For Bullock, Nothing Personal
(By Donna Freydkin, USA Today)
Don't even try delving into
Sandra Bullock's personal life.
"Eighty percent of what I read is absolutely fabricated and
hilarious," Bullock says. The
actress has been dating tattooed Monster Garage host Jesse James, 35, but
you'll never catch her spilling the beans about her relationship. "Anything about personal stuff - people know me well enough to know that I
will dodge that question fast," she says, laughing. "You get numb
after a while to hearing how many times you're getting married and are pregnant
and you're with someone either you've never met or you know socially. "The more you deny it, the more they
think you're lying. Eighty percent of what I read is absolutely fabricated and
hilarious." To keep the craziness
at bay, the never-married star, 40, lives in Austin and New York City with her
two mutts, which travel with her everywhere. It's part of her effort to live as
normal a life as possible, says Bullock, who gave L.A. the heave-ho years ago
because she couldn't "live anyplace where there's not a great diverse mix
of human beings. I didn't want my personality to become about what I did or
didn't have, and it was getting that way."
Now, Bullock emerges mostly to promote her movies, including Miss
Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous, opening today. It's the sequel to the 2000
hit that earned $106.8 million and starred Bullock as Gracie Hart, a klutzy FBI
agent who becomes an unlikely star after saving the Miss United States pageant from
a bomb attack.
In Congeniality 2, Gracie
cleans up and becomes the glam mouthpiece of the FBI — until her pal, the
reigning Miss United States, is kidnapped and Gracie investigates her
disappearance. In the sequel, Bullock
gets to tackle Dolly Parton in one mistaken-identity scene - and dress up as a
Vegas showgirl. It was a rare opportunity to do "good comedy, and I'm not
about to let that pass me up," the actress says. Her favorite scene? "The old lady, for the obvious
reasons," she says, referring to the full disguise she dons to play a
grandmother who pretends to enter a retirement home. Bullock loved
"getting dressed up as an 83-year-old woman and going, 'Oh, so that's what
I'm going to look like. Not bad.' "
Bullock should have plenty of time ahead
of her before worrying about being put out to pasture. The actress is active
behind the scenes; she produces the TV series George Lopez and movies including
2002's Two Weeks Notice and Miss Congeniality 2. Her latest challenge? Playing reclusive To
Kill a Mockingbird author Harper Lee in Every Word Is True. "It's really tricky and scary when
you're somehow representing an individual who is such an enigma and has created
such a huge impact in the literary community," Bullock says. When it comes to appearance, Bullock says,
she is happy with herself. "I'm a
big girl. Every human being has cellulite," she says, noshing on popcorn.
"I'm active and I'm manic and I'm high-energy. I like my body. It's a good thing where I am in my head with
my body." Being around her, you
believe it. Bullock is giggly, with an infectious energy and ready chuckle. She
laughs when she is asked whether she has had work done on her face: "Two
months' worth. Isn't that awesome?"
She doesn't fret if less-than-flattering shots of her appear in the
tabloids. "It's nice to see a
celebrity looking like (garbage). Guess what? That's what we look like, 98% of
the time. It's not pretty. It's always when I roll out of bed and grab the dogs.
But I figure, keep expectations really low."
Sandra Bullock Marries Biker Boyfriend
(People Magazine, Sunday Jul 17, 2005)
Now you can call
her Mrs. Congeniality. Sandra Bullock wed her tattooed beau Jesse James, the
star of the Discovery Channel series Monster Garage, in a sunset ceremony
Saturday at a ranch north of Santa Barbara, PEOPLE Magazine has learned. Guests at the wedding confirm the pair were
married at the 300-acre Folded Hills Ranch in Solvang, Calif. Bullock wore a
white lace dress designed by Angel Sanchez. "She looked beautiful,"
one guest tells PEOPLE. "She was incredibly happy." Bullock's rep, Cheryl Maisel, also confirmed
the nuptials to PEOPLE. The two, who
had been dating since December 2003, join other high-profile Hollywood couples
who have tied the knot in recent surprise ceremonies: Renee Zellweger and Kenny
Chesney were married May 9 in the Virgin Islands. Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner exchanged
vows June 29 in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
James arrived at the ranch Saturday behind the wheel of a giant red
monster truck. Meanwhile, most of the 300 guests, including William Shatner,
Jamie Lee Curtis, Regina King and Metallica lead singer James Hetfield, were
shuttled to the ceremony from hotels in Santa Barbara 45 minutes away, but they
weren't told a wedding was happening until around 8 p.m., after they had
arrived.
The wedding itself
was a family affair. Bullock walked down the aisle to a recording of her late
mother, opera singer Helga Bullock, performing the aria "Casta Diva."
And the actress's sister, Gesine Prado, made the cake. For the wedding bands, Bullock's was a
vintage ring provided by jeweler Neil Lane. James's ring was made by the Miss
Congeniality star herself: Bullock learned how to do metal work, and then
machined it in James's bike shop. The flowers were by Cecelia Heffernan of
Flower Hardware. Invitations to the
nuptials suggested a "hoedown" theme: Guests danced to bluegrass
music from the band Cousin Lovers, and other tunes were provided by DJ Tony
Okungbowa from The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
Bullock, who turns 41 on July 26, and James, 36, have been dating for
more than a year, after meeting when she took her young godson on a tour of the
Monster Garage set in Long Beach, Calif.
It's the first marriage for Bullock, who has been engaged before (to
actor Tate Donovan) and previously linked romantically to actors Matthew
McConaughey and Ryan Gosling.
James, who owns the custom-motorcycle company West Coast
Choppers, has been divorced twice, most recently from adult-film actress Janine
Lindemulder. But despite his born-to-be-wild past, the father of three young
children comes across as "very low key, very quiet, almost shy," Miss
Congeniality 2 director John Pasquin told PEOPLE in April. Added producer Marc Lawrence: "He's
similar to Sandy in that he's not looking for publicity." Indeed, the couple have kept their romance
low-profile, turning up vacationing in Hawaii, hitting a flea market in her
home base of Austin and taking in a drag race near Las Vegas. To Bullock, it's a custom-made match. Once,
"I was a bolter," she told Vogue in March. "I would get so
scared because my idea of marriage was not a very pleasant one. And now I look
at it in a different way. I threw away what society's version of it was and I
went, 'Why does it have to be anyone else's version but mine?'"
Bullock Donates $1M for Tsunami Relief
(Associated Press)
Actress Sandra Bullock has donated $1
million to the American Red Cross to help relief efforts in countries affected
by the deadly earthquake and tsunamis in southern Asia and eastern Africa. Bullock, whose screen credits include
"Miss Congeniality," "While You Were Sleeping" and
"Speed," contacted the American Red Cross last week, the organization
said Monday. She also donated $1 million after the Sept. 11 terror
attacks. "At this critical time, I
am grateful to Sandra Bullock for once again demonstrating her leadership,
compassion and belief in our global humanitarian mission," said American
Red Cross President and Chief Executive Officer Marsha Evans in a statement.
"Sandra continues to enable our lifesaving work and is a model for
personal generosity."
Hit Or Miss: 'Congeniality 2'
(By Mike Clark, USA TODAY)
Much of Sandra Bullock's screen appeal,
going back to Wrestling Ernest Hemingway and Speed, comes from our perception
that she's a good sport. It will help if you're one, too, if you choose to sit
through the sporadically amusing but sometimes slogging Miss Congeniality 2:
Armed and Fabulous (* * 1/2 out of four) -
a title that may be the clunkiest of year. A colleague noted that choices at the
multiplex could have been juiced up with Bullock subbing for Naomi Watts in The
Ring Two and Watts for Bullock here. But
in truth, Congeniality's FBI klutz turned beauty queen is shrewdly tailored for
Bullock: She gets to snort when laughing, which humanizes her; show her nice
legs, which impresses both sexes; and beat up lots of guys, as always a matter
of viewer taste. The sequel opens with
Bullock's beauty pageant notoriety proving so distracting in stakeout
situations that she's called upon to be the public relations "face"
of the FBI. This lasts for maybe two blips.
Two good ol' boys in Las Vegas kidnap one of her first Congeniality
co-contestants (Heather Burns) and the gala host (William Shatner). Most
viewers should be able to figure it out from here. Paired with Bullock is a beyond-feisty Regina
King (Ray), who plays a ball of physical aggression no one will work with. Naturally, she becomes Bullock's
bodyguard. You'll notice that Benjamin
Bratt, who played Bullock's squeeze in the first film, isn't here. He dumped
her, so the two lonely women eventually bond.
In addition to romance woes and a common
foe in criminals, they share animosity toward their showboating supervisor (Treat
Williams, sporting A-list hair gel).
Basically, this is a feminized version of the old Red Skelton or Danny
Kaye farces that put their stars into contrived but sometimes amusing
disguises. We also get a gay male
sidekick, who seems borrowed from about 500 other contemporary comedies, and a
wretchedly icky schoolgirl subplot, which, for one thing, keeps a nearly
two-hour comedy from ending 10 minutes earlier than it should. The actresses are nicely teamed, though, so
any prospect of a Congeniality 3 at least sounds better than Bullock's Speed
2. The studio's decision to open the
movie today out of deference to Good Friday is understandable. It isn't just
that Dolly Parton (in a cameo) gets tackled.
An on-the-air Regis Philbin also gets elbowed in the groin — probably
hard enough to affect his upright posture for a week when schmoozing atop those
tall stools on his talk show.
'Miss Congeniality' Sequel Flunks The Talent
Competition
(By Ann Hornaday, Washington Post)
In "Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and
Fabulous," 40-year-old Sandra Bullock proves to be a nimble navigator of
the treacherous terrain that stretches between dewy ingenue and Miss Daisy,
exuding freshness and easygoing glamour that are, in the actress's signature
fashion, utterly unforced. Would that it
were true for the movie, which tediously reprises one of the actress's most
successful roles. Like its predecessor, "Miss Congeniality 2" is by
turns a predictable and outlandishly contrived take on the Pygmalion myth, one
that finds Bullock once again snorting, mugging and tripping her way from
tomboy to swan. ("Miss Congeniality 2" appears in theaters a day
earlier than the usual Friday, suggesting that it might well come up a dollar
short compared with this weekend's similarly pitched comedies,
"D.E.B.S." and "Guess Who.") It's a measure of Bullock's
unshakable likability that, after making a career of mostly by-the-numbers
vehicles like this one, she again emerges with her girl-next-door appeal
intact.
"Miss Congeniality 2" catches up
with FBI Agent Gracie Hart (Bullock) a scant three weeks after her heroics at a
national beauty pageant. As "Miss Congeniality 2" opens, Gracie is
enduring some good-natured ribbing from her undercover colleagues, but it soon
becomes clear that her newfound fame is going to make her a liability during
operations. Her boss asks her to become the bureau's spokeswoman, putting her
in the care of a (what else?) gay stylist and assigning a feisty new agent
named Sam Fuller (Regina King) to be her bodyguard. No one who knows and loves the down-to-earth,
beer-guzzling Gracie Hart will believe how quickly this tough-talking Eliza
Doolittle is transformed into a superficial, looks-obsessed airhead. What's
more, a high-profile kidnapping that unfolds during Gracie's publicity tour is
about as substantial as a typical "Scooby-Doo" episode. The scheme
serves merely as the rickety scaffolding on which to pile a series of plodding
plot twists, calling on Gracie to go undercover as a leathery octogenarian and
a Las Vegas drag queen, and chase Dolly Parton through a casino in perilously
high heels. But a trifling issue like
story is surely beside the point of this franchise, which exists primarily to
provide amiable if uninspiring family comedy and a fat paycheck for Bullock
(who is a producer of the series).
