by Paul Fischer
Days
of Wine, Roses and Brickbats.
Exclusive Sandra Bullock
Interview by Paul Fischer
She's
has had much failure at the box office as success, but Sandra Bullock still
commands $12m a film. And why not? She's smart, sexy, and still plays the girl-next-door
to perfection. Which makes her the perfect casting choice for an alcoholic in
the comedic drama 28 Days. As Paul Fischer discovered when he sat down
with Ms Bullock, what you see is what you get.
Don't mention the word 'failure' when talking to Sandra Bullock. It's a word she despises. "I don't believe in it; I think that's the worst word that anyone has ever made up. I think it's something to put people down to make somebody else feel better", she says. But on the films in which Bullock starred that garnered negative responses commercially and critically, the actress refuses to worry. On her last film, Gun Shy, Bullock was both star and producer, yet it's all but disappeared from view in the US and will be heading straight to video in many international markets, including Australia. "I'm still proud of that film. We made it for little amounts of money, I got the financing, we got Liam Neeson who was great, a first-time writer/director and a studio picked it up. How they take it and what they do with it is now out of my hands. I stayed with it for 2 years to make sure that it got made." For Bullock, "Gun Shy was the greatest success story. I don't judge my films. As long as you try, you do something, you push the envelope and try things differently, 9 times out of 10 it's going to be considered a failure in this business, because it doesn't fit into the mould."
While Gun Shy
failed to fire at the US box office, expectations are higher when it 
comes
to 28 Days, the Betty Thomas-directed tragicomedy about a party
girl who is forced to confront her demons in a rehab clinic, and another Hollywood
film that doesn't quite fit the mould. A film about addiction, Bullock's own perceptions
on the subject matter didn't stray from her own experiences. "I was very familiar
with it", she explains. "I know people who have gone through the program who I'm
very close to." And she's not just referring to those addicted to alcohol and
drugs. "I know that addictions can be for anything, including food, sex, even
work; I think the human spirit is prone to addiction." Even successful film stars
like Bullock. "It's not drugs and alcohol, but I do have 'em. There are ways to
numb and deal, drugs and alcohol are just part of the equation." It is no surprise,
then, that she could relate to this latest character. "I could relate to a lot
of things that are her weaknesses. Drugs and alcohol are the end result; there
are a lot of things that come into play long before the drinking and drug-use
starts, or whatever it is that you're doing."
Preparing
to do this film, unquestionably her toughest to date, the actor says,
was "incredibly revealing. I think any actor would love a challenge like
this, but they don't require that in-depth research." The difficulty here,
she further explains, "Was drawing that fine line with the humour, because
there's just so much of that in rehab. That's the one thing that they
have in order to heal -laughter is a healing agent, and being able to
look at your life in hindsight and make fun of yourself to a certain degree.
The irony is, the stories are really funny, until someone is dead, in
jail or has ruined the family." For Bullock, personally, doing this film
forced her to look at herself more closely than ever before, "which was
tough. We all had to take a closer look at ourselves while we were shooting
this." Asked what she found, "nothing that I would share with you", she
responds smilingly. "No offence, but that's just the way it is." What
the actress DID share was her three-day stint at a rehab centre in preparation
for 28 Days. She went to follow the program and realised immediately that
she wasn't welcome. "My group didn't want me there. Obviously it's their
time, so why should some dingy actress be there. If you think of the severity
of why they're there, that's real life; mine is ridiculous."
To change her group's
perception, Sandra took part "in the way that they did. I said: This is my
chance to deal with what's going on in my life." After agreeing to remain confidential
on either end, Bullock recalls that she opened up. "After I spilled the beans,
all of a sudden, this whole other world opened up." The world she refers to was
one of isolation. "You have no phones, no TV, no magazines; nothing is
allowed in there. You also have to communicate, not 
isolate
yourself. It's constant opening up, asking for help and addressing issues." Tough
and soul searching this might have been, but also "one of the best experiences
I ever had." By the end of filming 28 Days, Bullock concedes that she "felt
that I'd let go of a lot of trivial things that I'd given great importance to,"
and not just things associated with her profession. "Life in general (which our
profession tends to promote) but it goes beyond that."
28 Days is also a film about parental conditioning, in that we learn our biggest lessons from our parents. Bullock still retains a close bond with hers, and says that she learnt a lot from her parents. "I got from them a work ethic that's incredibly strong and a moral core that I think is from my upbringing through incessant travel. But I come from a very open-minded and fair family. There was no emphasis on money or stuff that I find more and more these days. Either we were incredibly naïve or sane; I've never been able to work out which."
As a film star,
Bullock took that ethereal image and gave her a down-to-earth quality. The perceptions
we have had of her remain of the girl-the-next door. Though some recent articles
maintain it's a label she's fed up with, Bullock denies it. "However people want
to perceive me, whatever projections 
they
want to impose on me, there's nothing I can do about that. I'm the same person
I was, morally, since I can remember. That's not going to change, I hope. I grow
up, I go through things and become stronger in some areas. If that's called 'girl-next-door',
that's exactly who I am then." One's impression of this actress is of a strong,
independent woman, the antithesis of Hollywood stardom, and completely grounded.
She makes a habit of not spending every waking moment in Hollywood, and has chosen
to live a life as distant from 'Tinsel Town' as possible, making her so 'normal'.
"I wasn't a child actor, but an adult when this happened. I come from a very strong
family, where excess in trivial things was not instilled in us. We didn't have
magazines in our house except for Newsweek. I didn't even know what a tabloid
was until I came to LA." Bullock used to divide her life between Los Angeles and
New York, "then realised that this place wasn't as beneficial to me as it might
be to other people, morally or my quality of life." So three years ago she moved
to Austin, Texas, "and it's been great. Now I appreciate this place when I come
here."
Bullock emerges as a woman of serious self-confidence, but with sense of humour intact. She's the perfect producer, and loves it "most of the time. There are times when I want to kill people but I'm sure there are many sane people who want to kill me. I love watching people do amazing things and create things. I love hiring people that you KNOW are going to do a great and be brilliant. I just love pushing that envelope."
28 Days Website Cranky Critic review of 28 Days Paul Fischer's review of 28 Days