Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx make “Annie” for younger generations

The most popular orphan in musicals, “Annie,” returns in 2015 with foster parents who put the classic tale more in touch with younger generations: a mean mom who wanted to be an artist played by Cameron Diaz and a billionaire mayor played by Jamie Foxx.

Every time a child stars in a movie, the director feels the need to have a team of standins waiting behind the scenes to cover the times when the child star might not be available, and “Annie,” which premieres next weekend in Spain and in February in Argentina and Brazil, was no exception.

However, it seemed that little actress Quvenzhane Wallis could be counted on to do her part, having already won, at age 11, an Oscar for “Beasts of the Southern Wild.”

But in this new version, directed by Will Gluck, it was perhaps the adults who most enjoyed doing the remake of what was a landmark for children of the generation of the 1980s, to which Diaz belonged and, just barely, Foxx as well.

Diaz says it’s something that makes her remember her childhood and that it has been an honor to play the part of Miss Hannigan, a bitter character that audiences come to love.

What is most certain is that this Annie comes with a totally new look, with the former pale orphan replaced by an AfricanAmerican girl in Harlem. To continue, the famous songs like “Tomorrow” have new arrangements by Sia. And finally, social networks, telecommunications and today’s politics are present as intangibles of the times we live in.

The latter aspect is provided by the role of Will Stacks, played by Foxx, who is a telecom magnate and mayor of New York City (an obvious parallel to Michael Bloomberg) who begins to use the little girl in his reelection campaign.

But the winner of an Oscar for “Ray,” however, told Efe that the character of the New York mayor is not inspired so much by Bloomberg as by controversial rapper Sean Combs, formerly known as Puff Daddy or P. Diddy.

In a cast of nonprofessional singers, which includes Rose Byrne and Bobby Cannavale, Foxx adds a more professional touch of hiphop (not in vain did he garner two Grammy Awards) and confesses that the shoot was a moment of enjoyment before getting into “Mean Business on North Ganson Street” with Leonardo DiCaprio and “The Trap”, the new film by Harmony Korine.

But for Cameron Diaz, while she enjoyed making the movie because why wouldn’t anybody like playing a vulgar character who yells and screams, the singing part was a little more complicated.

Everyone remembers her terrible voice in “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” but moving on from that memory, she relaxed by thinking that any sound that came out of her mouth this time would be an improvement.