Indeed, the most disappointing thing about
"Miss Congeniality 2" isn't its tepid, workmanlike humor or humdrum
production values, which are entirely to be expected, but the absences of some
of the first movie's best supporting players. The scrumptious Benjamin Bratt
has been sidelined (providing what is supposed to be a dramatic subplot), and
Michael Caine's Victor Melling, the Henry Higgins behind Gracie's triumph at
the Miss United States pageant, has been replaced by an unfunny Carson Kressley
manqué named Joel (Diedrich Bader).
Indeed, of all the players, including Bullock, it's the dependably
peppery King who provides the energy otherwise lacking in "Miss Congeniality
2." The scene-stealing actress who delivered such memorable turns in
"Jerry Maguire" and the recent "Ray" does what she's best
at -- turning a smile into a humorous snarl -- to create genuine sparks with
Bullock. Although it's tempting to wonder what this natural comic duo might do
with a truly original script and an imaginative director, "Miss
Congeniality 2" raises an even more urgent question: Isn't it time to say
good night, Gracie?
Sandy Gets Serious
(Vogue, Oct. 2006)
In a quiet corner of a SoHo
tavern, Sandra Bullock is sitting back, relaxing, ordering up a late breakfast
(or early brunch, depending on how you look at it) of bacon and eggs. By
relaxing, we don't mean I've-got-nothing-to-do relaxing—that's not Sandra
Bullock's relaxation style. Workwise, she's just wrapped one movie, The Lake
House, and is entering the final phase of her latest, a film based on the life
of Truman Capote, called Infamous. Then there's her production company, which,
among other things, is painstakingly putting together a biopic, to use the
industry term, about Grace Metalious, the fifties New Hampshire author whose
life was engulfed by her then-scandalous novel Peyton Place. Bullock is doing
all this, meanwhile, while traversing between New York, Los Angeles, and
Austin, Texas—where, incidentally, she is about to open a bistro, even if
lately she somehow survives mostly on decaf. Sandra Bullock's relaxation style
is more along the lines of I've-planned-to-relax-today relaxation. She has none
of the harried panic you saw, for instance, when she first blockbustered in
Speed, and likewise offers no sign of the haughty intolerance of her recent,
critically acclaimed performance as the bigoted wife of an L.A. district
attorney in Crash. As you sit down with her at Fanelli's, the almost
160-year-old tavern on Prince Street, her easy barroom hospitality immediately
inspires you to order the same—a bacon-and-egg sandwich, to be precise, with
the cheese, sure. And she further inspires amazement when, after you follow her
order, she goes ahead and orders another one. "And can I have it to
go?" she asks the waitress.
"This is for the better
half," she says, by which she means Jesse James, the person with whom
she's usually seen strolling around New York City, L.A., or Austin. For many
Americans, Sandra Bullock and Jesse James are the unlikely pair of the moment.
She was raised by an opera-singer mom and a voice-coach father, and he is,
well, a guy who customizes choppers and has a lot of tattoos, as well as pet
sharks, pit bulls, and a past that includes a stint as a bodyguard for bands
such as Soundgarden and Slayer. (David Letterman recently asked Bullock if
she'd lost a bet.) But they are not an odd couple to people who know her. And
not if her casual mood, sitting here in this tavern, after the first bacon-and-egg
sandwich arrives, is any indication of her general state of happiness.
"Relax," she says as she stops herself from rushing. "I've got
lots of time." Today Bullock is
wearing a pretty batik dress of no particular origin that she is aware of,
Lanvin flats, and a purse that is, in her words, "my $5 gold lamé
skull-and-crossbones-where-the-zipper's-already-broken bag. "I have nothing to do but screw in bulbs
today, new light- bulbs," she says. If this sounds like drudgery, or at
least banal, it's pure excitement to Sandra Bullock, who has called home-repair
magazines her own personal erotica, so infatuated is she with subjects like
flooring. "I found vintage bulbs to go with the light fixtures, and that's
all we're doing today." That and eating. And, as mentioned, relaxing.
Aside from being so relaxed,
she's also funny, self-deprecating even, pointing out, shortly after the
sandwiches arrive, "I'm getting egg on my face." But there is no egg,
and in fact she is perfectly composed, charming, quick-witted, and steady. When
you sit before her in the dark, wood-paneled room—especially if you've just
seen her portrayal of Harper Lee in Infamous, the writer and director Douglas
McGrath's version of the making of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood—you might feel
as if you've just landed in Capote's tavern seat. Harper Lee was Capote's
confidante since childhood. In McGrath's film, Capote spends most of his New
York life sipping cocktails in nightclubs and uptown restaurants with high
society. But for advice, for intimate writer-to-writer brainstorming, he sat in
an old tavern sharing a burger and a beer with his oldest friend, the author of
To Kill a Mockingbird.
Infamous, of course, is
already just that: a biopic that fearlessly (some might say awkwardly) follows
last year's biopic about the same thing. That version, Capote, featured the
Oscar-winning performance of Philip Seymour Hoffman as Capote and Catherine
Keener as Harper Lee. In Infamous, a considerably less well-known British actor
named Toby Jones plays the novelist. Fortunately for all concerned, Jones is
also superb. While Hoffman portrayed a dark and brooding writer, Jones is
flamboyantly funny. Bullock, meanwhile, deftly plays Harper Lee as the
listener—a character deep enough to stand in for the viewer so that as we watch
the film, we are proud of Capote, then worried, and finally enraged, like
Harper Lee, as he attempts to steer what happens in real life for his own
authorial purposes. The dark turns, though, are preceded by the unavoidably
comic meeting of Truman Capote and the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, where
both sides are surprised at how much they end up respecting each other. "I
think Sandy got right into that idea of the delight Lee feels for her childhood
friend," Jones says, "as she watched and witnessed the negotiations
with these people." What makes this
quietness even more impressive is that it's not the kind of performance you
might expect from a big star whose box-office numbers have typically been built
on a kind of cuddly slapstick, a warm regular-gal comedy, the kind that raked
in multimillions for Miss Congeniality. "America is not a country where
the small gesture goes noticed," notes the Harper Lee of Infamous.
"We want everything you have, and we want it as fast as you can turn it out."
And yet in the majority of
Bullock's scenes, as Lee and Capote huddle over those beers, as they camp out
in a Kansas hotel, as she assuages the relationship between the fame-hungry
Capote and the wary Kansans, Bullock works the lightest touch. Bullock's Harper
Lee makes moral judgments with the gentlest squint of her dark eyes and with
the delicately sharp remarks that come in hair-down conversations between
friends who grew up together. Today, at a tavern that feels a little like a
setting in the film, Bullock easily confides that this Capote biopic was worth
it for her—despite, even because of, the other film. "There could be
another five films made about that period of his life," she says. "I
mean, make a film about the Black and White Ball, the setting up of that! You
could take so many pieces of that pie and still not get at all the
truth." The truth being the answer
to the question, What happened? Why, when Capote returned from Kansas after
writing his masterpiece, did he divorce himself from the circle of society
women with whom he once lunched and then excoriate them in Answered Prayers,
his final work? Why did he seem to break away even from Harper Lee? "In
his life, there seems to be a split," says McGrath. "He broke with
almost every close, important friend he had. He was working at the top of his
game, and then after In Cold Blood, he goes away. What happened to this
guy?"
The answer to that literary
mystery—and the mystery that haunts Bullock's performance in Infamous—involves
the always elusive, and still-living, Harper Lee. In other words, who is Harper
Lee, the famous writer who has so impressively skipped the trappings of fame?
Who is this woman who may have aided Capote's career more than anyone
previously believed? (Until old letters proving the contrary were discovered,
and the rumor killed definitively, the opposite idea was often whispered: that
Capote ghostwrote Mockingbird.) Like Catherine Keener before her, Bullock tried
her best to figure out Harper Lee, a tough task given that Lee is as reclusive
as Capote was spotlight-seeking—and given that Lee has never been filmed or
recorded—but a task that eventually brought the 42-year-old actress to imagine
that a certain resolve characterizes the 80-year-old author, a resolve that has
all but disappeared in our fame-obsessed culture. "It's the same thing that allows a
person like that to step back," Bullock says. "Or not step back, but
step toward the life they want, which no one else understands, because it's not
about selling out. But if you've seen the few articles she's written"—the
very few short pieces, such as one Lee wrote for Vogue, in 1961, on the subject
of non-romantic love—"you see the humanity and the understanding she has
of life and her respect for people, which is above most other people's
thinking.
She knows something else that allows her to step back and do what she
did. It's extraordinary." To discover her own Harper Lee (whose first
name, in the film as among friends, is Nelle, pronounced "Nell"), Bullock
consulted a dialect coach, and then started calling friends. "Friends with
fathers who are great writers," she says, "and I'd say, 'Who can I
call?' I called Michael Mailer and said, 'Go ask Norman who can get me
information.' And once we just sat down—well, I knew she was from Monroeville,
Alabama. Monroeville has this very distinct accent. My family's from
Birmingham, but I have family that lives right in Monroeville and in the
outskirts. At the time the accent was different than it is now. You know, we
have the infusion of so much television, colloquialism. And we found interviews
with a lovely woman, a teacher who knew Nelle and worked with her. And in the
interview, she said something, and then she looked off camera and she said,
'Isn't that right, Nelle?' And you hear this laugh. And then Nelle saying
something like, 'Oh, yeah.' But this laugh is in the dialect. You went, 'Oh,
there it is!'"
Still, the end result relies
as much on the knowing glance as on the perfect drawl. "Because Harper
Lee," McGrath says, "in our portrayal of her, just absorbs it
privately and makes a private decision." Not that Bullock absolutely
trusts her own portrayal, or anyone else's. "I love Catherine,"
Bullock says of Keener. "We know each other, and we just sort of laugh and
say how great is it that it takes two of us to play Nelle, and we probably
haven't hit the tip of the iceberg!"
Bullock never expected a response from Harper Lee about the film, but
when a response came, it was, not surprisingly, fashion-related. To deemphasize
Lee's glamour, the film's costume designer, the meticulous Ruth Myers (who
worked previously with McGrath on Emma and Nicholas Nickleby), ended up
stuffing Bullock's costume with birdseed, and outfitted her with rather dowdy
short wool socks. "I have a friend who is neighbors with Gregory Peck's
widow, who is good friends with Nelle," says Bullock, taking another slug
of decaf coffee, "and apparently—again, apparently—Nelle saw a picture of
me in those socks and she said. . . ." Here, Bullock puts on her Southern
drawl. "'I never wore socks!'" "And I went, Oh, genius!"
