Netflix's first big release of 2025, the spy action-comedy Back in Action, has been doing extremely well since its January 17 launch date, hitting over 46.8 million views within its first three days of release, which makes it the streamer's biggest opening weekened for an English-language film since 2022's The Adam Project.
Upon its release, we were able to catch up with director Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses; Identity Thief; Baywatch) to talk about the family entertainer that stars Jamie Foxx (Spider-Man: No Way Home; Baby Driver; Collateral) and Cameron Diaz (Knight and Day; Charlie's Angels; Shrek) in the lead roles.
He walks us through uniting the iconic movie stars and their instant chemistry, shooting in London, and a whole lot more.
In addition to Foxx and Diaz, the supporting cast features McKenna Roberts (Euphoria; Skyscraper), Rylan Jackson (Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves), Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights; The Wolf of Wall Street), Glenn Close (Fatal Attraction, Guardians of the Galaxy), Jamie Demetriou (Fleabag, Stath Lets Flats), Andrew Scott (Fleabag, His Dark Materials), Fola Evans-Akingbola (Siren, Call My Agent!), Robert Besta (The Man in the High Castle, The Zone of Interest), Bashir Salahuddin (Top Gun: Maverick, Sherman's Showcase), and Tom Brittney (Grantchester, Outlander).
Watch our full video interview with director Seth Gordon below and/or keep scrolling to read the transcription. Plus, please remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more exclusive content!
ROHAN: This film seems like it comes from a relatively personal place - where did the idea for the film initially come from?
SETH: Yeah, it was an original idea of mine that my friend, Beau Bauman, who produced the movie, completely supported. He was always like, you gotta write, you gotta write, and this was an idea - We were at a baseball game, and I told him just the very beginning of the premise, which was off the top of my head, like it was just like a flash, where we were at a Dodgers game, and I just imagined Jason Bourne on the base paths with a Babybjörn on with the baby. And, I was like, Huh, what if Jason Bourne had a kid? What would he do? Would he have to quit the business? I was just sort of wondering out loud, and Beau was like, that's a [frick]ing movie, man, that's a movie. Did you just think of that? And, we just started riffing from there, and it became, what if it's a couple, what if it's kids, not kid, you know, and it evolved from there. A lot of the personal story stuff, definitely infused family dynamic and some of the complications, and, yeah, it was just a blast to create.
ROHAN: We get to see the return of Cameron Diaz in this film - what was the process in getting her onboard?
SETH: It really started with Jamie, because they're old friends, and I think he honestly didn't want to get anybody’s hopes up. I think he had the idea that it could possibly happen, but he wanted to set the table, and, you know, lay the groundwork. And when I finally heard that it's possible this could happen, I got so excited, because, like action and comedy, I don't know anybody better than her. She is just the dream. He clearly can do that too. And, so, what really blew me away is when they were together, the sort of electric energy and their riffing with each other and building on each other was really amazing to witness. So, I felt just lucky that he had that idea and that he could lay the groundwork for it to happen.
ROHAN: The finale features a great sequence in London, on the River and the Tate Modern - what do you remember most about filming there?
SETH: Mostly just freezing to death. *laughs* And, I want to give appropriate credit to our second unit, who just killed it on that sequence. It's really difficult, really hard to light stuff at night on a moving body of water. It was amazing what they were able to capture. We planned it sort of within an inch of its life, because getting the permits for the different parts of London is really difficult, and so, we had to be really, really specific, plus the tides going up and down, which affects what you can shoot, tremendously, so, it was a real big effort from all departments to make that happen, and challenged all of us. But, I think it was worth it, like it's such a kinetic part of the movie, and really cool.
ROHAN: Jamie and Cameron have such great chemistry - when you have two movie stars like that coming together and clicking from Day One, does it make your job that much easier?
SETH: Yeah, it's sort of the whole point, like it not only makes the job easier, it changes what the job should be, because now you really need to make sure to capture that amazing thing. Like, yes, we got to get the story, yes, I wrote it, and I care about it, but I also could recognize that when they come together, it's amazing. Like you said, the chemistry, it's just extraordinary, their dynamic, so it became about making sure we don't miss that.
Years after giving up life as CIA spies to start a family, Emily and Matt find themselves dragged back into the world of espionage when their cover is blown.
Back in Action is now streaming, exclusively on Netflix!