Cameron Diaz Kicks Royally in `Shrek 3’

(Yonhap photo) This was my first interview with a Hollywood star. Ms. Diaz was gorgeous, though I could tell she's had too much fun in the sun by her bronzed up, slightly wrinkly skin. She impressed me with how down to earth she could be while being very smart about answering some questions and not answering others.

Tall, blonde Cameron Diaz and stocky, green Princess Fiona may not look alike, but are kindred spirits: the modern-day princess kicks butt in ``Shrek the Third’’ in a style reminiscent of ``Charlie’s Angels.’’

In DreamWorks' third of the much-adored animated series, Fiona rescues her beloved husband Shrek instead of waiting around like a helpless damsel in distress.

``Fiona says that if you want something to happen in your life, you have to take care of your self, you can’t just wait for somebody to do it for you,’’ Diaz said during a private press interview at a Seoul hotel on Wednesday.

``I think that I relate completely with that -- that is how I live my life. I am a proactive person and that is a really valuable message, not just for girls but for boys as well and its something that everybody cares about.’’

Yet, Diaz values the tradition and lessons that age-old fairy tales teach. She believes that they are representatives of a certain time and mindset that the mass own at the moment. Hehe she's answering my question here :)

``You need your history, you need to see where we came from. I don't think that we should discard those ideals because that's how we learn,’’ she said during an open news conference.

``One of the things that I love about `Shrek’ is that, the princesses that we all grew up on, we get to bring them with us. That's the genius of these filmmakers. They didn't force us to leave them all behind," she said.

Diaz explained that Snow White and other classic princesses reappear in the film as ``contemporary princesses’’ and are thus ``relevant again. So we get to have them with us without having to let go of them __ so allow them to be authentic, and also represent the women of today.’’

But Fiona does the kicking onscreen in computer graphics, while Diaz has to narrate using her imagination, though she said it ``can never actually create what the amazing animators are creating for the actual film.’’

Further explaining the recording process, the actress said ``The things that are challenging are the things that make it very exciting and fun__ acting out scenes but not in the physical world, in the world that it takes place in, being there with a microphone that is challenging, to create that world in your mind. But it is also a lot of fun to imagine.’’

Because actors do not record together, Diaz did not, for those who are curious, get to work with former boyfriend Justin Timberlake (who voiced Arthur, a new character) __ nor with Mike Myers (Shrek), with whom she shares the majority of her dialogue.

She added that director Chris Miller, who read the parts of the other characters during the recording, was especially hilarious when narrating Donkey.

``I'm glad it doesn't get caught on film what I have to do to put up the voice,’’ laughed Diaz, ``because oftentimes I am sort of just kicking at the air, kissing the back of my hand, or calling out for Shrek and he's not there. So it's actually kind of silly.’’

The blue-eyed actress also said she had creative control over her character. ``The one thing that I made my biggest note was at one point, after Fiona and Shrek get married, there is a bit of a tone that she would take with him that was a little impatient and naggy,


``She all of a sudden became a wife and I was like, that’s not true to her, she bigger than that, she is smarter than that,’’ she said. ``The guys (director and producer) needed a girl’s perspective, and so it was easily changed.

About her first visit to Korea, Diaz said ``there is a lot of culture and growth here,’’ and added ``I am always excited about finding a place that possess those qualities and it would definitely be one of the reasons to draw me back.’’