Bullock continues, her hands in the air. "She didn't mention anything
else. We were off by one thing!"
Infamous is a New York story,
though much of it is set elsewhere. The Kansas scenes, however, were mostly
filmed in Austin, the town that has lately become a home base for Bullock. She
grew up in Virginia, but the family spent a lot of time in Bavaria, where her
mother was from and sang opera. Bullock likes to joke that opera was her day care.
Indeed, Bullock's first role was famously as an urchin, a beggar dressed in
rags, and as a child opera extra, she was initially unaware of the importance
of deferring dramatically to the lead tenor.
"He had this big aria," Bullock recalls. "I think it was
in the end, and what they did was throw up these chocolates, Mozart Kugeln.
They would throw them onstage, like a bravo. Well, I see that. . . ." From
her table at Fanelli's, she now makes a small lunge to illustrate the scene she
is recalling. "I see that," she continues, "and I hit the
ground, crawling. But I'm rolling in front of him, between him and the
orchestra, and I'm on the ground, crawling, picking up the chocolates. So my
mother had to pull me aside in the end and say, 'We never upstage the tenor.' I
was like, 'What is upstage?' I was a miser. I was in character. It was
Method!"
A side effect of growing up
surrounded by opera was being surrounded by costumes, and sewing, among other
crafts. "My mother had the best costumes," she says. "All my
mother's costumes are here in the city. My sister and I just went through all
the costumes she had made for operas. I mean, the seamstresses, and the beauty
of turn-of-the-century outfits with bustles." And her mother, who died of
cancer in 2000, often made her costumes. "My mother was also a great
seamstress in that she would make all these amazing clothes, but she would make
the matching version for me. And we have them all—every dress from every prom,
every event was made by Mother. We'd pick out the pattern, the McCall's
pattern. We'd cut it out and pick the fabric. There was never anything we
bought for an event until I was a teenager, and still she was making my dresses
and I was in misery. But now I am so thankful because I have a closetful of
them." Bullock is also thankful for her ability to sew. "When I was
living here with my dad on the Upper West Side, before I moved downtown, when I
was waitressing, I would buy vintage clothing and tailor it," she says.
"Because in Germany, we had to knit and crochet by the first grade. So I
would make people sweaters; still do. And you know, essentially I didn't have a
lot of money, but I had some cute outfits because I was able to buy something
for $11 and make it into the hottest little number."
Bullock moved eight years ago
to Austin, where, despite the Texas Hill Country heat, she chilled. Infamous
comes after her success with Crash, and after her surprise wedding (even to the
guests) in California to Jesse James, a man she herself was initially surprised
to be dating and who now owns a Los Angeles organic fast-food place, Cisco
Burger, named for his pit bull. "You know, organic high-end, at affordable
prices for the neighborhood," she says. "But you still get the great
fries, soft-serve ice cream. It's my nemesis. I try to drive around it."
The idea that she is married to a descendant of an actual Western outlaw is
something she is only just beginning to grapple with, metaphysically speaking.
"Someone said I need to become a gun moll," she says. "You know,
there was a book written in the sixties on the whole family, and it's really
cool because there's the family tree, and then the writer or someone did an
addendum to it, and it had the latest generation with my name attached to it,
and I went, Whoa!" As the great-grandson of a cousin of Jesse James has
taken to Sandra Bullock, so has he taken to Austin, where the two are
frequently seen eating ice cream at Amy's (an ice cream store so good that a
marriage could very well be built on it), or shopping at the old antiques
stores that run for miles and miles into the countryside.
Prior to marriage, Bullock
attempted to build her dream house alongside an Austin-area lake. As opposed to
the fake house in The Lake House, the romantic thriller that recently reunited
her with her Speed costar Keanu Reeves, this house was a horror movie. She
stayed in it only one night and subsequently sued the contractor for shoddy
workmanship, the result being a legal victory for Bullock and a semi-triumphant
turn at the controls of the bulldozer that mowed down the place last year.
"We're not going to rebuild it, and I'm looking at it as a big expensive
metaphor of what not to do," she says. She donated the remains to Habitat
for Humanity, and started over again, emotionally and architecturally, with the
guest house that remained on the property. "We don't need a lot of
space," she says. "There's gonna be a garage, barn doors opening to
the lake, where you put an old farm dining table, and a shop and that's it.
There's a little house there that was originally built by a German family in
the thirties. That's still there, and that was like the guest house, which
always felt better than the main house—we'd migrate. The family name still
stands etched in the glass, and that's gonna stay that way."
During the making of
Infamous, Bullock and Jesse James were happy to direct other cast members to
local music venues, since they know the way so well themselves. "No matter
what you are in the mood for," says Bullock. "You say, 'OK, I want to
go out and hear ukulele,' and you'll find it." She pointed Toby Jones
toward Antone's. "I saw loads of bands," he recalls. "It is a
great town for when you can't get to bed at night when you are anxious about
the character you're playing."
Apart from its music scene, anybody who knows vintage knows that Austin
is an antique-clothing capital—as well as a capital of new clothing, as far as
Bullock is concerned, and even of jewelry-making, given designers such as
Anthony Nak. "I've bought some of the best hand-tooled cowboy boots,"
says Bullock. "They were even a size and a half too big, but it didn't
matter. And you've got great boutiques, and young designers are coming out of
Austin and there's great jewelry and clothing. And now I'm finding a lot of
stuff I find here, in New York, that I find in Austin." It's an easy place to live; in the fall,
winter, and spring, the weather is easy, and although there are paparazzi in
Austin (because there are paparazzi everywhere), they are maybe not as
prevalent as they are in L.A., or even in SoHo, where, if you walk around with
Sandra Bullock, or any film star for that matter, you can't avoid hearing the
shuttering sound of America as it gasps for every last detail of celebrity—the
gasping that Harper Lee, a person who is infamously unfamous, has so
triumphantly and forcibly ignored. You can tell that the paparazzi-stalked
actress is amazed at what Harper Lee has managed, as far as publicity goes.
"People don't understand
why someone wouldn't want to be photographed or talked about," says
Bullock. "It's got to be so strange to have all these people thinking they
know you, when they don't," she says. "The thing that she still does
is involve herself in worthwhile causes, and she's still inspiring young kids
and writers and people in her community. She cuts out the one element that
drives everyone crazy, which is the media and public recognition. She's someone
who says, 'Let my book speak for itself.' There's nothing else to say when you
write something like that. Nothing."
Bullock speaks as the recent target of the media spotlight: SO IN LOVE,
shouts one headline on the occasion of their one-year anniversary. There's
nothing like a happy (seeming) celebrity marriage to get the gossip pages going
about things like, just for instance, babies. The irony of playing a person who
is smartly secluded hasn't escaped Sandra Bullock, a person who prides herself
on avoiding questions about her personal life, and especially about
relationships. "I'm really good at not answering," she says.
"The thing about relationships, whether I am talking about my mother or my
father or my sister, nine times out of ten I know it'll be misconstrued, and I
know it will be quoted, and people will come back and say, 'They said you were
a hermaphrodite.' No, I said I was out late last night." Still, it seems safe to say that Bullock is
surprised (a) to find herself married—by all accounts she had all but written
off the idea—and (b) married to Jesse James. Such surprise developments seem to
have taught her to enjoy surprise developments. "Again, you are talking to
a recovering control freak," she says. "I mean, I say one thing this
week because it applies to life now, and next week all hell could break loose
on many levels, on a personal level, on a global level, and everything that I
said this week is completely moot."
It's safe to say, too, that
because neither she nor anyone is likely to get answers from Harper Lee about
her relationship with Capote, Bullock is all the more tantalized by Lee—and,
perhaps, inspired by a good relationship. "The great love and care for
this man in her life, this partner or friend that she has, and yet she fights
with the issues that she disagrees with," says Bullock. "You look at
the life choices and direction, and you understand at some point—and again, I'm
assuming, and we'll never know the story of why they split, and I don't want
people to know the story of why I had rifts with people—but you see why they
fit so well together. They came from that small place. They understood, they
nurtured each other. It was just such a great relationship." Lunch is
done. The final sandwich appears in a paper bag—the to-go sandwich for Jesse
James. Bullock, the former waitress, is extremely courteous with the current
waitress. And she is soon out on the streets walking home for a happy afternoon
of home repair, avoiding the paparazzi as usual. But before she gets up, she is
looking at the bill. "Tip well," she says. "Always tip well. Tip
a little more."
Sandra Bullock
(Jeanne Wolf’s Hollywood
website, 2007)
Ahhh — Sandra Bullock in
the Morning!
"I had a really hard
time figuring out the time line, and I thought at one point that I was gonna
lose it. I went to director Mennan Yapo and said, 'I don't know where I
am in this movie.' And he smiled and went, 'This is exactly where you need to
be.' Eventually, I understood the method to his madness." — Sandra Bullock
It's sort of Ground Hog
Day: The Tragedy. Bullock stars in Premonition as a woman in a
troubled marriage who wakes up the day after her husband dies in a horrible car
accident to discover he's still alive. Then her life really gets torn apart as
she goes through a repetition of days when sometimes he's alive and sometimes
he isn't. Yeah, it was confusing even to her.
Why she'll never give up
denying that she's gorgeous:
"You become a movie star and sexy, because you're up there larger than
life, but it's not really justified. I know what I look like in the morning — I
have good days and bad days. I've learned to sit very still when the makeup
artist starts working on me. And don't forget when you see a picture of a star
in a magazine it's been airbrushed … I don't want that to go too far. I don't
want them to give me something that I don't have. Don't enhance me into a
fantasy."
Does she believe in fate
sending you a message? "When
someone says to me, 'I've got a bad feeling that something is gonna happen' and
then it does, it can't be explained by science, but I believe it does occur.
Everyone has intuition. I've had dreams or signs telling me not to do
something, and then I've done it and paid for it. I've had dreams and thought,
What does that mean? And then what I dreamed really happened. Is that
intuition? Is that premonition? Is that coincidence? I don't know."
After going through a
rocky marriage on the screen, Sandra has a few thoughts: "They're a couple who don't communicate. They
don't know how to get back to each other, and that happens to so many people.
Why is work or business or success or having that house or that lifestyle so
important that we will allow it to make us dead? Start a dialog with someone
you love: 'I'm pissed off at you. F--- you. How dare you do this?!' Don't go
through life unfeeling."
You won't see her on Dancing
With the Stars: "I've been
tangoing to get ready for Kiss and Tango. I knew how to salsa and
merengue, so I was a little cocky when I started. But I soon figured out I had
a lot to learn. Go take a tango class, and you'll want to go home and kill
yourself because you are so inept. It's been a good life lesson for me. It is
just frustrating … but beautiful when it all comes together."
Sandra Bullock: Stop Asking When I'll
Have Kids
(By Stephen M. Silverman, In Style magazine, 2007)
Sandra Bullock didn't rush to
get married – she wed Jesse James in 2005 at age 40 – so people should stop
telling her to hurry up and get pregnant.
