Cameron Diaz Says I Do to a Fake Marriage in a New Rom-Com
After more than a decade away from rom-coms, Cameron Diaz is back, set to lead Amazon MGM Studios’ untitled fake-marriage comedy from Stephen Merchant, who will also co-star.
Cameron Diaz is heading back to rom-coms. Yep, finally. More than a decade after The Other Woman, the Golden Globe nominee and star of The Holiday has signed on to lead an untitled fake-marriage comedy for Amazon MGM Studios — with Emmy winner Stephen Merchant pulling triple duty as writer, director, and co-star.
The hook
A workaholic Brit (Merchant) who works at a swanky New York hotel needs a wife to keep up appearances. He cuts a deal with a struggling stand-up comic (Diaz) who badly needs health insurance. The arrangement starts as pure business and slides into actual romance.
Who is making this thing
- Studio: Amazon MGM Studios
- Director: Stephen Merchant (also starring)
- Writers: Stephen Merchant and John Butler
- Producers: Lee Eisenberg and Stephen Merchant; Point Grey Pictures team Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, James Weaver, and Josh Fage
- Executive producer: Natalie Sandy
- Fun connection: This reunites Diaz with Rogen after their 2011 team-up in The Green Hornet
Why this matters
Diaz stepping back into romantic comedy is the headline. She has popped up in action lately, but the rom-com lane is where a lot of people fell for her, so pairing her with Merchant (The Office, and a guy who knows his way around dry, awkward humor) makes sense. Also, the premise is clean and classic: a marriage-of-convenience setup with a modern, slightly cynical twist (health insurance as the love catalyst is about as American as it gets). Deadline has the project pegged as untitled for now, but it is moving with real pieces in place.
What Diaz has on deck
Diaz returned to screens with Back in Action and is keeping the momentum going. She is currently shooting Bad Day, an action comedy for Netflix. She will also voice Fiona again in Shrek 5, which is dated for June 30, 2027. And she has Apple’s dark comedy Outcome lined up with Keanu Reeves and Jonah Hill, directed by Hill.
Bottom line: a Diaz-Merchant fake marriage that turns real, backed by Point Grey and Amazon MGM, sounds like a straightforward crowd-pleaser — and a smart way to mark her rom-com comeback.