Why Sandra Bullock takes a break from movies

On one of the coolest streets in Austin, a go-to for the hip and hungry. This is Walton’s Fancy and Staple, a café and flower shop in a century-old brick building owned and restored by actress producer Sandra Bullock. “I like the idea of ​​finding purpose for something that was originally created for a different purpose,” she said.

This place, which was once a horse-and-carriage repair shop, is now a destination for local foodies.

“For me, this is just as fulfilling as making movies,” Bullock told correspondent Tracy Smith.

And if you know their movies, that really says something.

In “The Lost City” (by the CBS parent company, Paramount), Bullock plays as a kidnapped romance novel, which – along with the cover model of her book, Channing Tatum – struggles its way back into civilization through some horrible and strange crucifixion situations. .

Smith said of the play scene: “It’s refreshing that the person taking off their clothes is the guy.”

“Because no one wanted me to do it,” Bullock said. “Do you think I’m kidding? I am net! And Channing was willing to train all the time. I was like, ‘I do not want to’.

It is the last chapter in a career that took her from a fast city bus in 1994 “Speed” to an even more horrible journey in “Gravity” 2013. Of course, she is also known for her brand of physical comedy. It’s something she says she learned at an early age, thanks to her mother.

“My mom had no sense of humor unless you hurt yourself, and then she would laugh her ass off,” Bullock said. “So, I realized that the path to my mother’s heart was through physical comedy.”

“So, would you do pratfalls?”

“I would fall all the time!”

And it’s fair to say that the film world has fallen for her: she’s made four dozen-plus films, earned countless awards, but also shared her share of real-world grief.

Smith asked, “Play with me: on a scale of 1-10, what is life like now?”

Bullock considered. “I would say it’s, you know, it’s my life, so it’s about 9.2.”

“That’s very specific! Why 9.2?”

“Because the other shoes are falling. It’s worth it.”

The other shoe seems to be falling hardest in 2010. It started happily enough, with the surprise adoption of her first child. “He was unexpected, he was unplanned. I got a call one day, ‘Your place is here,’ and that’s after years of introducing them, years.”

“Oh my God. Then just out of the blue, boom?”

“It was literally out of the blue. And so I was handed a plastic bag and a child.”

And a few weeks later, with the adoption still a secret, she won an Oscar for “The Blind Side”.

But even during her acceptance speech, she said her mind was on her baby: “All I kept thinking was, ‘He’s home.’ Like, I did not care, I did not care that I was there, I just wanted to go home, and then I was dressed in the dress, I was hung in the dress, and I had to get out of the dress, but everything what I wanted to do was just go home and feed Lou.

Smith asked, “How can you get out of a dress when you’re hooked?”

“You’re just rubbing it,” she replied. “I grabbed it. And then I asked them to fix it. I go, ‘I do not know what happened! All the guys are off!’

And days later, the wheels came out of her marriage to reality star Jesse James, leaving her to raise her baby son alone – and leaving the rest of the world as close as she could.

Bullock said: “I think so much has happened. How do you process grief and not hurt your child in the process? It’s a newborn, they take everything on what you feel. So, my commitment was to him and not tainting the first year of his life with my grief. “

Bullock has since adopted a little girl as well. (She asked us not to use any pictures of her children.)

She says that even in her privileged world, there was a real taste of the battles the other mothers fought every day: “You know, my children are black. I have a level of defense that millions of mothers who are not white have. You know, I have an understanding of how creepy it is, and I’m just getting really emotional because I think of hundreds of years of women who could never relax in motherhood, they could never relax.

“Worried about their kids?”

“Yes, in a way we as white women did not have to worry. You worry about other things, but when you really, really, really take a minute and think about hundreds of years of moms who can not enjoy, free , the birth of a child – her son becomes a young man – all these things represent fear and loss. ”

Career-wise, Bullock wanted to make the audience laugh with his latest film. But she says “The Lost City,” which will hit theaters this week, will be her last film, at least for now. “I can be creative, I can be part of a community, but now the work in front of the camera has to take a break,” she said.

“For how long?” asked Smith.

“I do not know. I do not know. Until I do not feel how I feel now when I stand in front of a camera.”

“That is …?”

“I want to be home. I do no favors investing in a project when I say ‘I just want to be home.’ Since I was always running, I was always running to the next thing. I just want to be present, and responsible for one thing.

“So, did you know that this movie is going to be, this will be the last one for a while?”

“Yeah. And I do not know what ‘a time’ is. I do not know what that is. I would just like to clean the basement.”

“You’re literal?”

“I am literally!” said Bullock. “I have a room where all my s *** go, for every year. I want it through, and I want to see if I remember anything from it.”

Her family comes first, at home, and at Walton’s Fancy and Staple, where her sister Gigi designs some of the pastries. Bullock showed Smith the golden eggs: “They are unassuming, but they are my sister’s recipe, a combination of a churro, a donut and a snickerdoodle.”

Smith asked, “Are you a candy person?”

“Yeah, great time. I have a problem. Of course!”

Or, just maybe, Sandra Bullock knows when something is sweet, and has learned to appreciate it.

Smith asked, “What do you see in front of you now?”

“She’s like, ‘I see a crystal ball …'” Bullock laughs. “I do not know! That’s what’s a little creepy, I do not know. Look: in six months I can not do this anymore, I have to go back to work. But I do not want to do that, if that feeling come on, I do not want to do that, I do not want to rely on work to fill me, but I just do not see much, except everyone under my roof. That’s all. I know it’s not very sexy, but you know what ? It’s mine.

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Story produced by John D’Amelio. Editor: Steven Styler.