"How many times do people say, 'So, when are you going to have
kids?' " she says in the March issue of InStyle. "Can I slap you
now?" For now, her two rescued dogs
are her babies, despite recent reports that she was pregnant. "One hundred
percent false," she says. That's
not to say that she and James, 37, aren't deliriously happy – even though the
tattooed Monster Garage host might not at first look like her perfect
match. Before she got to know him,
"I assumed he was a homophobic chauvinist, a bigot who kills people,"
she says. "And later I felt saddened by my assumptions because I wondered
how many times I had written off people who truly were real." Their relationship works, she says, because
of "how the pistons shoot off in our heads. One idea begets 700,000 other
ones, all requiring immediate attention. At least my addiction is understood by
my partner, and hopefully we can help each other find the normalcy. It's our
normalcy; it's not anyone else's. I finally felt I had a net for the real
me." And the real her is just as
comfortable in a "ridiculously expensive dress" and Christian
Louboutin heels as she is in jeans and dusty boots. So is there anything she
couldn't wear? "A size 4," she cracks. But she's realistic about her body. "We
all have cellulite," she says. "So do supermodels! I've been to the
shows, and I go, 'Stick figure has some cellulite!' It's nature. Without it,
you're not human."
Fan Charged With Stalking Sandra
Bullock
A fan of Sandra Bullock was
charged with stalking the actress and trying to run down her husband, TV
motorcycle maker Jesse James, outside their Orange County home. Marcia Diane Valentine, 46, of Huntington
Beach, was charged with felony counts of aggravated assault and stalking. She
could face up to four years, and eight months in prison if convicted, the
district attorney's office said. It was
unknown whether Valentine had an attorney and she remained free on $25,000 bail. Last week, Bullock obtained a restraining
order barring Valentine from contacting or coming near her home, family or work
for three years. The actress testified
in court that on five occasions Valentine left in her yard palm fronds adorned
with "weird signs" and "pieces of animal fur." Bullock testified that after Valentine was
spotted April 22, 2007 outside the couple's home in Sunset Beach her husband
went outside and tried to write down the woman's license plate. "When he went outside, Valentine is
accused of screaming obscenities, getting into her silver Mercedes, and
reversing her car in an effort to run over James," the district attorney's
office said. She narrowly missed James,
reversed again in an effort to run him down and then fled, prosecutors
contended. James, host of TV's Monster
Garage, was not hurt. Valentine was arrested the next day by sheriff's deputies
while driving in the area.
Bullock Honored By La. School For
Katrina Charity
(By Stacey Plaisance, Associated Press, May 16, 2009)
Actress Sandra Bullock was
inducted Friday into a New Orleans high school's "Hall of Fame" after
donating tens of thousands toward rebuilding the public school heavily flooded
by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Bullock
took the auditorium stage at Warren Easton High School to a standing ovation
from about 300 people. She said she couldn't take all the credit for
renovations after the school suffered $4 million in damages from nearly 10 feet
of floodwater from the storm. "I
just write the checks," the actress said, adding she "rides the
coattails of people who do amazing things."
Bullock's portrait- drawn in
crayon by her 5-year-old stepdaughter Sunny- was added to a school hallway
alongside dozens of portraits of alumni who went on to become famous musicians,
sports stars, judges and doctors. The
exact amount of her donation hasn't been made public. But Bullock called it
"the best investment I ever made."
In an interview, Bullock said she was "embarrassed" by the
federal government's slow response after Katrina and felt compelled to help
however she could.
Her donation helped fund
scholarships, new band uniforms and renovations of the school auditorium. She
said providing for new band uniforms was important because of New Orleans' rich
music history. School graduates include jazz clarinetist Pete Fountain, also in
the hall of fame. "It's not just
reading, writing and arithmetic," she said. "Where's the joy in life?
In New Orleans, it's in music."
Bullock has visited the school many times since Katrina. Warren Easton,
a predominantly black inner city school, dates its origins to 1844 as one of
Louisiana's oldest public schools.
Bullock was joined Friday by
her husband, celebrity motorcycle builder Jesse James, and James' daughter
Sunny. Besides charity work, Bullock has
been busy with her movie career. Her romantic comedy "The Proposal,"
costarring Ryan Reynolds, is due in theaters in June. She is producing and starring in the comedy
"All About Steve," which is expected to be released later this year. And
she is currently filming the drama "The Blind Side" in Atlanta.
Sandra Bullock: You Have To Enjoy
Razzies And Oscars
(By Susan Wloszczyna, USA Today website, Feb 2010)
"I'm awake now,"
says Sandra Bullock, who is getting used to having the title "Oscar
nominee" attached to her name for the first time - for her work in The
Blind Side. "It wasn't until 15
minutes ago when the sun came out that I felt that way. Give me my coffee! My
husband (celebrity motorcycle customizer Jesse James) finally brought me a real
cup of coffee, not grounds I have been chewing on." At 45, she has had a long and prosperous
career in romantic comedies. But The Blind Side tapped into a different side of
the actress, emotionally and dramatically. "I want to baffle people by not
doing something that is expected to me. I want to keep being allowed to make
choices."
One topic has been carefully
sidestepped: Her third film this year, All About Steve, which earned her some
of her worst reviews ever. Now it is up for several Razzie honors, including
worst actress. "Thank God, that film is finally being recognized for
something," she says. "They don't get it now but in 10 years it is
going to have a cult following. If I win, I am so showing up. I have to enjoy
that as much as getting an Oscar nomination. It is the great balance in our
business." As for being in the eye
of the awards storm, "I am more used to presenting or watching these shows
on TV. It's best if you enjoy each moment for the party it is and the party you
get to see. And to see everyone, everyone I've not met. The actors are just
happy to be there. You sit down and see Matt Damon and say, 'Dude, your career
is awesome. How are your kids?' That's feeling it from the inside out. It's
more calm and humbling."
She certainly has given great
performances on the awards show circuit, stealing a kiss from Meryl Streep at
the Critics Choice and causing tears to flow during the Screen Actors Guild
ceremony. "I pull those speeches out of a place where the sun don't shine.
How do you prepare?" As for Streep,
perceived to be her main competition with her performance as Julia Child in Julie
& Julia, she says, "Everyone says it is a tight race, but it's not
a race with us. None of the women care. Meryl and I have a special relationship.
We rib each other. I asked her if she would attend the Oscars with me. I would
wear the tuxedo. We could go together and come out of the closet with our love
for each other." After all, she says, "Meryl is a good kisser."
Sandra Bullock burned herself dying
her pubic hair
(By ???, Feb 2010, USA Today website)
OUCH! The actress – who is married to motorcycle
enthusiast Jesse James – admits she was horrified when her special Valentine’s
Day grooming efforts went wrong. She
explained: “I decided for Valentine’s Day I would do a special hair thing. I
wanted to try to create a pink heart shape with my lower hair. It was
painful. “You had to bleach it first.
There’s something about bleach that feels like acid. Then I had to shave it.
"I was in so much pain, but I kept going and put the pink dye on and it
went the wrong colour.” The 45-year-old
star also suffered another dyeing disaster when she went blonde recently for
her role in ‘The Blind Side’ because Jesse hated it.
She admitted to Britain’s OK!
magazine: “There is a very important person in my life who just didn’t want me
being blonde – thank God. There was a big person who said, ‘I don’t like the
blonde on you, take it off. You want him to say that.’ You want him to say
that. You do.”
Sandra Bullock Wins First Oscar As Best Actress
(By Beth Harris, The Associated Press, 8 March 8,
2010)
Sandra Bullock paid her dues
in Hollywood for more than 20 years, beloved by the moviegoing public if not
always the critics. She was rewarded Sunday, winning the best-actress Oscar for
playing a tough white Southern woman who adopted a black child in "The
Blind Side." Bullock had repeatedly
said she didn't think she was going to win for the part she initially turned
down, although the 45-year-old actress was a heavy favorite. "Did I really earn this or did I just
wear you all down?" she said after accepting the golden statue from Sean
Penn. "I have so many people to
thank for my good fortune in this lifetime and this is a once-in-a-lifetime
experience, I know."
In the closest race of the
acting categories, Bullock was up against Meryl Steep in "Julie &
Julia," former winner Helen Mirren in "The Last Station," and
breakout stars Gabourey Sidibe of "Precious" and Carey Mulligan of
"An Education" for their first-time leading roles. In "The Blind Side," Bullock donned
a frosted blond wig and a Tennessee twang to play Leigh Anne Tuohy, the
real-life adoptive mother of Baltimore Ravens football player Michael Oher. Bullock had already won the Screen Actors Guild
and Golden Globe awards, and tied Streep at the Broadcast Film Critics awards.
Streep also won at the Globes. At 60, Streep is the most nominated actor, male
or female, of all time with 16 nods, but she's gone home empty-handed since her
last best-actress win for "Sophie's Choice" in 1983. Her other
victory was as supporting actress for "Kramer vs. Kramer" in
1980. "I look at the company I keep
in this category and you can't pick," Bullock said backstage.
"There's not one that rises above the others. I feel like I share it
equally in five parts because we ladies need to stick together."
Bullock's Oscar triumph came a
night after she won worst actress at the Razzies on Saturday for "All
About Steve," a romantic comedy flop that quickly vanished at theaters in
between her 2009 hits, "The Proposal" and "The Blind
Side." Bullock became the first
person to win an Oscar and a Razzie on the same weekend. She was the rare
A-list star who attended the show that pokes fun at the Oscars by giving out
prizes for Hollywood clunkers. "I
had the best time at the Razzie," she said backstage. "It's the great
equalizer. No one lets me get too full of myself." Asked where she would put the Oscar and the
Razzie, Bullock replied, "They'll sit side-by-side on a shelf somewhere,
the Razzie maybe on a different shelf, lower."
Bullock's breakout role came in
the 1994 film "Speed." She went on to score box office successes in
"While You Were Sleeping" and "Miss Congeniality." But she
also appeared in a string of duds before a supporting role in the 2004 movie
"Crash" earned Bullock some of the best reviews of her career. She attributed her victory to hanging in
through good roles and bad. "I
didn't aspire to this," she said backstage, cradling her Oscar. "I
was in awe of it, I admired it and I got to watch it like everyone else did. I
didn't think the opportunity would ever present itself for me to rise to that
occasion. This came out of left field, every pun intended."
'Transformers,' Bullock make Razzies
worst list
"Transformers: Revenge
of the Fallen" was picked as last year's worst picture at Saturday's
Razzies, and Sandra Bullock won worst actress for "All About Steve" —
on the eve of her expected Academy Awards triumph for another film. Voters at the Razzies, which poke fun at the
Oscars by giving out prizes for Hollywood's critical misfires, chose Bullock
for her romantic comedy flop. "All About Steve" came and quickly
vanished at theaters in between her 2009 hits, "The Proposal" and
"The Blind Side," the latter expected to win Bullock the best-actress
Oscar on Sunday.
If Bullock takes best-actress
for "The Blind Side," she will be the first person ever to win an
Oscar and a Razzie over the same weekend.
"She's in the unprecedented position, Saturday she's the worst, and
the very next night, she's back on her feet, and she's the best," said
Razzies founder John Wilson. "We certainly don't wish her ill at that
other awards show." Throughout
awards season, Bullock has been good-natured about it, joking about the Razzies
attention she has gotten along with the Oscar esteem.
