Sandra Bullock has reached the stage of parenting where advice comes with an apology.
When Jimmy Fallon asked whether she had any guidance for people raising teenagers, Bullock replied, “I’m sorry.” The answer drew a laugh during her Sept. 8 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, but she quickly explained why she was reluctant to prescribe a solution.
“You can’t give anyone advice on their kids,” she said. “Everyone’s got unique kids.” Bullock then used her own teenagers, 16-year-old Louis and 13-year-old Laila, as examples of how little one parenting formula can cover.
The actor has largely kept both children out of public view, but the new conversation reported by PEOPLE offered glimpses of their interests, personalities and the subtle way both ended up inside her return to Practical Magic 2.
Louis Is All About Basketball and Fashion, While Laila Is Her ‘Government Hacker’
Bullock described Louis as “all things basketball and fashion,” giving a brief glimpse of the interests occupying her 16-year-old as he gets closer to adulthood.
Her description of Laila was considerably more unusual. Bullock jokingly called her 13-year-old daughter a “government hacker,” a nickname aimed at how comfortable she is with technology and tracking down information.
That contrast is part of why she resisted giving Fallon a universal set of parenting rules. Louis and Laila may be growing up in the same household, but Bullock’s own description suggests they move through the world in very different ways.
Bullock Is Trying Not to Let Her Own Fear Limit Them
Bullock has talked more seriously about those differences while promoting Practical Magic 2. In a September cover conversation with Jennifer Aniston for Interview, she said Laila’s fearlessness has forced her to confront how much of her own anxiety she passes on to her children.
“I’m a very fearful person,” Bullock said. “She is not.” She explained that she is trying not to let that fear “clip the wings” of children who are already learning to move through the world independently.
Laila has already shown an interest in making things herself. Bullock told Aniston that her daughter wrote and directed a small horror movie in their backyard four years ago and loves the Scream films. Bullock joked that she could eventually become either a horror director or a Formula 1 driver.
Louis is approaching a different milestone. Bullock told Aniston that he is already 16 and a half and admitted that she is struggling with the reality that he will eventually leave home. Aniston responded that they had roughly a year and a half to prepare her.
Her Kids’ Schedules Now Decide Which Movies She Can Make
Bullock’s parenting decisions now reach directly into her professional life. “If the kids can’t be with me, I’m not going,” she told Aniston while explaining how she evaluates potential movie projects.
The older Louis and Laila become, the less flexible their lives are around a production. Bullock said their schedules are “more important than me telling a story, period.”
That has created a practical rule for her return to acting. Once the children are back in school, any project she accepts has to keep her in Los Angeles. Work that requires travel will have to happen during summer breaks.
Bullock also acknowledged that this arrangement cannot last forever. She said being without her children leaves her feeling lost and that she is beginning to confront the fact that motherhood will eventually stop structuring every hour of her life in quite the same way.
Practical Magic 2 marks her first starring film since The Lost City arrived in 2022, ending a four-year stretch away from leading movie roles.
Louis and Laila Are Heard as Sally’s Magic Returns
Bullock told Fallon that Louis and Laila appear “in voice and in spirit,” rather than through obvious onscreen cameos. Their voices are incorporated into a scene involving Sally Owens, Bullock’s character from the original 1998 movie.
In the sequel, Sally has cut herself off from her magical abilities after associating them with too much tragedy. When that connection is finally “unblocked,” Bullock said the first thing Sally hears is the sound of her children.
“The first thing I hear, always, are my babies,” Bullock explained. She said the filmmakers used recordings of Louis and Laila chronologically, drawing from their voices at different ages to create the moment.
Bullock has also described Practical Magic 2 as a “love letter of my sorrys” to Laila, whose fearlessness reminded her of Joey King’s character Kylie. The film opens in North American theaters Sept. 10, with Nicole Kidman, Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest also returning.