Sandra Bullock says some of the men she encountered at auditions while trying to break into acting in New York asked her to take off her pants.
Bullock recalled the experiences during a new conversation with Jennifer Aniston for Interview. She was working as a waitress at the time and described auditioning for “every pervert that existed,” including men who asked her to “drop my pants.”
Bullock said she refused. “Nope, not the role for me,” she recalled. She did not identify any of the men, productions or auditions involved.
Aniston had asked whether Bullock ever made a deliberate decision about the direction of her career or simply followed the work that came her way. Bullock said most of it evolved on its own, although she later made a conscious move away from romantic comedies and took a role in Crash.
Bullock Was Waiting Tables While Trying to Land Roles
Bullock was still working her way into the industry when the auditions took place. She told Aniston that the possibility of not finding another job was always present, even for actors who were already working.
“Every working actor thinks you will never work again,” Bullock said, adding that actors often take the opportunities available to them and try to make something of them.
She still turned down auditions when she was asked to do something she did not want to do. Entertainment Weekly also reported Bullock’s comments about being asked to remove her pants during auditions, noting that she did not identify the people involved.
Bullock eventually began landing film and television work before breaking through in the 1990s with movies including Speed and While You Were Sleeping. Comedy became a major part of her career, but it was also the first area of her work she remembers deliberately pulling away from.
She Decided to Stop Making Romantic Comedies
Bullock told Aniston that the one time she was intentional about changing the course of her career came after she had made several romantic comedies.
“I need to stop right now with the rom-coms,” Bullock remembered telling herself after receiving criticism for making them. She then accepted a role as Jean Cabot in Paul Haggis’ 2004 drama Crash.
Bullock called the film “genius” and said she wanted to start “flexing other muscles.” Crash went on to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
Her dramatic roles continued after that. Bullock won the Best Actress Oscar for The Blind Side and later received another nomination for Gravity. She did not abandon comedy altogether, returning to romantic comedy opposite Ryan Reynolds in 2009’s The Proposal and continuing to move between comedy and drama.
Bullock and Aniston Want to ‘Bring the Funny Back’
View this post on Instagram
Bullock now wants more comedy again. During her conversation with Aniston, she said she misses that kind of work and would be happy to return to it.
“I want to do nothing but that now,” Bullock said after Aniston discussed how difficult comedy can be despite often receiving less respect than dramatic work.
Aniston also brought up Two Weeks Notice, Bullock’s 2002 romantic comedy with Hugh Grant. She had recently watched bloopers from the movie and remembered how much audiences enjoyed films like it.
Bullock said Two Weeks Notice remains one of her favorite filmmaking experiences. Grant made her laugh so hard during filming that she would cry, which caused problems for the makeup department whenever they had to get her ready again.
By the end of the exchange, Aniston suggested they should “bring the funny back.” Bullock agreed before joking, “Who needs sexy? It’s too much work.”
‘Practical Magic 2’ Brings Bullock Back After Four Years
Bullock’s latest film reunites her with Nicole Kidman in Practical Magic 2, with the two returning as sisters Sally and Gillian Owens. The sequel marks Bullock’s first starring movie since The Lost City was released in 2022.
The original Practical Magic arrived in 1998 and was poorly received by many critics at the time. Bullock told Aniston that the reaction left her embarrassed and wondering whether she had done something wrong.
The movie found a much larger audience in the years that followed. Bullock credited its longevity in part to viewers sharing their affection for it online and to mothers who introduced the film to their daughters, who later did the same with their own children.
Bullock eventually found herself thinking about a sequel while sitting at home in New York. She contacted producer Denise Di Novi and told her another film could work if it dealt with the Owens daughters and gave them room to address subjects affecting women now.
Di Novi pointed her toward another book by author Alice Hoffman, and Bullock said the material contained many of the ideas she wanted the sequel to explore. Nicole Kidman, Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing also returned for the new film.