A CONVERSATION
WITH SETH GORDON
(Writer / Director / Producer)
NF: What was the inspiration behind Back in Action?
The idea came to me a few years ago when I was at a Dodgers game with Beau Bauman, who would eventually produce the film, and it hit me almost fully formed: What would happen if a spy had a kid? Wouldn’t they have to leave their job, become anonymous, and go off the grid in order to have that family?
I thought about Jason Bourne, about Mr. and Mrs. Smith, or a hypothetical Mr. and Mrs. Bond. What would it mean if you had this treasure trove of spy skills at your disposal when the challenges of parenthood come up? Wouldn’t you, at some point, feel obligated to put those skills to use if, let’s say, your daughter was lying to you or wouldn’t tell you who her boyfriend is?
I thought that would be a pretty fun way to force them out of retirement. The very people they were trying to protect — their kids, who know nothing about their real spy parents — accidentally push them out of hiding, and then the truth
comes out as they’re all on the run together. It was something we haven’t really seen before.
The other contributing factor was that I wanted my son, who was around 11-years- old at the time, to be able to see a movie I made. One of the characters, Leo, is based on him. He’s a teenager now, so the action is really fun and exciting for him. And he loves Nigel, who was a late addition to the last few acts of the script.
NF: This is your first time directing a film that you co-wrote, correct?
It is! Beau has been so supportive of me wearing different hats over the years. He knew writing something original was something I wanted to do, and I asked him if he knew of anybody I could write it with, just because I’d never been through that full process. So he introduced me to Brendan O’Brien, and he and I wrote the spec draft together. Then I took it over from there during the long process before we actually began shooting.
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Our intention from the start was to make a big, exciting,
family-friendly action-comedy that I could watch with my wife
and my kids, that the whole family could enjoy. There’s not
enough of that out there these days. I’m very proud of Back
in Action because we think it accomplishes everything we set
out to do — which was to make a movie with fresh action, hard
laughs, and a whole lot of heart. —
NF: Did any other aspects of your personal family life or the rigors of parenting in this day and age make its way into the film?
For sure. The central conflict of the movie is essentially between the parents and the daughter. And while I think that’s a relationship that many parents immediately understand, for me personally, it was borne out of me witnessing the relationship between my sister and my parents. She’s 10 years older than I am, but I was old enough to understand these arguments that were happening when she was in high school, and it seemed like they fought about everything at that time.
NF: How did Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz end up getting involved in the project? How were you able to pull off the impossible coup of getting Cameron out of retirement and the two of them back together?
I had worked with Jamie before on Horrible Bosses and I loved the idea of him playing Matt. I was so excited when he said yes. Then, when it came to casting Emily, the idea came from Jamie and his camp: What do you think about Cameron Diaz? And I said, “That would be amazing. Are you kidding?! But…isn’t she retired?” She was just perfect for the part, though. There was no real debate.
It was a lucky combination of this being the right story and role and her relationship with Jamie that got her to come out of retirement, and she’s amazing as Emily. She did all the hard work around prepping the stunts and the many hours of training that requires. All the action, almost all of it is her except for when she’s jumping off a boat on the Thames or anything that could’ve been truly dangerous. It’s all her otherwise!
NF: This is Jamie and Cameron’s third collaboration with each other since Annie in 2014 and Any Given Sunday in 1999. What was it like directing this incredible duo? Was there a shorthand and camaraderie between the two of them that allowed you to take advantage of their natural chemistry?
Absolutely. Above all, for me, it was about creating as many moments as I could, to get out of the way as much as I possibly could, and to let them play because they have all that amazing chemistry together. It really just came down to identifying where in the movie would be good for that. Where could we set up a situation where they could play a little more and not necessarily have it be interspersed with punches?
A perfect example was the scene where Matt, Emily, and the kids are in the car driving to the petrol station and they start jamming to “Push It!” I didn’t warn them that I was going to play that song. I had a little microphone that I could use to talk to them when they’re in the car and I had Spotify on my phone, so I just started putting songs on without telling them. Songs I knew the kids wouldn’t know, but had a good chance of Jamie and Cameron knowing them. They knew the entirety of “Push It!” and the rest is history.
