Diaz gets Justin Shrek 2 role
Cameron Diaz has bagged an appearance for boyfriend Justin Timberlake in her new movie Shrek 2.
Timberlake pops up in a poster on her character Princess Fiona’s bedroom wall - under the name “Sir Justin“.
The actress couldn’t resist getting in a jokey reference to the pop superstar.
The celebrity couple are in Cannes for tonight’s premiere of the movie, a sequel to the monster hit of 2001.
The $70m (€59m) film had a pre-premiere screening at the festival today and received a rapturous reception from the audience.
Diaz, 31, will walk down the red carpet tonight with co-stars Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Antonio Banderas, Rupert Everett, Jennifer Saunders and Dame Julie Andrews.
Diaz, Myers and Murphy each picked up a cool 10 million to appear in the sequel.
The first Shrek movie also made its debut at Cannes and went on to gross nearly 500 million worldwide.
It ended with Fiona finding love with green ogre Shrek (Myers), and Shrek 2 begins with the happy couple returning from honeymoon.
Along with Shrek’s donkey sidekick (Murphy), they accept an invitation to visit Fiona’s parents Queen Lillian and King Harold, played by Andrews and John Cleese.
But King Harold is horrified that his daughter has married an ogre and hatches a plan to get her together with Prince Charming (Everett).
Diaz, star of Charlie’s Angels and There’s Something About Mary, was asked to describe her ideal Prince Charming.
The actress carefully avoided any direct mention of Timberlake and said: “Fiona’s Prince Charming is Shrek because she loves what he is on the inside. My ideal Prince Charming would just be whoever that special person is on the inside. And he would have to make me laugh. A big smile, that’s what I like.”
Besides accompanying his girlfriend to tonight’s premiere, Timberlake is in Cannes to promote his own movie career.
He is to make his acting debut in Edison, a corrupt cop drama starring Kevin Spacey, Morgan Freeman and LL Cool J.
In the movie, due for release in the UK early next year, Timberlake plays a young journalist who uncovers an elite unit of corrupt officers.
For the past two days he has been meeting movie executives at the Hotel du Cap, the exclusive hotel outside Cannes where fellow guests this week include Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, Angelina Jolie and Will Smith.
Shrek 2 is in competition for this year’s Palme d’Or, up against heavyweight offerings including Michael Moore’s documentary Fahrenheit 911.
Movie giant DreamWorks today revealed plans for a Shrek 3 and 4 – the third is already in production. The fourth and final instalment will reveal the reason why Shrek was stuck in a swamp in the first film.
Diaz said she loved making Shrek because nobody had to see what she looked like. The actors recorded most of their voice work alone in a studio and today was the first time the whole cast have got together.
“The best thing about Shrek is not having to wear make-up and being able to make faces that will never be seen,” she said.
Absolutely Fabulous star Saunders plays the fairy godmother in the movie and admitted: “I don’t know why I was chosen. I was very flattered though. My character is sort of similar to Ab Fab’s Edina so perhaps that’s why.”
Following the success of films like Shrek and Finding Nemo, the big studios are planning more and more animated movies.
DreamWorks has two due out next year – Madagascar, about a bunch of zoo animals released back into the wild (with Ben Stiller and Chris Rock supplying some of the voices) and a feature length version of Wallace and Gromit.
