Cameron Diaz Was Warned That ‘There’s Something About Mary’ Would End Her Career
Every Hollywood star has that one role that changes everything, and for Cameron Diaz, it’s hard to look past ‘There’s Something About Mary’. The Farrelly brothers’ outrageous comedy turned her into one of the biggest names of the late ’90s, but the road to playing Mary Jensen was far from straightforward.
Diaz had already made a splash a few years earlier opposite Jim Carrey in ‘The Mask’, the 1994 action comedy that put her on Hollywood’s radar. While Carrey quickly cemented his place among the era’s biggest movie stars, Diaz was still building her career and only about 5 years into acting when the next big opportunity came along.
That opportunity came with a surprising warning. When Diaz was offered the role in 1997, with production set to begin that December, her agent and manager reportedly told her not to seriously consider it, calling the project an insane move and warning that it could end her career.
Diaz trusted her gut instead. She has said that when she first read the script, she laughed so hard she literally fell off her bed, and the moment that did it wasn’t one you might expect. It was the scene in which Mary’s brother Warren, played by W. Earl Brown, punches Matt Dillon’s character Pat Healy in the throat.
That single gag convinced her to sign on, and Bobby Farrelly later explained that the directors didn’t want to pressure her into the decision. Interestingly, Diaz was the only actor attached to the film from the very start.
The filmmakers approached Owen Wilson and Jon Stewart for the lead before Ben Stiller ultimately landed the role of Ted, rounding out a cast that also included Lee Evans and Chris Elliott. Even after saying yes, Diaz had her reservations. She has admitted she didn’t want to film the now-infamous hair gel scene because she worried it would undermine Mary as a character.
That moment, where Mary’s bangs are transformed into a stiff wave sticking straight up, went on to become one of the most memorable images in comedy history. In hindsight, it’s hard to imagine the film without it.
The gamble paid off spectacularly. Released on July 15, 1998, the R-rated comedy earned around $369 million worldwide against a $23 million production budget, and notably made more money internationally than at home.
Critics and audiences embraced it too. In 2000, readers of Total Film voted it the 4th greatest comedy film of all time, and it holds an 84% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, though its audience score sits at a more modest 61%.
The film’s staying power has been proven again in the streaming era. Back in 2025, it climbed Hulu’s charts and landed at number 6, introducing the raunchy rom-com to a whole new generation of viewers. The success set the stage for a string of hits. Diaz went on to star in ‘Charlie’s Angels’, ‘The Holiday’ and ‘Annie’, where she played Miss Hannigan.
She later stepped back from acting, revealing her retirement during a 2018 conversation with Selma Blair and Christina Applegate. Diaz eventually returned in Netflix’s ‘Back in Action’ opposite Jamie Foxx, while making it clear she reserves the right to say no to movies in the future.
Looking back, ignoring her team’s advice may have been the smartest move of her career. After the way ‘There’s Something About Mary’ turned out, Diaz has every reason to keep trusting her own instincts.
Would you have taken the risk on ‘There’s Something About Mary’?
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