Diaz fought real personal tragedy for 'Sisters'

 

 

Cameron Diaz had to deal with a close family member's death on and off the set of "My Sister's Keeper." (Sidney Baldwin/Warner Bros. Pictures)

Two major emotional bombs rocked the set of “My Sister’s Keeper,” the tragedy-drama co-starring Cameron Diaz, Abigail Breslin and Sofia Vassilieva.

Based on Jodi Picoult’s bestseller, “My Sister’s Keeper,” opening Friday (June 26), chronicles 10 years in the lives of parents (Diaz and Jason Patric) dealing with the weakening condition of a daughter fighting leukemia (Vassilieva).  They make a desperate attempt to engineer a perfect medical match by having a third child.

Oscar nominee Breslin (“Little Miss Sunshine”) takes on the pivotal role of Anna, a child conceived, she says, as spare parts for her older sister.

The first emotional bomb that landed on set involved a playful conspiracy by Diaz and director Nick Cassavetes to get 12-year-old Breslin to drop the verbal F-bomb.  It was an attempt to keep the mood light while shooting the story of a family dealing with a child’s terminal illness.

 “It was all in good fun.  We didn’t really want her to swear,” Diaz says, flanked by Breslin and Vassilieva  in a small hotel conference room in a Santa Monica beach hotel.

The second emotional bomb was devastating and all too real.  The sudden death of Emilio Diaz, Cameron’s father, in April last year not only halted production, it turned the film’s star into what Cassavetes calls “a ragdoll.”

 “Even when we got the call on set, everyone truly believed that it was some fluke thing and Cameron had to go visit her sick dad but she would be back the next day. We were all stunned to find out that he died so suddenly,” the director says.

 Production was halted for about two weeks.  Cassavetes says it would be great if he could say that some weird kismet allowed something good to come from the senior Diaz’s death.  But it didn’t.

 “She was like the rest of us; a ragdoll and unsure and didn’t know what country she was in and really wasn’t fully able to comprehend what had happened to her,” the former director of “Alpha Dog” says.

 Diaz got through it, though, thanks to moral support from her young co-stars.

 “I was really, really fortunate to have these people to come back to.  The show must go on,” Diaz says.

 “Literally, these girls helped me, and Nick was amazing.  That’s really the only way I was able to do it,” she adds.

Diaz broke into feature films through wild comedy, not drama.  Her breakthrough came opposite Jim Carrey in the offbeat superhero fantasy “The Mask” (1994).  She’ll always be remembered as the “hair gel” girl and title character of “There’s Something About Mary” (1998).

 Diaz is playing a mother for the first time in “My Sister’s Keeper.”  It never crossed her mind to worry about that.

 “I’m not 25 anymore,” she says.  “It’s not something I’m worried about.  I could have a 16-year-old child.  I might have if I was a different person.  I always say I’ve got a few out there I don’t know about.

 “I’m just kidding.  It’s a joke.”

(EDITOR'S NOTE:  In Houston, Dallas and Austin, look for this interview in the July issue of ENVY Magazine or -- as of July 1 -- find it at the ENVY Web site.)