Cameron Diaz recalls ‘hilarious’ reason she said yes to There’s something About Mary

Laugh-out-loud scene convinced actor to take the part after reading the script

Cameron Diaz has shared the scene in There’s Something About Mary that was so funny it convinced her to do the film after reading the script.

While everyone might remember the 1998 romantic comedy for the notorious “hair gel” scene, it was a different moment that tickled Diaz.

In a recent interview with Vogue, the Charlie’s Angels actor said: “The first time I read the script I literally fell off my bed laughing,” going on to describe the sequence that clinched it.

“There’s this description in the scene where my brother, [W Earl Brown], literally punches [Matt Dillon] in the throat. For some reason the thought of him punching him in the throat was the funniest thing to me. I started laughing so hard I literally fell off the bed, and knew I had to do the movie.”

The classic Farrelly brothers film starred Ben Stiller as Diaz’s love interest, who attempts to win her heart while in competition with a bevy of other suitors.

A huge hit, the film was the highest grossing comedy that year, and the fourth highest-grossing film overall.

Diaz was only five years into her acting career when she took the iconic role of Mary Jensen, following a star turn in The Mask opposite Jim Carrey.

The 52-year-old former model stepped away from acting in around 2014 and hasn’t performed in film or TV over the past decade, calling herself “retired” in 2018.

“For me, it was just something I had to do,” she said of the decision during Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit in October last year. “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.”

She said her priorities had shifted to “building my family”; Diaz is married to Good Charlotte lead guitarist Benji Madden, with whom she has had two children, born in 2019 and 2024 respectively.

However, Diaz returned to screens earlier this month, starring opposite Jamie Foxx in espionage action comedy Back in Action for Netflix.