Life is so unpredictable. Sometimes, you’re winning and other times, well, you know. Right now, writer/director/producer Seth Gordon is definitely on a winning streak with two Netflix titles that he has worked on topping the charts.

Viewers couldn’t get enough of The Night Agent, which debuted its ten-episode second season at No. 1 on the Top 10 English-language TV list with 13.9 million views. The Gabriel Basso-helmed action series hit the Top 10 in 90 countries, with audiences also continuing to catch up on season one which landed at No. 4 with 4.9 million views. Gordon served as an executive producer on the fan-favorite series which was an immediate hit when it premiered with its first season in March of 2023. It was immediately picked up for second and third seasons and made stars out of cast members such as Sarah Desjardins.

Gordon’s mega-hit spy thriller Back in Action, which brought Cameron Diaz out of her ten-year break from acting, held onto the No. 1 spot on the English-language film list for the second week in a row with an incredible 46.8 million views. Clearly, the fans missed Diaz who stars opposite Jamie Foxx as Matt and Emily Reynolds in this action-packed comedy about two former spies for the CIA who are forced out of retirement when their cover is blown. Forced back into the world of espionage, the couple must find a way to juggle parenthood with a life on the run.

Gordon co-wrote the screenplay with Brendan O’Brien and directed and produced the action-packed movie that has had viewers on the edge of their seats since its January 17 premiere. This was Gordon’s first time directing a film that he co-wrote.

As he said in an interview with Netflix, he wanted to write an original story but wanted someone to collaborate with. When asked what inspired the film, Gordon told Netflix that the original idea came to him a few years ago when he was at a Dodgers game with producer Beau Bauman. “It hit me almost fully formed: ‘What would happen if a spy had a kid? Wouldn’t they have to leave their job, become anonymous, and go off the grid in order to have that family?’ I thought about Jason Bourne, about Mr. and Mrs. Smith, or a hypothetical Mr. and Mrs. Bond. What would it mean if you had this treasure trove of spy skills at your disposal when the challenges of parenthood come up?”

Gordon wondered how this could work in real life. “Wouldn’t you, at some point, feel obligated to put those skills to use if, let’s say, your daughter was lying to you or wouldn’t tell you who her boyfriend is? I thought that would be a pretty fun way to force them out of retirement. The very people they were trying to protect, their kids, who know nothing about their real spy parents, accidentally push them out of hiding, and then the truth comes out as they’re all on the run together. It was something we haven’t really seen before.”

He added that his own life contributed to the story idea in two ways. He wanted his son, who was 11 years old at the time, to be able to see a movie that he made. “One of the characters, Leo, is based on him. He’s a teenager now, so the action is really fun and exciting for him. And he loves Nigel, who was a late addition to the last few acts of the script.”

Family dynamics from his childhood also came into play. “The central conflict of the movie is essentially between the parents and the daughter. And while I think that’s a relationship that many parents immediately understand, for me personally, it was borne out of witnessing the relationship between my sister and my parents. She’s ten years older than I am, but I was old enough to understand these arguments that were happening when she was in high school, and it seemed like they fought about everything at that time.”

As for getting Foxx and Diaz to sign on, Gordon described the challenging task of getting Diaz out of retirement and the duo back together for a third time. He’d worked with Foxx prior on Horrible Bosses and knew he wanted him for the role of Matt.

Once he signed on, it was Foxx and his team that then suggested Diaz for the role of Emily. Gordon loved the idea, but like everyone, wondered if Diaz would make a Hollywood return.

If anyone could convince her, it’d be Foxx. The two worked together previously on Annie in 2014 and Any Given Sunday in 1999 which provided a comfortable working relationship and a natural chemistry.

“She was just perfect for the part, though. There was no real debate. It was a lucky combination of this being the right story and role and her relationship with Jamie that got her to come out of retirement, and she’s amazing as Emily. She did all the hard work around prepping the stunts and the many hours of training that were required. All the action, almost all of it is her except for when she’s jumping off a boat on the Thames or anything that could’ve been truly dangerous. It’s all her otherwise!”

As for how much fun it was to direct the dynamic duo, Gordon said, “For me, it was about creating as many moments as I could, to get out of the way as much as I possibly could, and to let them play because they have all that amazing chemistry together. It really just came down to identifying where in the movie would be good for that. Where could we set up a situation where they could play a little more and not necessarily have it be interspersed with punches?”

He pointed out a perfect example in the scene where the family is in the car driving to a gas station. “They start jamming to ‘Push It!’ I didn’t warn them that I was going to play that song. I had a little microphone that I could use to talk to them when they were in the car and I had Spotify on my phone, so I just started putting songs on without telling them. Songs I knew the kids wouldn’t know, but had a good chance of Jamie and Cameron knowing them. They knew the entirety of ‘Push It!’ and the rest is history.”