If Sandra Bullock beats Meryl
Streep to win the Academy Award for Best Actress tonight, she'll make history,
because in addition to being nominated for Oscar honors for her turn in the
football drama The Blind Side, she also earned a nomination -- from the Golden
Raspberry Award Foundation -- for Worst Actress of the year for starring in the
abysmally-received comedy All About Steve. Last night in Hollywood, the classy
actress actually showed up to receive her Razzie award, and she came bearing
gifts.
Bullock, ever the good sport
about being "honored," teased the crowd in attendance, all of whom
she guessed hadn't actually seen All About Steve (which she also produced).
During her acceptance speech ("I didn't realize that in Hollywood that all
you have to do is say you'll show up and you'll get [the award]. If I had known
that, I would have said I was appearing at the Oscars a long time ago"),
Bullock exacted a revenge of sorts when she carted out a wagon full of All
About Steve DVDs to give to the audience.
Bullock and "All About Steve" co-star Bradley Cooper also
shared the Razzie for worst screen couple.
The "Transformers"
sequel won two other Razzies, worst director for Michael Bay and worst
screenplay for Ehren Kruger, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. Bay and his team probably will not lose any
asleep over it, though. Though reviled by critics, "Transformers"
took in $402.1 million domestically, No. 2 on the 2009 box-office chart behind
"Avatar." The worst-actor
Razzie went to siblings Kevin, Joe and Nick Jonas for "Jonas Brothers: The
3D Concert Experience." The Jonas'
pal Miley Cyrus, star of "Hannah Montana: The Movie," lost the
worst-actress category to Bullock. But her dad, Billy Ray Cyrus, was named
worst supporting actor for the big-screen "Hannah Montana." Sienna Miller received the worst
supporting-actress Razzie for the action tale "G.I. Joe."
Will Ferrell's action comedy
flop "Land of the Lost" had come in tied with "Transformers"
for the Razzies lead with seven nominations, but it was nearly shut out in
every category. Once ballots had been
counted from the roughly 650 Razzies voters, "Land of the Lost" was
tied for the group's worst remake, rip-off or sequel prize. Razzies founder
Wilson, who always votes last, gave the tie-breaking vote to "Land of the
Lost." "It really did stink
and I thought, well, it ought to get something, because it is a very bad
movie," Wilson said. Razzie voters
also made worst-of-the-decade picks, with John Travolta's science-fiction
debacle "Battlefield Earth" winning worst picture. Among all-time Hollywood dreck,
"Battlefield Earth" is "like the 800-pound mongrel gorilla in
the room," Wilson said. "It's one of my favorite type of bad movies.
It's so bad, it's entertaining, in ways that the people who made it had no idea
it would be."
Paris Hilton was chosen as
the decade's worst actress for movies such as "The Hottie and the
Nottie" and "Repo: The Genetic Opera." Eddie Murphy, a 2009
Razzie nominee for "Imagine That," was named the decade's worst actor
for such bombs as "The Adventures of Pluto Nash," "I Spy"
and "Meet Dave."
Onstage Drama And Backstage Delight
At The Academy Awards
(By Anthony Breznican, USA TODAY)
The best seat at the Oscars
is backstage. USA TODAY was in the wings of the Kodak Theatre Sunday night,
capturing off-the-cuff moments that followed the staged events. One of the most emotional moments backstage
came after screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher won for his adapted screenplay of
Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire and Mo'Nique won supporting
actress for playing the film's malevolent mother. Known for her brassy and blunt comedy,
Mo'Nique humbled the audience by thanking the academy for showing that the
awards "can be about the performance, not the politics." And she
thanked Hattie McDaniel, the first African American to win an Oscar, for
playing Mammy in 1939's Gone With the Wind. "I want to thank Miss Hattie
McDaniel for enduring all that she had to so I would not have to."
Mo'Nique had been criticized
by some Oscar pundits for not aggressively campaigning throughout awards
season. It didn't seem to hurt her; she won almost every major prize before
also taking home the Academy Award. Waiting
just behind her in the shadows was Fletcher, his Oscar demurely held at his
side. Onstage, Fletcher said, "This is for everybody who works on a dream
every day. Precious boys and girls everywhere." One of the ABC pages came by and said,
"Does anyone know where Geoffrey Fletcher is?" while looking directly
at him. "Do you have eyes on Geoffrey Fletcher?" Fletcher raised his Oscar into view and with
a stunned look asked, "Me? Do you mean me?" But before he would let
the page take him to the pressroom in the hotel next door, he wanted his moment
with Mo'Nique. A long hug ensued. But it wasn't silent.
"Oh, baby! Oh,
baby," Mo'Nique repeated again and again, as they clutched their Oscars at
the other's back. "Look what we did!" As they pulled apart, they
raised their Oscars and clinked their heads like Champagne glasses. "To
you," Mo'Nique said. "To you, my baby." As they walked down the corridor to the
elevator that would take them to the pressroom, Robin Williams jumped in front
of them to lighten the mood, making "swish, swish, swish" noises as
he swept an invisible broom in front of her slow walk. "It's curling, curling!" Williams
said, finally getting Mo'Nique to laugh out loud.
Kate Winslet was a bulldozer
for Oscar winner Jeff Bridges. The actress, a winner last year for The Reader,
presented Bridges with his Crazy Heart trophy and pulled him backstage, waving
aside stagehands and declaring Bridges needed the place "to say other
stuff, to thank the people he didn't thank out there." She was referring to the academy's thank-you
cam, an Internet-only camera that records winners' voluminous lists of names of
people who need to be mentioned but were left out onstage. It's meant to
encourage winners to give more heartfelt speeches rather than read a litany of
managers, agents, lawyers, friends and family.
"And here," Winslet said, thrusting the open envelope with his
name into his hands, "don't lose this!" Clearly, her take-charge attitude came from
being a veteran.
Though he's had a long
career, Bridges didn't seem to know what she was talking about. As he wandered
about, clutching his trophy, he passed the thank-you cam and its team. He
laughed and said, "I don't even know what a thank-you cam is." Soon he was swarmed. Tim Robbins first, then
Michelle Pfeiffer, his co-star from 1989's The Fabulous Baker Boys, who
introduced him onstage, and whatever focus he had left was gone. But eventually
he made his way back to the camera, and he had a lot on his mind. He even
pulled up a chair and sat down for the long haul.
Sandra Bullock, after winning
best actress for The Blind Side, came backstage clutching Sean Penn's arm.
"Sean, what do I do now?" Penn, last year's best-actor winner for
Milk, shrugged and said, "I don't know." She could have used some of Winslet's
mother-hen-like expertise. "Well, I don't know either," Bullock
said. Just then, the best-director
category came up on the monitors, and they watched as the action unfolded live
right behind them. Well, Bullock
watched. Penn made a quick exit, leaving the baffled actress unsure what came
next. To her rescue came Forest Whitaker, the best-actor winner for The Last
King of Scotland three years ago. He asked her what she wanted to do, the
options being go back to her seat, go to the pressroom or just stay put. Bullock's response: "I want a
cheeseburger and french fries and a milkshake." Whitaker nodded.
"Ahhh, a little In-N-Out tonight," he said, with an expression of
someone who knows good, post-Oscar burger dining. As Kathryn Bigelow accepted best director for
The Hurt Locker, Bullock took a moment to peek into the envelope Penn had given
her. "Oh, I better double-check the name," she joked. "Oh, good,
it does say mine." No sooner was
Bigelow headed in their direction than Tom Hanks announced The Hurt Locker as
best-picture winner.
"Ahhh! She's gotta go
back," Whitaker said, laughing and clapping. Bigelow, the first woman to
win the best-director award, is known for her tough, no-nonsense films. But
after winning two of the top prizes for her movie about an bomb defuser in
Iraq, she looked like her own mind had just detonated. "I'm in such shock!" she said,
walking off the stage with an Oscar in each hand. Passing her was Hanks, who
summed up the feeling of the night.
"What a moment," he said with a laugh. And with that, the 82nd Academy Awards came
to an end.
But before the show...
Hollywood's biggest night got rolling with the same nervous hustle as a high
school play, albeit cast with the most famous faces on the planet. An hour before showtime, Oscar winner Javier
Bardem (2007's No Country for Old Men) was the first celebrity floating around
the empty corridors behind the elaborate Kodak Theatre stage. But one by one, the stars made their escape
from the red carpet, and soon Bardem was hanging out on the loading dock
smoking corner alongside girlfriend and Oscar winner Penelope Cruz and The Hurt
Locker's Jeremy Renner. Just inside,
Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin were secluded inside their dressing rooms, but
one guest brought them out, Baldwin still in his street clothes and Martin with
his tuxedo shirt untucked and unbuttoned.
That would be Williams, who
at first lingered in the hallway, unsure whether to knock. "Is it all
right to say a quick hello? I don't want to bother them," Williams said,
sounding a little hoarse. He recently had heart surgery, and though his manic
energy was more subdued than usual, he rallied for the two co-hosts of this
year's Academy Awards. When Baldwin, all
smiles, greeted him, Williams said, "Let's do one of these,"
chest-bumping the much taller Baldwin. "Whoa!" Williams said, getting
a faceful of Baldwin's burly chest.
Outside, with rain coming down in drizzles, foodie celeb Wolfgang Puck
lifted spirits by handing out little chocolate Oscars to the crowd of
fans. Backstage, there's always a
last-second wardrobe emergency, and this year, Amanda Seyfried and Jennifer
Lopez, each wearing Armani gowns of shimmering silk with the strength and
density of bubble wrap, needed pit stops for hurried repairs to torn material. The trouble: fragile fabric and long trains,
in a tight space, with lots of people not looking where they're walking. Marc
Anthony put a hand on Robert Downey Jr.'s shoulder to stop him from snagging
Lopez's gown. "I need to be following along with orange traffic cones on
the back," Anthony told the Iron Man.
Helen Mirren, Oscar winner
for 2006's The Queen, was surprisingly hanging around with teen starlet Miley
Cyrus. And when Cyrus stopped for a touch-up at the makeup table corner, the
older actress pointed to the greenroom and yelled, "Miley, we are forging
ahead in here!" And the Hannah Montana star quickly followed after
her. Earlier, Mirren was having fun on
the red carpet with The Last Station co-star Christopher Plummer. Both were
nominated for their roles as Leo Tolstoy and his wife, Sofya. Of her companion,
Mirren said, "It's fun to have a friend on the red carpet." When asked who made his suit, Plummer said:
"I did. I stayed up all night."
She chimed in, "I hemmed the trousers for him." At this point backstage, the already cramped
entryways started to fill up significantly, and even the biggest stars were
being nudged and pushed along. Ryan
Reynolds, extending his hand to Steve Carell, got to say, "I'm a big ..."
before they were pulled apart. He caught up to The Office actor and added:
"Hey, let me finish the sentence. I'm a big fan, not just a big."
Carell said he understood.
The clock continued to tick
until just a few moments before show time.
