Great actors can make just about anything seem realistic. Sometimes that means immersing themselves in a role that is far different than their real-life persona. Other times, it’s about convincingly acting like they’re drunk on screen. Just ask Cameron Diaz, who has played plenty of characters who have let loose on screen. Sometimes, like in The Holiday, she had to pretend she was drinking alcohol when she wasn’t. For at least one role, though, she actually did get drunk on screen.
In The Holiday, Cameron Diaz plays Amanda Woods, a woman who holes herself away in a remote cabin to heal from heartbreak -- which includes, of course, drowning her sorrows. At one point in the movie, we see her stumbling down the stairs of the cabin, wine glass in hand, and later drunkenly rocking out to The Killer’s “Mr. Brightside.”
While it may have seemed like Cameron Diaz was actually drinking in her scenes from The Holiday -- the liquid she drinks looks convincingly like red wine -- it turns out that was not the case at all. The actress told Elle:
That was grape juice, and it was actually pretty terrible. I can do a green juice with pulp and fiber, and I can do a wine that’s jammy and fruity, like Avaline, but I cannot do sweet, sugary grape juice. And I had to drink it take after take. Doing shots on camera is easier, because it’s almost always water. Except when Leslie Mann and I were doing shots in my closet during The Other Woman. That was straight up tequila.
On the long list of things a person may have to do for their job, drinking grape juice for multiple takes probably ranks pretty low. Still, we can’t fault Cameron Diaz for finding it to be a less-than-enjoyable experience. It definitely sounds like she had a better time filming The Other Woman -- even though getting buzzed on tequila may have made remembering her lines a bit more challenging.
These days, Cameron Diaz doesn’t have to do much drinking, real or imaginary, on screen. After securing a position as one of Hollywood’s most popular actresses, starring in films like The Mask, There’s Something About Mary, and Bad Teacher, she officially retired from acting a few years ago.
That doesn’t mean she isn’t keeping busy, though. These days, she’s got her hands full raising her newborn daughter with musician Benji Madden. She's still finding the time to hang out with Hollywood friends like her Charlie’s Angels co-stars Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu -- and she’s even producing her own (real) wine, which we can guess she probably enjoys drinking in lieu of grape juice.
Were you convinced by Cameron Diaz’ not-actually-drunk drunkenness in The Holiday? Let us know in the comments!
