. I was really a fan of his as a comedian and an actor, and I thought it would be a lot of fun to work with him."
In cinemas this Thursday, What Happens in Vegas casts Diaz as Joy, a high-strung career woman dumped by her boyfriend, and Kutcher as Jack, a fun-loving womaniser fired from his family business. Joy and Jack venture separately to Las Vegas and wind up drunk, married and the joint winners of a $3 million slot-machine jackpot. The catch is that, by the time their win is verified, they've fallen out of love and, in fact, hate each other. The situation deteriorates even further when a judge (Dennis Miller) freezes their assets and orders them to spend six months as a married couple before they're allowed to get a divorce.
Of course, even as they torture, torment and embarrass each other it becomes increasingly clear - especially to Joy's pal Tipper (Lake Bell) and Jack's buddy Hater (Rob Corddry) - that Joy and Jack belong together. "We had to have the 'romantic' in the romantic comedy," Diaz says. "We wanted to make it funny, but we also wanted to make it realistic and have people care about these characters.
"It was important to us for them to be real people," she says. "It wasn't so extravagant or over the top, to the place where you're like, 'How do they recover from that?'. You want people to relate to it.
"I think everyone's been in that position, where their legs have been kicked out from underneath them and they're just trying to find their way, and where they find their strength is in unlikely places."
According to screenwriter Dana Fox, the movie is an amalgam of several ideas she'd been working on. "I kept hearing the phrase 'what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas' and thought it would make a great title for a film.
"Then, out of nowhere, Britney Spears goes and gets married in Las Vegas and it's like, yeah, one of the things you can do in Vegas is get married on a whim, sometimes even to a total stranger. Of course, the other thing you could do there is win a ton of money. And then it hit me... what if both of these things happened in one night?"
A film like What Happens in Vegas soars or sinks on its chemistry. Diaz reports that she and Kutcher got on as well behind the camera as they did in front of it. "We knew if we were going to do it, that we'd be in a partnership, and that made it easy. The dynamic of the characters, two very competitive people, really helped build the chemistry between Jack and Joy. I think we tried to one-up each other as we went along," she admits.
She certainly had a great time making it. "I laughed from beginning to end, and it's one of those things where I didn't want it to end, but there's enough to feel good about where it wraps up."
Though it's hard to believe, Diaz first exploded onto the Hollywood scene way back in 1994. That's when the striking model-turned-actress appeared opposite Jim Carrey in the surprise hit The Mask. Since then, she's starred in a diverse lot of films running the gamut from dark comedies such as The Last Supper (1995) and Being John Malkovich (1999) to gross-out comedy There's Something About Mary (1998), with detours into drama for Feeling Minnesota (1996) and The Invisible Circus (2001). She's also made stints into action (and big-budget paydays) in hits such as Charlie's Angels and its sequel.
"It feels like that cliche, where people say that it's like it was just yesterday, but it also sometimes feels like it (The Mask) was so long ago," Diaz says. "Even though I'm so much more experienced now, the great thing about filmmaking is that it's a new experience every day. And I've been fortunate to be able to play so many different characters, tell so many different stories, work in so many different parts in the world and work with so many different actors and directors.
"I had no expectations even back then," she adds, "and I still don't now. I'm just thankful for the experiences I've gotten to have." Along the way, Diaz has become an A-list movie star. At 35 she's one of Hollywood's highest-paid actresses, having cracked the US$20-million mark for Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003) and commanded an estimated $15 million per picture since then.
"I can imagine how it must seem from the outside, because it's hard to understand what it's like," Diaz says. "But I think it's different for everyone. I feel fortunate for being here, and this idea of commanding anything is... I have been fortunate to do good business with large companies, with big studios. That's the business we're in. "I have been fortunate to reach that position, and my feeling is that, whenever I go into any business deal, I want to deliver for them and do the best job I possibly can, because we're in a partnership. Every movie I make, I'm in that position. But every film I'm in, regardless of how much I'm paid or who it is I think is going to see the film, I want to come in and bring the most that I have as a business partner, as an actor, to deliver something that everyone is happy with, including myself.
"It's a job," the actress says. "This is how I make my living, and I take that very seriously. I don't think of it as 'I'm a movie star who makes a ton of money and I can just do whatever I want or behave a certain way'. I take this very seriously."
But life as a star at Diaz's level comes with a price. Photographers follow her everywhere. Her romances with Matt Dillon and Justin Timberlake, for example, have been tabloid fodder. So have her family tragedies: A week after this interview, her 58-year-old father, Emilio, died unexpectedly of complications from pneumonia on April 18. She dropped out of a heavy promotional schedule for the film worldwide, production on My Sister's Keeper is on hold and Diaz is now in seclusion with her family, grieving their loss.
"There's always a trade-off," Diaz says of the price of fame. "I think it's absolutely worth it. I have the best life ever. I'm so blessed. I feel like I've made the right decision in pursuing this life and I'm very happy with it.
"I may have my moments when I feel that the paparazzi are overwhelming," she admits, "but at the same time my comments come with a certain endearment, because they are a part of my life. They're there.
"I believe that you just make the best of the situation," Diaz concludes. "You adapt. My life is amazing, so I don't have anything to complain about."
GIVEAWAY
We've got 10 double movie passes to What Happens in Vegas to give away. To be in the draw to win, email us your name, address and daytime phone number to view@heraldonsunday.co.nz (with Vegas in the subject line). Or put the same details on the back of an envelope and send to: Vegas Giveaway, View magazine, Herald on Sunday, PO Box 3290, Auckland. Entries close 1pm, Thursday May 8. Winners' names published in View, May 11.