The main acting nominees began pouring out onto the stage for the
opening introductions, a presentation of them all onstage as the curtain went
up that was unique to this year. In the
midst of the March of the Nominees, Crazy Heart's Bridges caused another gown
accident, planting his foot on the train of An Education star Carey Mulligan
and yanking her to a halt. Luckily, no damage.
"Awww! Oh, no," Bridges said, putting his hand on his bearded
cheeks in embarrassment. "Just when I thought I had perfected my ability
to walk." Directly behind him was
Up in the Air's George Clooney, his rival for best actor. Clooney put his hands on Bridges' shoulders
as they walked and said, "All I know, Jeff, is if you lose tonight, you're
in such (expletive)."
Christoph Waltz,
supporting-actor winner for Inglourious Basterds, couldn't have been surprised
by his victory since it had been predicted ever since the movie premiered last
May at the Cannes Film Festival. But
when he came off stage after a characteristically modest speech, the Austrian
actor, who before was little known outside of Germany, had an uncertain look on
his face. Carrying his Oscar, he walked
with presenter Cruz, who won last year for Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Both of their wins have parallels. Cruz's
film also premiered at Cannes, but she was far more used to the role of
"celebrity." As she walked him
backstage, Bardem came over to meet them, and Cruz said to the new Oscar
winner, "Are you nervous?" Waltz
pursed his lips, thinking for a moment before answering. "Yes," he
declared finally.
For another winner, it's also
been a whirlwind few years. Ryan
Bingham, who won an Oscar — with T Bone Burnett— for The Weary Kind, the theme
from Crazy Heart, said backstage, "Me and my band were living out of our
Suburban four years ago." Director Scott Cooper "gave me a copy of
the script and said, 'If you're inspired to write anything, let me know.' "And here we are."
Marriage Trouble Rumors Surround
Sandra Bullock
(By PopEater.com, Mar 17 2010)
As the tabloid swirl around
her husband Jesse James continues, Sandra Bullock has abruptly canceled her
participation in the British premiere of 'The Blind Side.' In a statement from
Warner Brothers UK, the 45-year-old Oscar winner apologized for not being able
to make it across the pond for next Tuesday's London premiere. "Due to unforeseen personal reasons, a
trip abroad to support 'The Blind Side' has been deemed impossible at this
time," the statement reads, according to Usmagazine.com. Though the actress has not revealed what
"personal" reasons are to blame for the cancellation, new and
fast-moving reports of problems with Bullock's marriage may hold the answers.
PEOPLE.com reports that the actress moved out of the home she shared with James
just days before reports of his infidelity hit the tabloids.
The cancellation is not
surprising given the voracious appetite of the UK newspapers and the growing
tabloid controversy around the allegations concerning James. Those rumors were
launched by tattoo model Michelle "Bombshell" McGee (pictured at
right), who told In Touch Weekly this week that she and James had engaged in an
11-month affair, "including five weeks of sex." According to the interview she gave, McGee
claims the affair began when she sent James a request to be his
"friend" on a social-media Web site. She tells the magazine that the
pair had sex "two or three times" the night they met. Her Web site, michellebombshell.com, has been
crashing off-and-on since the story broke.
Neither Bullock nor James,
40, have commented on the cheating allegations, but James has, interestingly,
canceled his Twitter account. He usually Tweets on a daily basis. The couple
has been together since 2004. Less than two weeks ago, James teared up as
Bullock accepted the Best Actress Oscar for her performance in 'The Blind
Side.' During her Golden Globes
acceptance speech, Bullock was more direct, saying: "To my husband,
there's no surprise that my work got better when I met you, because I never
knew what it felt like for someone to have my back. So thank you." Bullock's sincere show of love recently for
James has not been lost on PopEater readers, who when asked Thursday if they
believed the reality star was cheating on his wife, 76% said
"NO." Following Bullock's
Oscar win, James told PEOPLE that Bullock "takes my breath away." He
went on to add, "I'm so proud of her. Nobody deserves this more and works
harder. She's old-school Hollywood -- just gracious and a star who's so much
better than you expect them to be."
The couple married in a ceremony at a ranch near Santa Barbara in July
2005.
In 2009, Bullock was a key
figure in James' child custody battle with his ex-wife, Janine Lindemulder. As
the estranged couple fought for custody of their 5-year-old daughter Sunny,
Bullock stood by James, and was even mentioned in James' court statements as
being a reason for deserving custody of the child. James claimed he and Bullock
would provide a much more stable environment for Sunny, and the court
eventually agreed, awarding James custody.
Sandra Bullock, Jesse James Lawyer Up
(By TMZ Staff, Mar 23 2010)
Multiple sources tell TMZ
reps for both Sandra Bullock and Jesse James have been interviewing divorce
lawyers. We're told Sandra's reps have
been in touch with several high-end divorce lawyers. Our sources say Lance
Spiegel, who handled divorces for Charlie Sheen, Heather Locklear and Michael
Jackson, is the frontrunner. As for
Jesse, we're told his business people have contacted several lawyers as well,
but he will not be initiating the divorce. We're told his reps are asking the
attorneys "if they'd be interested in taking the case" if Sandra
files.
As for whether a divorce
petition will be filed, one source simply said, "Something's
happening." As we first reported --
Jesse's ex, Janine Lindemulder, has filed legal papers in their custody case
involving six-year-old daughter, Sunny. Currently Jesse has full custody of
Sunny. Janine lives in a halfway house, after being locked up for tax
evasion. She believes Sandra will leave
Jesse and destabilize the home environment. We've learned Sandra will go to
court on June 14 and seek at least partial custody.
Sandra Bullock Hosts Business Dinner,
Breaks Down In Front Of Family
(Huffington Post, March 24, 2010)
Sandra Bullock has been
hiding out and canceling promotional appearances for 'The Blind Side' since
news of her husband's affair broke last week, but x17.com reports that she
hosted a business dinner Sunday night outside of LA to talk with film producers
about a movie in which she would play Meryl Streep's daughter. "They laughed and had a great time over
grilled chicken, salmon and brown rice," a source at the dinner told x17.
"You couldn't even tell she was going through something."
Monday night, the website
reports, Sandra dined with family and friends and had a harder time keeping it
together. "Sandy broke down at one
point but she came right back," the source said. "She is talking
about her next move. So sad and tragic. She is talking a lot about emails the
kids are sending to her. It's really emotional here right now." Another source tells Fox411 that Sandra is
seeking comfort in her family and that she has talked to Jesse over the past
week. "[Sandra is] keeping to
herself and there are people in her life to help her through this, including
her family, especially her father," the source said. "Friends have
been calling and checking up on her, but she's doing better every day. She will
bounce back."
Jesse
James Seen Without Ring, Finally Admits 'I Blew It' With Sandra
By Rob Shuter, Pop Eater website, Apr 26th 2010
Ever since Michelle "Bombshell" McGee went
public with the 11-month affair that sent Jesse James to rehab for sex
addiction, we've been wondering when we'd hear news of a permanent split for
Jesse and his Oscar-winning wife, Sandra Bullock. Looks like the time is now --
sources tell me that the new pictures of Jesse sans wedding ring tell us
everything we need to know. "Jesse
is finally admitting to himself that he blew it. The marriage of five years
with Sandra Bullock is over and he only has himself to blame," a friend of
James tells me. "His stint at the
Arizona rehab facility helped Jesse understand what he has done to his wife and
his family. He is a beaten man," confides the source. "Jesse removing
his wedding ring is a big deal. As long as he wore his wedding ring, he
believed there was some hope. Now, he is finally admitting to himself and
everyone else that any chance of getting back together with Sandra is
dead."
Jesse was seen outside the Seal
Beach, California, home he once shared with his wife, in a leather jacket and
helmet getting ready for a ride on his bike.
"It's a good thing he likes being alone -- because his bike is the
only friend he has at the moment," said one insider. "Jesse still
can't believe what a fool he has been. He had everything in the world and blew
it." The
first pics of Jesse without his ring were snapped while the West Coast
Choppers boss was bringing his daughters to school
earlier today, a month after checking into a rehabilitation facility in
Arizona. "Jesse checked himself into a treatment facility to deal with
personal issues," James' rep told PEOPLE magazine last month. "He
realized that this time was crucial to help himself, help his family and help save
his marriage."
Sandra, who has been seen hiking in Northern California without her wedding
ring and looking somber, is expected to file for divorce later this week. "It's over between Sandra and Jesse. For
a while, it looked like she was going to forgive him but not now," a
friend told me a few days ago. "But way too much has happened and after
spending time alone, Sandra has realized that she deserves better. It's not
going to be easy, but she's an amazingly strong lady. Don't worry, she will
survive."
Sandra Bullock Reveals Secret Baby,
Files For Divorce
(By Reuters, 29 April 29, 2010)
Oscar-winning actress Sandra
Bullock on Wednesday revealed she had secretly adopted a baby boy, but was
divorcing her cheating husband and would raise the child on her own. In a lengthy
interview and photoshoot with People magazine, Bullock spoke of her joy at
being a mother for the first time, and her sadness at ending her five-year
marriage to motorcycle maker and reality TV star Jesse James.
100 Most Influential People Of 2010:
Sandra Bullock
(By Betty White, Time
Magazine, April 2010)
I have always been a big fan
of the lady, as has everybody else, but I hadn't met Sandra Bullock, 45, until
we worked together on The Proposal. And the first time we sat down together, it
was like we had known each other all our lives. Don't get me wrong, people can
tense up around her without any trouble. But she puts you at ease; there's no
movie star there at all. Well, she happens to be a bit beautiful, I'll grant,
and a bit built, but the human being inside all that gorgeousness is just a
delight.
I couldn't be with her in
person the night she won the Best Actress Oscar for The Blind Side, but it was
just so wonderful to see her be appreciated. (I've seen the movie twice, by the
way.) What's so appealing about her in it is her honesty. She's been labeled
America's Sweetheart, which sounds soft and sweet. Sandra is both of those
things, but she also has a strength of her own. She never lets a scene get away
from her. She's never just there going through her paces. And you can't take
your eyes off of her. America, you wish she were your sweetheart.
'Twilight' Eclipses Bleep-Happy Mtv Movie Awards
(By Sandy Cohen, Associated Press, 7 June 2010)
Sandra Bullock was kissing
and telling at the MTV Movie Awards.
Bullock, wearing a glittery black dress, received a standing ovation as
she accepted the MTV Generation Award in her first live televised appearance
since she split with unfaithful husband Jesse James earlier this year. The
45-year-old actress used her acceptance speech to clear up tabloid rumors -
"No. 1: I'm not dead." - and smooch Scarlett Johansson. "No
matter what you might have seen or heard or read lately, I love what I
do," vowed Bullock, "and I'm not going anywhere."
Bullock was presented with the
show's highest honor by her "All About Steve" co-star Bradley Cooper,
"The Proposal" co-star Betty White and inexplicably Johansson, the
wife of her absentee "Proposal" leading man Ryan Reynolds. When asked
why she was there to help hand over the trophy, Johansson hinted she wanted to
lay one on Bullock, who awkwardly obliged. "Now that we have done
that," said a smiling Bullock, "can we please go back to
normal?"
