In many ways Sandra Bullock is an unlikely star—just as Gravity, the film that may earn her another Oscar nomination, is an unlikely 1)runaway hit.
In order to not give too much away, we will just say that Gravity is about some astronauts who run into trouble while in space. So, how can a 90-minute film about two very likable people—Bullock and George Clooney—floating beyond Earth be 2)termed a “3)thriller”?
The same way Bullock, who for the most part 4)eschews the 5)trappings of Hollywood, has managed to become such a huge celebrity, who can seemingly do no wrong. If ever there was a contest for “America’s sweetheart,” the actress would be tough to beat, since that has been her 6)moniker for the past few years.
Examine the evidence: Bullock is a woman who—7)at the height of a devastating marital breakup from Jesse James in 2010, when 8)lurid tabloid headlines appeared about his alleged affairs—shocked the world with news that she had secretly adopted an AfricanAmerican son from New Orleans, Louisiana. Not only was it surprising that the Oscar-winning actress had such a tight circle that she was able to conceal a monumental personal moment, but unlike some other celebs who had been criticized in the black community for transracial adoptions, Bullock and her decision were mostly embraced.
The Blind Side star has made paparazzi literally chase her outside the usual city limits, choosing to build her life in cities like Austin, Texas, and New Orleans. Articles about her are apt to contain lines like those in a recent Vogue piece: “The beloved—and eminently bankable—Sandra Bullock 9)soars to new heights in the season’s hotly anticipated outer-space thriller, Gravity.”
She is firmly in the top 10 list of Hollywood’s highest-paid actresses and her films tend to make money as well. Even other celebrities adore her. Avengers star Chris Evans has been quoted as saying Bullock was his first celebrity 10)crush.
“I saw Speed when I was in seventh grade, and I was like, that’s my lady,” Evans said. “I literally had a big poster (of her).”
It’s easy to see why a 11)preteen Evans fell for Bullock. The daughter of an Army employee and a German vocal coach, Bullock has continually struck a chord with fans—12)coming across as extremely genuine in a field which makes its magic through pretending. When Bullock won the Best Actress Oscar for The Blind Side in 2010, she brought some to tears with her heartfelt tribute to her 13)late mother.
“If I can take this moment to thank Helga B. for not letting me ride in cars with boys until I was 18—because she was right. I would have done what she said I was going to do,” Bullock said. “For making me practice every day when I got home. Piano, ballet, whatever it is I wanted to be—she said to be an artist, you had to practice every day. And for reminding her daughters that there’s no race, no religion, no class system, no color, nothing, no sexual orientation that makes us better than anyone else. We are all deserving of love. So, to that 14)trailblazer, who allowed me to have that. And this.”
In interviews Bullock can be funny, selfdeprecating and just 15)downright cool. During an appearance on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson to promote her buddy cop comedy, The Heat, she and the host goodnaturedly took verbal 16)swipes at each other. When Ferguson mentioned the film 17)Dumb and Dumber (in an apparent reference to the way their interview was going), Bullock 18)volleyed back about the classic comedy.
“19)Poop humor is fun,” she said jokingly.“If you do the toilet scenes well and commit to them they can be really, really powerful.”
Not many Academy Award winners would tackle such a subject, but it’s not surprising from Bullock, who recently proudly told Us Weekly that her now-3-year-old son, Louis, is fully potty-trained. While the actress has almost always been 20)tagged as more girl next door than 21)vixen, motherhood has clearly helped settle her even more.
She’s been very outspoken about the fact that she would give it all up, the career and the fame, if it wasn’t good for her son in any way.
“I don’t want him to have pressures brought on by what I do. I will quit. I will leave,” she told Vogue.“If I see whatever I’m doing affecting him negatively, I will pack up and move to Alaska.”
Which probably helps explain why the 22)self-professed 23)homebody would much rather be spending time with her toddler than working the press, as she did recently at the premiere of Gravity. In the Alfonso Cuarondirected film, she plays Ryan Stone, a medical engineer on her first space mission. The movie calls for Bullock to be in some pretty 24)out-there situations, but she told us at the premiere that being on the red carpet was extreme enough for her.
