‘Back in Action’ director on Glenn Close, Jamie Demetriou makeout scenes

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Back in action.

All explosions and fight sequences in Back in action couldn’t hold a candle to the Glenn Close and Jamie Demetrious makeout scenes.

The action comedy from director Seth Gordon features the formidable Close as Ginny, an MI6 operative vet and the estranged mother of Cameron Diaz’s character, Emily. Demetriou provides the comic relief as Nigel, the clever, much younger lover of Ginny with ambitions to become a spy – and he actually comes in (albeit accidentally) with a big save when ex-CIA spy Emily and husband Matt (Jamie Foxx) duking it out with friend-turned-foe Chuck (Kyle Chandler).

Throughout the film, Ginny and Nigel pack on the PDA with passionate makeout scenes, much to the horror of Emily and her family.

“They were ravenous,” says Gordon Weekly entertainmentlaughing at Close and Demetrious’ willingness to go all in. “There was only one scripted kiss, but they were all over each other — so much so that I had to remove some of them. It was like, whoa. But they were perfect for each other.”

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He adds of Nigel: “I wrote that role for Jamie and Jamie alone, as I had loved him too Flea bag. He was cast before Andrew (Scott, as Emily and Matt’s former colleague Baron). I found it kind of too close to the production. The moment they came near each other, it was like fireworks. They were just so good together.”

Of the truly stellar ensemble, “We lucked out across the board, really on this movie,” Gordon says. Coaxing Diaz out of retirement was also surreal. “It all starts with Jamie,” says the director. “He had been friends with her and worked with her on a couple of films. I think he must have known that there was an openness to the possibility of reading things. And this one really coincidentally spoke to an echo of her own life: that the character was in retirement and there was a reason she had to come back. And her experience as a mother now too.”

“They said to me, ‘Would you possibly be open to the idea of ​​Cameron?’ And I was like, ‘What? You’re making me?'” Gordon recalls. “She wasn’t someone I thought I was going to consider as an option. It was too good to be true.”

Back in action now streaming on Netflix.