TORONTO -- Cameron Diaz has been to four weddings, and she's just about ready for a funeral.

Not a real funeral, of course.

But the actress whose name became synonymous with "hair gel" during the summer's scorching-hot run of There's Something About Mary wants to try something more serious and more real.

And no more weddings, please. Between Feeling Minnesota in 1996 and the upcoming Very Bad Things, Diaz has exchanged vows on screen four times. She's getting understandably tired of it.

In Very Bad Things, opening Friday in Calgary, Diaz plays a bride-to-be who will see that her dream wedding goes ahead as planned, no matter what the cost.

When her fiance (Jon Favreau) and his buddies (Christian Slater, Daniel Stern, Jeremy Piven and Leland Orser) go on a wild bachelor party in Vegas that ends with the death of a stripper, things get very bad indeed.

"I don't think it (Very Bad Things) is something that is for everyone," Diaz warns. "Definitely not for everyone."

Which is why she's looking forward to her upcoming part in Oliver Stone's The League, about a group of high school jocks who cover up a murder committed by an autistic boy. Diaz plays the football team manager.

"It's dramatic, and that's what I've been sort of looking to get involved with, because I've done a lot of comedy and a lot of dark comedy and a lot of fantastical sort of ideas," says Diaz, shifting uncomfortably in her chair.

As one of the current "It" girls, the spotlight's withering glare is constantly on Diaz, and she's clearly less than thrilled about the interview process.

"I get paid for publicity," she offers, "and I act for free."

Still, she makes some effort to be pleasant, and it's difficult to ignore the fact that the screen doesn't lie -- in person, the former model is indeed every bit as beautiful as she appears on film.

To her credit, Diaz has never relied on her looks or chosen safe roles.

After her breakout performance opposite Jim Carrey in 1994's The Mask, she did a string of small films.

Then she broke out all over again as the hyper-perky bride who was Julia Roberts' nemesis in My Best Friend's Wedding, one of the top-grossing movies of 1997.

After a few more stumbles, most notably in A Life Less Ordinary, Diaz found herself in another runaway blockbuster.

The lowbrow comedy There's Something About Mary redefined the term sleeper hit, raking in $246 million US worldwide.

As is typical with Diaz, she then made a film that, while still a comedy of sorts, is pretty much the opposite of Mary.

Very Bad Things, written and directed by Chicago Hope's Peter Berg, is dark. Very dark. Her character eventually turns out to be even more twisted than the most twisted man in the flick.

Diaz bristles at the suggestion that she might be jockeying for position in a field of other young, beautiful actresses for such dramatic roles.

"I'm not in any race, so I don't really see the contenders for it, y'know? I've done this the whole time for myself.

"I think there's a lot of roles out there, and everybody gets what they're meant to get."


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