“That’s the most extreme situation I’ve experienced in a long time,” Bullock said.“Being in front of a camera, in a nice dress, getting all dressed up is extreme. There’s a lot of other extreme situations, you know, just getting out of bed sometimes is extreme—but I do it. Just got to do it, just got to get up. Put your sweatpants on, brush off the dog hair and just get out of the house!”
Following the film’s debut at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, 25)chatter immediately started that Bullock could once again be a contender for an Oscar. For director Cuaron, his star’s performance was so strong, it overshadowed even the special effects and technology used to make her appear weightless in Gravity.
“When you see Sandra performing...with the truthfulness she performed, you forget it was any technology around,” he told Access Hollywood.
桑德拉·布洛克在很多方面都不像一位明星——就好像電影《地心引力》,可能會(huì)為她帶來又一個(gè)奧斯卡提名,但卻并非一副票房大熱的姿態(tài)。
以免過度劇透,我們只能說《地心引力》這部電影講述的是幾個(gè)宇航員在太空陷入困境的故事。所以,一部時(shí)長九十分鐘,描述兩個(gè)可愛人兒——布洛克和喬治·克魯尼——飄浮在地球之外的電影,怎么會(huì)被定性為“驚悚電影”呢?
同理。布洛克,這種盡量躲避好萊塢燈紅酒綠生活的人,就是能成功晉身為一名巨星,并且還能事事完美。如果曾有一個(gè)“美國甜心”的比賽的話,那么這位女演員肯定會(huì)穩(wěn)坐冠軍寶座,因?yàn)樵谶^去好幾年,那就是她的綽號。
看看證據(jù):2010年,布洛克與丈夫杰西·詹姆斯鬧離婚一事被炒得沸沸揚(yáng)揚(yáng),各種可怕的小報(bào)頭條都是詹姆斯所謂的出軌事件,這時(shí),布洛克卻因另一事件震驚世人:她原來已秘密地從路易斯安那州新奧爾良領(lǐng)養(yǎng)了一個(gè)非裔美籍小男孩。讓人驚訝的,不僅僅是因?yàn)檫@位奧斯卡得主能在自己的人際圈把如此重大的私人事件掩藏得滴水不漏,還在于布洛克不像其他一些名人那樣,因“跨種族領(lǐng)養(yǎng)”而備受黑人群體攻擊——布洛克以及她的決定受到大多數(shù)人的贊同。
這位出演《弱點(diǎn)》的明星簡直得讓“狗仔隊(duì)”往城外跑才能追蹤到她的身影,因?yàn)樗x擇在諸如奧斯汀、德克薩斯以及新奧爾良過自己的日子。在最近的《VOGUE》雜志中關(guān)于她的文章都傾向于用這樣的標(biāo)題:“我們親愛的——具有超凡票房號召力的——桑德拉·布洛克在年末大熱太空驚悚電影《地心引力》中的表演又達(dá)到了新高度”。
她穩(wěn)坐好萊塢十大最高片酬女演員的位置,她的電影票房表現(xiàn)不俗。即使是其他的名人也崇拜她?!稄?fù)仇者聯(lián)盟》主演克里斯·埃文斯就說過布洛克是他暗戀的首位明星。
