Cameron Diaz hot for 'Bad Teacher'

Cameron Diaz at San Diego Comic-Con promoting her last bomb "The Box."

Credit: AP Photo

Every few films Cameron Diaz returns to the type of outrageous comedy that made her a star in "There's Something About Mary."  Whether it's "Charlie's Angels" or "What Happens in Vegas," Diaz continues to mix up her dramas and occasional thrillers with the easy hits that still make her a box office star.  After the two 2009 disappointments "My Sister's Keeper" and "The Box" is anyone surprised she's jumped for "Bad Teacher"?

The Columbia Pictures comedy will be directed by "Walk Hard" and "Orange County" director Jake Kasdan and will find Diaz playing a dirty-mouthed, gold-digging and newly single middle-school teacher after she's dumped by her boyfriend.  What does she do next?  Why she sets her sights on the school's model teacher thereby pitting herself against another colleague.  No word who will play her competition or the apple of her public education eye.

Not much else is known about the project but it will be intriguing to see just who the audience is supposed to root for (is she really that bad?) and just how dirty the picture will be. Columbia has had success with R-rated comedies before, but Diaz hasn't gone there since the 2002 bomb "The Sweetest Thing" (which has developed a cult following in some circles).

In the meantime, Diaz is alternating production on "The Green Hornet" alongside Seth Rogen and the action comedy "Knight and Day" opposite her "Vanilla Sky" co-star Tom Cruise.  And, of course, she'll return as the voice of Princess Fiona in this May's "Shrek Forever After."

According to Variety, "Bad Teacher" will begin shooting in Los Angeles this spring.