Film of the Week: Cameron Diaz in My Sister's Keeper
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After years of playing the ditzy blonde known for having one of the broadest smiles in Hollywood, Cameron Diaz is moving on.
Following roles in comedies such as Charlie’s Angels and last year’s What Happens In Vegas, she admits that it was new territory acting in the big-screen adaptation of Jodi Picoult’s heart-wrenching novel My Sister’s Keeper.
Reflecting on her portrayal of mother Sara Fitzgerald, whose child is dying from leukaemia, she explains that she had to grow into the role.
"There was a certain level of maturity that had to come with playing this role, that I think I had to step up to, which I was happy and thankful for," she says, picking her words carefully.
In the film, Fitzgerald chooses to have a second child by IVF as a blood and marrow donor for her first daughter Kate. The movie co-stars 13-year-old Abigail Breslin, best known for her Oscar-nominated turn in 2007’s Little Miss Sunshine, as the youngest daughter Anna, who sues her parents for the medical rights to her own body, when she’s expected to donate a kidney to her sister Kate (Sofia Vassilieva).
Cameron, 36 and single after a string of boyfriends including Justin Timberlake, admits it was a "touchy" role to take on, but she felt ready for it: "It was a nice stepping stone in the experience of life."
She speaks so passionately about her character Sara, it’s easy to see she put a lot of herself into the film.
"I feel like Sara is a warrior," she gushes. "She doesn’t have a moment not to be vigilant. She can’t be apathetic one second of the day.
"She has a child who’s dying and she has been through a decade of this vigilance. So, she’s just sort of pushing through this."
To research the role, Cameron met mothers with sick children who were going through the same experience as Sara.
"What’s so wonderful with this film is that you see how it’s not one person’s story – it’s not just a mother losing a daughter, it’s a sister losing a sister or a brother losing a sister, a family losing their family together, all of them suffering separately as well as together."
The film explores the feelings of each family member and the complex relationships between them – and, of course, how we cope with the prospect of death. "For Sara, what she is fighting against is the inevitable," Cameron says.
In this age of test-tube babies, the film also throws up the moral quandary of whether it’s right to have a child as an organ donor for a sick sibling.
Cameron says she didn’t make the film as a "moral statement" and that in her discussions with parents, the unanimous answer was that it would be a "tough decision to make".
It’s pretty heavy stuff and Cameron is clearly quite emotional, the smile’s faded, so it’s time for a lighter question.
She seems to have ignored the old adage about never working with animals and children. But Cameron doesn’t bite. Instead, she’s full of praise for her young co-stars.
Cameron gets an equally glowing report from the two girls, who say she took on a "motherly role" on set and off set, making snacks for the cast in her trailer.
Cameron grew up on the golden beaches of San Diego and became a model after leaving high school at 16.
She got her first acting break at 21, when she auditioned for The Mask without any formal training. Over the next 10 years, she worked her way up to become the highest- earning woman in Hollywood, raking in $15m (£9.1m) a movie, and one of the most written about. Today, she’s passionate about her family – and says the film echoes her bond with her older sister Chimene.
"It’s one of the most intense bonds, being with somebody from the time you enter the world and being that close to one another."
She recently said she wouldn’t rule out having children of her own one day, but for now she’s happy just to be an aunt.
"My sister has four children. And watching her kids with each other is just amazing," Cameron says, with a broad smile.
