The action-comedy film, ‘Back in Action’, which features American actors Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz, was released on the online streaming service, Netflix, in January of this year.
In its opening three days, it was watched almost 50 million times worldwide, making it one of the business’ biggest hits of the year so far.
Cameron Diaz (left) and Jamie Foxx (right) visited Waddesdon Manor to shoot ‘Back in Action’, which was released on Netflix in January (Image: YouTube) And there is a strong connection to the county that we call home in the flick’s first five minutes.
The movie, which sees Foxx and Diaz play a husband-and-wife spy team for MI6 in 2010, before retiring from duty to raise a family in the US in the present day, begins at Waddesdon Manor.
The opening scene shows the duo pulling up outside the famous country house near Aylesbury in a Bentley, before walking to its huge entrance.
The opening scene of the movie is shot in Buckinghamshire (Image: YouTube) In the film, Waddesdon Manor is hosting a birthday party for a child of a former Polish KGB agent turned terrorist, who holds an ICS [Industrial Control Systems] key – a device that can control any electronic system in the world.
After the duo capture it, they fly back from the UK to the US, only for the plane they are on to be ambushed by the crew, who work for the terrorist.
The plane crashes in northern Europe, but Foxx’s character, Matt, keeps the key and hides it at the house of Diaz’s estranged mother, who is played by Glenn Close, to no one else’s knowledge.
The two also enter the building just outside Aylesbury (Image: YouTube) Then, 15 years later, after a video of Diaz’s character, Emily, and Matt, goes viral at a nightclub, it catches the attention of the terrorist who calls for the duo to be killed whilst also wanting the key to be returned to his possession.
Back in Action received mixed reviews from critics, but is on course to be one of Netflix’s biggest hits of the year.
For Waddesdon Manor, it is another feather in what is already a large cap of well-known films and TV shows which have been shot at the location.
Other notable examples include the James Bond film, ‘Never Say Never Again’ (1983), ‘The Queen’ (2006), which stars Helen Mirren, Cinderella, which stars Camila Cabello (2021) and the Bollywood flick, ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham…’ (2001).
One of ‘Back in Action’s’ many fight scenes occurred in Waddesdon Manor (Image: YouTube) The latter is regarded as one of the best and biggest movies made in Indian history.
For television, shows such as, ‘Downton Abbey’ and ‘The Crown’ were also partly shot at Waddesdon Manor.