Bullock was fresh off her
surprise appearance Saturday night at Spike TV's "Guys Choice" event
in Culver City, Calif., but that show won't be broadcast until June 20. She
also received a standing ovation there when she accepted the "Troops
Choice" award for entertainer of the year, voted on by members of the
military and presented by Robert Downey, Jr.
When it came to the awards at Sunday's freewheeling and often-bleeped
ceremony at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, Calif., "The
Twilight Saga" eclipsed the competition for the second year. "New
Moon" sucked up trophies for best movie, kiss, female performance for
Kristen Stewart and male performance and global superstar for Robert Pattinson.
"I guess 'Twilight' is
really awesome, and I agree," said Stewart. "Woo!" Other winners
selected by online votes included "Obsessed" co-stars Beyonce Knowles
and Ali Larter for best fight, "Jennifer's Body" star Amanda Seyfried
for "scared-as-s--t moment," "Ninja Assassin" star Rain for
"biggest badass star," "The Hangover" star Zach Galifianakis
for comedic performance and "Up in the Air" co-star Anna Kendrick for
breakout star. "This is the coolest moment ever," said Kendrick,
clutching her popcorn trophy. "This is going on my coffee table."
Tom Cruise launched the show as
"Tropic Thunder" character Les Grossman, a profanity-spewing Hollywood
producer. In the opening bit, Grossman used Michael Cera as a human bookend and
berated "The Karate Kid" star Jaden Smith as his father Will Smith
looked on. He later appeared on stage and danced alongside pop star Jennifer
Lopez to Ludacris' "Get Back."
Grossman wasn't the only character whose naughty language was frequently
censored. The cast of "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" were barely
audible as they presented an emotional Ken Jeong of "The Hangover"
with the award for "WTF moment." Christina Aguilera, who performed a
medley of tunes from her new album, was also muffled as she sang the saucy
"Woohoo."
A comically angry Mark
Wahlberg, however, was able to slip several bad words past censors during the
presentation of the best villain trophy to Tom Felton of "Harry Potter and
the Half-Blood Prince." Wahlberg jokingly hung above the stage with Will
Ferrell, spoofing last year's bizarro moment when Sacha Baron Cohen landed on
the lap of an offended Eminem. Peter Facinelli, who plays vampire patriarch
Carlisle Cullen in "The Twilight Saga," also sneaked some profanity
onto MTV with his expletive-laden acceptance speech for best movie on behalf of
the supernatural series' cast. Facinelli made sure to keep it clean when
thanking "Twilight" author Stephenie Meyer though. "I'm not going to curse with you because
you're Mormon," he said.
"Parks and
Recreation" funnyman Aziz Ansari hosted the 19th annual ceremony. Ansari,
who paid tribute to "Avatar" by crooning like R. Kelly, slipped into
several characters throughout the two-hour show. Among them: a seedy child
stuntman agent, "Precious" and Galifianakis' swagger coach, who
accepted the comedic performance award on Galifianakis' behalf.
Sandra Bullock Speaks: Let's 'Go Back
To Normal'
(By Popeater, Posted Jun 6th 2010)
When Sandra Bullock stepped
onto the stage at the MTV Movie Awards, she received a rapturous standing
ovation from the crowd. In the wake of Jesse James' cheating scandal, the
audience seemed to be echoing the support the Oscar winner has received from
the public. Wearing a sequined black dress, Bullock addressed the crowd, saying
she just wants to "go back to normal" and that she's "not going
anywhere." Oh yeah, and she planted a kiss on Scarlett Johansson
During his introduction of
Bullock, Bradley Cooper told the actress he hoped she knew "how loved you
are ... You are once-in-a-generation talent." Betty White, perhaps the second-most-beloved
star of today, called Bullock "grace defined, and I adore you madly."
"Sandy, you are a national treasure ... which I know a thing or two about
since my ovaries were recently named historical monuments." Upon arriving on stage, Bullock said,
"I'd like to thank Betty for being such an extraordinary woman ... because
of the person she is and the life she lives. I want your life."
While never directly addressing James or the scandal, Bullock certainly spoke
of it. She made a statement with: "No matter what you might have seen or
heard or read lately, I like what I'm doing and I'm not going anywhere. Speaking
of what you might have seen or heard, I wanted to clarify some things: Number
one, I'm not dead. Number two, everyone has cellulite, not just me." Bullock continued, saying that the
"paparazzi need more flattering lenses. And whoever established the high
road and how high it should be should be fired."
Things then got funny, as she
asked Johansson why she was on stage. "This is so weird ... Scarlett, I
really love you and all, but this is just uncomfortable. Why are you here?
" Bullock asked Scarlett, who is married to Bullock's 'The Proposal'
co-star Ryan Reynolds, told her she hoped to be there if Bullock won best kiss,
and then the two actresses shared a brief smooch themselves. Bullock then got serious again, asking:
"Can we please go back to normal, because therapy is expensive? Get back
to making fun of me. Bullock closed out
her speech by saying that everyone's thoughts should be with those most
affected by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Did Sandra Bullock's ScarJo Kiss Kill
Her Great Speech?
(By Michelle Ruiz, Pop Eater website, Jun 7th 2010)
The four members at our
humble (and unintended) MTV Movie Awards viewing party were raising our glasses
and remarking on Sandra Bullock's general coolness when through our cheers, we
saw it. Inexplicably, in the midst of Bullock's Generation Award
acceptance-slash-"I'm really okay, I promise" speech, co-presenter
Scarlett Johansson began sauntering over to Sandy. The fidgeting and awkward
glances made it all too clear, but we didn't want to believe it. Was the
always-sexy ScarJo -- whose presence was as-yet unexplained -- really moving in
for a kiss? The groans came in unison:
"Noooooo!"
After altering her "Poor
Sandra" narrative with a jawdropping People cover, in which she nuzzled
her adorable adoptive son Louis and confirmed her divorce from now-globally
hated husband Jesse James, did Bullock really need an MTV-manufactured
girl-on-girl smooch to prove she's 'back to normal?' We think not. In lieu of
the softly-lit, super-serious newsmagazine interview route taken by some
people, Bullock launched her post-scandal public comeback with an appearance
that seemed just like her - funny, cheeky and decidedly unfussy, not to mention
set at the absolute least serious of all the many, many awards shows in
Hollywood: The MTV Movie Awards.
In a sparkling black Oday
Shakar minidress and killer heels, Bullock returned as America's Sweetheart,
gracefully accepting MTV's career honor and reminding us why we were so
profoundly affected when her once-loving husband cheated on her with a tattooed
gal named Bombshell. Bullock seemed brave under the circumstances, smiling and
standing tall even while knowing that her every expression was being
scrutinized, her every word hung on. And
she delivered. To loyal fans, she promised her marital disaster wouldn't break
her - or shatter her ability to do (romantic) comedy. "No matter what you
might have heard or read or seen lately, I love what I do and I'm not going
anywhere," she said.
In classic Bullock style, she
apologized to co-presenter Bradley Cooper for the bomb that was "All About
Steve" and guffawed when Betty White advised her against wearing her
plunging backless dress backwards. She jokingly clarified out-there tabloid
rumors, assuring us that she has never -- ever -- gone two weeks without
bathing. It was a winning speech worthy
of the standing ovation she earned en route to the stage -- until The
Kiss. Bullock phrased it perfectly when
she turned to Johansson mid-speech and said: "This is so weird, Scarlett.
I really love you and all but this is just really uncomfortable. Why are you
here?" Our thoughts exactly. Why
was she there? ScarJo claimed she was filling in for her husband and Bullock's
"The Proposal" co-star Ryan Reynolds, who was nominated alongside
Bullock for Best Kiss. But it turned out she was really there for a
standard-issue MTV girl-on-girl lip-lock.
When Bullock clutched
Johansson and laid one on her, it was brief and tame. But it was also awkward
and unnecessary in the context of Bullock's comeback "moment." It
seemed so haphazardly inserted into an otherwise triumphant speech, that even Bullock
seemed a little embarrassed. After it was over, though the crowd's hooting,
Bullock threw up her hands as if to say 'There, MTV, I did it!' As if "Sandra Bullock's Awesomely Classy
Return to the Public Eye" wasn't an interesting headline for the movie
awards, MTV appeared to dredge up a go-to gimmick: the faux-lesbian kiss!
Famously implemented at the
2003 VMA's in a three-way smooch between Madonna, Britney Spears and Christina
Aguilera, the ladies-locking-lips shtick has drawn the ire of actual lesbians, who
have argued that Hollywood's girl-on-girl stunts serve to trivialize
homosexuality. Feminists, for their part, haven't been keen on the way the
smooches seem to feature women kissing less because they feel like it -- and
more to please heterosexual men. A True/Slant blogger was fine with Bullock
gratuitously kissing another woman -- but felt it should have been Betty White
instead.
To be fair, we don't know
whose idea the kiss was. We also don't know why it was really necessary. In the
case of Madonna, Britney and Christina jointly singing "Like a
Virgin," a girl-on-girl-on-girl kiss was actually oddly fitting,
considering the pop star personalities involved. When Bullock herself laid a
big kiss on Meryl Streep when they tied for Best Actress at the Critics Choice
Awards, she was using a little humor to make a bold statement -- that the women
were not, as the tabloids claimed, cat-fighting their way to the Oscars.
The surprise factor was
especially jarring given how reserved and composed Bullock has been throughout
the past months, which were no doubt a nightmare for her. As Jesse James gushed
to 'Nightline' about how his childhood woes forced him to cheat on her, Bullock
stayed mum rather than fight back or try to retort. As 'Bombshell' McGee
flaunted nude photos and told tales of her trysts with Jesse, Bullock opted for
silence instead of anger -- once again, rising above the drama surrounding her
private life.
So what was behind Bullock
and Johansson's random lip lock? (If you have any ideas, let us know in the
comments.) Even if Bullock was one of the most "mature" women in the
room, her speech didn't need awkward spit-swapping to jazz it up. In our
opinion, it was a glowing, sincere success all on its own. And it appears to be
a huge win in your eyes, too, as 82% of PopEater readers dubbed Sandy's speech
"amazing." As Sandra said
after the smooch: "Now that we have done that, can we please go back to
normal?"
Details Emerge About Sandra Bullock
and Jesse James' Divorce
(By John Mitchell, PopEater website, Jun 30th 2010)
With the ink barely dry on
Sandra Bullock and Jesse James' divorce papers, details about the terms of
their split are beginning to emerge. The divorce decree, which was filed in
Travis County, Texas, on Monday, acknowledges that Bullock is baby Louis
Bardo's sole parent. Perhaps most shockingly, however, sources close to the
couple tell PEOPLE that the Oscar-wining actress will remain a co-parent to
James' three children, Sunny, 6, Jesse Jr., 12, and Chandler, 15. Despite beginning the adoption process as a
couple, the filing cites that "there is no child of the marriage."
Thus, Bullock is officially listed as a single mother to baby Louis and James
retains full legal custody of his children from previous relationships, meaning
the co-parenting situation alluded to by PEOPLE is probably less a formal
arraignment than an informal attempt to provide stability for James' children.
