Cameron Diaz recalls ‘layers of inappropriateness’ on movie sets

Old Hollywood: good riddance.

Cameron Diaz says she regularly dealt with “layers and layers of inappropriateness” from colleagues in the entertainment industry before she stepped away from acting in 2014.

The “Back in Action” star, 52, opened up about the lack of “safety” and “security” she felt earlier in her career during an interview with Netflix’s “Skip Intro” podcast published Jan. 17.

“The level of security and safety you feel as a woman now on set is — I had never felt that before this film,” Diaz told host Krista Smith.

“The industry is so different. I mean, I definitely have to say that the #MeToo movement changed everything. It’s palpable.”

The “Charlie’s Angels” actress added, “You walk onto the set and it is different.”

“It wasn’t just the higher-ups, you know what I mean? There was always just, like, that one guy, you know, on set that you were always going, ‘Oh God, here he comes again.’”

Diaz continued, “There was always layers and layers of inappropriateness” that women had to laugh off and endure.

“Some people you have to be forceful with and put up the boundaries. Others, you can’t give them the time of day,” she recalled. “But it has changed. It’s not the same.”

Comparing her experience working on Netflix’s “Back in Action,” Diaz’s first movie since 2014’s “Annie,” to other projects she’s been in, the actress said the difference was night and day.

“I’ve never in my entire career had HR come in prior to a movie and talk about what is appropriate and inappropriate behavior and a hotline, which Netflix has, to call anonymously to report any issues that you might be feeling,” Diaz shared. “I was like, ‘Wow, that is amazing.’”

“#MeToo happened several years after I stopped making movies,” added Diaz, who began her career as a model before landing her big break opposite Jim Carrey in the 1994 movie “The Mask.”

As Diaz put it, her generation of women coming up in Hollywood were “so conditioned to walking the tightrope.”

“And tightropes are dangerous,” she explained. “But when you get good at walking the tightrope and you can, like, manage it all, there is some sort of empowerment that you feel. But it’s a false sense of empowerment, because what you’re really doing is just staving off the inevitable, which is at any moment something could crush you that’s bigger than you.

“That’s not safe. That’s not safety. That’s just you doing your best and pushing what we have as women, which is power in ourselves, to not be crushed as much as you can.”

She went on, “But here we are: We’re on a more level playing field than we’ve ever been on, and it feels different. And that’s a really important thing. That’s truly a powerful thing.”

“Back in Action” starring Diaz and Jamie Foxx is available to stream now on Netflix.