“我在念七年級的時(shí)候看過電影《生死時(shí)速》,然后當(dāng)時(shí)我就想,那就是我的女神,”埃文斯說,“我應(yīng)該還有一張她的大海報(bào)?!?/p>
要知道為何還未到青春期的埃文斯會(huì)喜歡布洛克,原因還是顯而易見的。作為一位海軍雇員與一位德裔聲樂老師的女兒,布洛克一直都能打動(dòng)“粉絲”的心——在這個(gè)通過“表演”來發(fā)揮作用的圈子里,能以極度真誠給人留下深刻印象的尤為難得。當(dāng)布洛克在2010年憑借《弱點(diǎn)》摘得奧斯卡“最佳女主角”的桂冠時(shí),她對已故的母親發(fā)表的感人致辭讓在場的一些人動(dòng)容落淚。
“如果我能夠藉此刻向海爾格·B表達(dá)感激之情,感謝她直到我十八歲,才讓我搭男孩的車——事實(shí)證明她是對的。那我肯定會(huì)完成她告訴我該做的那些事?!辈悸蹇苏f道,“感謝她,每天在我回到家時(shí)就讓我練習(xí)鋼琴、芭蕾等等所有我想做的事——她說,要成為一名藝術(shù)家,你就得每天都練習(xí)。感謝她提醒她的女兒們,種族、宗教、階層、膚色、任何東西、性取向,都不能讓我們顯得高人一等。我們所有人都理應(yīng)獲得愛。所以,向那位人生的指路人致敬,她讓我擁有一切,還有這個(gè)小金人?!?/p>
在采訪中,布洛克可以表現(xiàn)得幽默,帶點(diǎn)自嘲,而且非??帷樾麄骶较矂 独笔志ā?,她上了《費(fèi)格斯深夜秀》這個(gè)節(jié)目,她和主持人非常自然地拿對方來開涮。當(dāng)費(fèi)格斯提到電影《阿瓜和阿呆》(明顯是在拿他們這個(gè)采訪開玩笑),布洛克幽默接招,談到這部經(jīng)典喜劇。
“低級趣味是很有趣的,”她開玩笑道,“如果你能把如廁這樣的場景拍好,并且一直堅(jiān)持拍這樣的場景,就會(huì)十分勁爆?!?/p>
并非很多奧斯卡得獎(jiǎng)?wù)吣軌蛱幚磉@樣的話題,不過對于布洛克來說倒正常,她最近驕傲地對《我們周刊》透露她現(xiàn)年三歲的兒子路易斯完全能夠自己上廁所了。這位女演員以往就一直被貼上“鄰家女孩”而非“彪悍潑婦”標(biāo)簽,當(dāng)上母親后,明顯更加沉穩(wěn)堅(jiān)定了。
她一直坦言,如果事業(yè)、名利等會(huì)對她兒子造成什么不良影響的話,她會(huì)放棄這一切。
“我不想他因?yàn)槲业墓ぷ鞫惺軌毫ΑN視?huì)離開這個(gè)行業(yè),我會(huì)離開這個(gè)圈子,”她對《V O G U E》這樣說,“如果我發(fā)現(xiàn)我的工作對他有任何負(fù)面的影響,我就會(huì)收拾包袱搬到阿拉斯加去?!?/p>
或許這一點(diǎn)可以解釋為什么這位自稱“家庭之上”的女人會(huì)更寧愿花時(shí)間陪伴年幼的兒子而非應(yīng)對媒體,就像她最近在《地心引力》首映禮上表現(xiàn)的那樣。在這部阿方索·卡隆導(dǎo)演的電影中,她扮演的瑞恩·斯通是一位醫(yī)學(xué)工程人員,首次參加太空任務(wù)。電影里,布洛克需要處于某些特別危險(xiǎn)的境地,但是她在首映禮上對我們說,對她來說,走紅毯就夠可怕的了。
“這是我好一陣子以來遇到的最極端的情況,”布洛克說道?!霸跀z像機(jī)前,穿著漂亮的裙子,盛裝打扮是一件超越我極限的事情。還有許多其他這樣極端的情況,你知道的,有時(shí)候從床上爬起來就很難了——不過我還是做到了。就是需要做這件事,就是要起床。穿上運(yùn)動(dòng)褲,把身上沾到的狗毛刷掉,然后離開屋子!”
這部電影在九月份的多倫多國際電影節(jié)上首次亮相,之后風(fēng)聲馬上四起,說布洛克會(huì)又一次成為奧斯卡的競逐者。在導(dǎo)演卡隆看來,這位明星演員的表演張力十足,甚至蓋過了《地心引力》中那些讓她仿若失重的特效和特技的風(fēng)頭。
“當(dāng)你看布洛克表演的時(shí)候,她表演出的那種真實(shí)感,會(huì)讓你忘了其實(shí)還有特技那么一回事兒?!彼麑Α逗萌R塢訪問》這樣說道。