During their marriage,
Bullock spoke often of her love for James' children, Sunny in particular, whose
mother, Janine Lindemulder, has had ongoing problems with substance abuse and
spent time in prison for tax evasion.
According to court documents obtained by TMZ, Bullock and James reached
a private partition agreement with regard to property purchased during the
marriage, and the value of any property not included in the agreement is to be
divided equally between the two. It is
noted in the filing that all conclusions with regard to the divorce "are
based in part on their [Bullock and James] respect and regard for each
other."
The agreement reflects both
parties interest in making a clean break. "The parties understand and
acknowledge that they are relying on their mutual disclosures in making their
agreement," indicating that neither Bullock nor James sought an
independent investigation into the other's assets. Similarly, no alimony will
be paid and court costs will be covered by the party who incurred them. Bullock and James married in July of 2005.
Shortly after the actress's big win at the Academy Awards, Michelle
"Bombshell" McGee claimed to have had an affair with the former
'Monster Garage' host and West Coast Choppers CEO. Shortly thereafter, several
other women came forward saying they too had slept with James during his
marriage to Bullock.
As media scrutiny
intensified, the 'Blind Side' actress disappeared from public view and wasn't
seen in public for months. She resurfaced on the cover of PEOPLE magazine,
declaring she'd filed for divorce from James and had adopted a baby boy, Louis
Bardo Bullock. In June, the actress received a standing ovation when she
claimed the Generation Award at the MTV Movie Awards. Addressing the crowd, Bullock asked that
things "go back to normal" and assured her fans that she's "not
going anywhere."
Presently, Bullock is said to
be splitting her time between Austin, Texas, and New Orleans, where she adopted
Louis from and now has a home. According to reports, James is planning a move
to Austin, where he is hoping to establish normal relations with Bullock. "It's not like they're talking every
day, but they're in touch about things," a source tells PEOPLE. "It
really seems like it's about the kids more than anything."
Bullock Gets Restraining Order
Against Alleged Stalker
(By PopEater Staff, Jul 19th 2010)
Sandra Bullock filed for a
temporary restraining order on Monday against a man she claims has been
stalking her since 2003, E! Online reports. Thomas James Weldon was given a
permanent restraining order in 2003 after Bullock reported his repeated
attempts to contact her. Permanent
restraining orders last three years in California and after one extension in
2006, the order ended last year. After
the first restraining order in 2003, Weldon checked himself into a Tennessee
psychiatric facility. Bullock later sued the state in 2006 to ensure she'd be
notified when he was released.
Apparently, that didn't happen.
Per the request filed by
Bullock, Weldon showed up in Wyoming emergency room last month complaining of
anxiety and sleeplessness. He told hospital personnel that he had driven from
Tennessee hoping to meet Bullock at her Jackson Hole, Wyoming home. He also
told doctors he communicated with Bullock telepathically and that he was not
taking his medications, according to the Associated Press. "His preoccupation with Ms. Bullock is
obvious," Dr. Jiri Danczik, a psychiatrist, wrote in a sworn
declaration. In addition to Bullock, the
request lists her adopted son Louis, her nanny, housekeeper and assistant as
people who need protection from Weldon.
The hearing to review her latest request is scheduled for August 6.
Bullock’s Love Life History
(By PopEater Staff, Oct 10th 2010)
Before her ill-fated marriage
to Jesse James, Sandra Bullock was known for her refusal to settle down. In
retrospect, she probably had the right idea. She managed to maintain her
wholesome image despite her storied love life and commitment-phobia. Forget her
Oscar, that’s talent. We didn’t
really find out who Sandy was until she starred as the heroine in the thriller Speed,
but she already had a repertoire of big name films under her belt like Hangmen,
Love Potion No. 9 and the critically acclaimed Demolition Man.
(Anyone? Anyone?) As is the case with many Hollywood stars, Bullock didn’t
stray any further than her film sets to find love. She dated her Love Potion
No. 9 co-star Tate Donovan after they met during shooting. The couple dated
in the early 90s and even got engaged, but they split after three years. He
went on to become engaged to Friends star Jennifer Aniston, but that
marriage never came to fruition either.
After filming Speed in
1994, rumors swirled that she was linked to her co-star, Keanu Reeves, but they
claimed to be just friends. If they did date, their split was a peaceful one
because they co-starred again in 2006’s romance/drama The Lake House and
she reportedly turned to him for advice when her marriage crumbled in early
2010. Another “did they or didn’t they?” relationship happened in 1995 when she
was spotted stepping out with Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman, but that
was also never confirmed.
Sandra let a movie set become
the setting for a personal love story once again when she started dating her A
Time to Kill co-star Matthew McConaughey in 1996. They dated on and off for
three years even though she, again, maintained they were only friends. However,
tabloid photos of the happy twosome, not to mention her move to his hometown of
Austin, Texas in 1998, confirmed the romance even if they wouldn’t. Even after
the split, they managed to stay close friends.
In 2000, she embarked on a
low-key relationship with indie rocker Bob Schneider before a romance with
another co-star Ryan Gosling. She met Gosling, who is 16 years younger, on the
set of Murder by Numbers, and they were immediately smitten. As was her
style, they didn’t confirm they were together, but Sandra did confirm in a Cosmopolitan
interview that she would be lying if she said they were just
friends.
In 2003, Bullock met motorcycle
manufacturer and host of Monster Garage, Jesse James when she brought
her 10-year-old godson on a tour of his set as a surprise gift. The unlikely
couple started to date after he, with a lot of convincing, scored a date with
the star. They married in July 2005 and appeared to be the picture of wedded
bliss—she thanked him profusely during her awards sweep in 2010. But things
fell apart when a tattoo model, Michelle “Bombshell” McGee, revealed that she
had been having an affair with James. Several other women soon came forward,
and the pair was divorced in June.
After his shocking infidelities
came to light, Sandra came out with her own surprise—they had secretly adopted
a son, Louis, from New Orleans in January and planned to share the happy news
after the awards season buzz had died down. She currently has primary custody
of him, and something tells us that won’t be changing anytime soon.
Sandra Bullock Spending 'Quality
Time' With Ryan Reynolds
(By Rob Shuter, Pop Eater website, Jan 3rd 2011)
Sandra Bullock has been
spending a lot of time with Scarlett Johansson's soon-to-be ex-husband, Ryan
Reynolds, leaving many to wonder if the two are romantically involved. "Sandra loves Ryan," a friend of
Ryan's tells me. "They became very good friends when they filmed 'The
Proposal,' but they are not a couple, at least not yet." For now, "They love spending quality
time together." Adding fuel to the
rumors, the two celebrated New Year's together at Bess Bistro, which Sandra
owns in Texas. New photographs show them sitting next to each other with three
other friends -- with Sandra dressed as a flapper.
"They are both newly single and leaning on each other for support,"
an insider tells me. "Who knows what will happen in the future, but any
rumors of them being together and splitting up Ryan's marriage to Scarlett are
false." My source adds:
"Sandra would never get involved with a married man after what her ex did
to her. She has way too much respect for Scarlett, Ryan, the institution of
marriage and herself to do that."
Although, now that Ryan is a single guy, who knows what will happen? I
can't wait to find out.
Scarlett 'Devastated' by Ryan and
Sandra's Budding Romance
(By Rob Shuter, Pop Eater website, Jan 10 2011)
By now, everyone has heard
about the rumored romance between Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. That
includes the actor's soon-to-be ex-wife, Scarlett Johansson, who, I'm told by
friends, isn't too happy. "Scarlett
is a deeply private person, who during her entire marriage was only ever seen
and photographed with her husband a handful of times," a friend of the
actress tells me. "Now, less than a month after they split that fool has
gone and got himself photographed with [Bullock] on New Year's Eve of all days.
Of course she is devastated."
Images showed up just over a
week ago of Sandra and Ryan celebrating New Year's together at Bess Bistro,
which Sandra owns in Texas, depicting the actress dressed as a flapper. A
source at the time told me that the two were leaning on each other for
support. Bullock's rep has insisted they
are "nothing more than friends." But sources told RadarOnline.com on
Monday that the pair are "very much dating" and that they've even
made a trip or two to her Jackson Hole, Wyo., getaway. No one is suggesting that Sandra, who has
clearly moved on from her split with Jesse James, had anything to do with Ryan
and Scarlett's downfall, but that hasn't made this any less painful for the 'Lost
in Translation' starlet.
"Even if they are not a
couple yet, this is very awkward for Scarlett. She too thinks of Sandy as a
friend and hates the thought that Sandy is on team Ryan after the breakup, that
is if she isn't already his girlfriend," an insider tells me.
Sandra Bullock Not Blindsided By
Jesse James' Engagement
(By Jo Piazza, Pop Eater website, Jan 20, 2011)
While the rest of America
shook their heads in surprise at the swift engagement between Jesse James and
his girlfriend of six months, Kat Von D, one woman took it all in stride:
Jesse's ex, Sandra Bullock. Sources
close to Sandy tell PopEater that she was given a heads up that this would come
out this week and that while she isn't exactly jumping for joy, she has
accepted that Jesse is moving on with his life with Kat. Sandra's biggest
priority right now is her adopted son, Louis, and she isn't planning to let
anything get her off course from being the best mom she can be. "It may seem like only yesterday that
Jesse and Sandra split, but for her, life has changed so much that it seems
like ages ago," our source tells us.
While Sandra and Jesse aren't
exactly close friends, they do have ways to keep information flowing between
the two of them, and our source says that Jesse knew he needed to let Sandra
know that things between him and Kat were serious. "Sandra knew it was coming, and she was
ready," our source says. It does
seem like tattoo queen Kat is a much better match for bad boy Jesse James than
the buttoned-up Academy Award winner was. Jesse reiterated that sentiment in a
statement about his future wife: "2010 was actually the best year of my
life because I fell in love with my best friend," he said.
Sandra Preps Stepdaughter, Sunny, For
A Third Mom
(By Rob Shuter, PopEater website, Jan 24 2011)
Now that Sandra Bullock's
cheating ex, Jesse James, is engaged to Kat Von D and getting remarried as
early as next month, the actress has the heartbreaking task of preparing her
beloved stepdaughter, Sunny, for another mommy in her life. "Sandra loves Sunny with all her heart
and will always be in her life. However, she also knows that [Sunny] will have
a new mommy soon and will do whatever she needs to do to make sure Jesse's new
wife and Sunny have a great relationship even if that means taking a step
away," a friend of the actress tells me.
Jesse was granted full
custody of 6-year-old Sunny while he was still married to Sandra after her
mother, former porn star Janine Lindemulder, was jailed for tax evasion. Sandra
was instrumental in that court decision, telling the court she considered Sunny
to be her own daughter. "Sandra
thought Jesse would never be able to hurt her again, but she was wrong,"
an insider tells me. "When Jesse was in rehab it was Sandy who was a
mother to his little girl. Despite what Jesse did, Sandra never walked away
from Sunny." But now Sandra has the
awkward task of prepping Sunny for her third mother figure in less than a
year. "She has given that sweet
child nothing but love," my source says. "As difficult as this will
be, once again Sandra will prove what a lady she is."
