28 dicembre 2009
Sandra Bullock turned 45 this year, and became the most popular actor in Hollywood, two things that are not necessarily connected. The age business is
kind of a surprise: Bullock seems to have snuck up on us, going directly from sweet-natured ingenue to gun-toting ubermother - her character in The
Blind Side is a religious, Republican member of the National Rifle Association who, contrary to expectations, adopts a large black teenager and nurses
him to a football scholarship, scaring away some violent drug dealers along the way.
The Blind Side is one of those tear-jerking sports stories that end up being about more than sports: It's based on the true story of Michael Oher, a
professional football player who was given shelter and support by a wealthy Memphis family whose friends (if the movie is true) were rather shocked at
the idea. Leigh Ann Tuohy, Bullock's character, is not the typical Sandra Bullock role: She's gorgeous, but she's also hardbitten, determined, and packs
a revolver in her stylish purse.
She's not the Sandra Bullock we got to know in 1993, when she was introduced to movie audiences as the pretty, friendly waitress on whom Robert Duvall
develops an understandable crush in the old-guy drama Wrestling Ernest Hemingway. She gave off an aura of friendly flirtation, and it looked as if she
was headed to a career in romantic comedy.
Indeed, romantic comedy was where she became most settled. Her breakout hit was the 1994 film Speed, but that was hardly a Bullock movie: she co-starred
behind Keanu Reeves and a bus. People were happier to see her in rom-coms such as Two Weeks Notice (a $93-million hit), or comic farce like Miss
Congeniality ($107 million). When she stepped outside that, into thrillers like Premonition (2007), the box-office response was lukewarm.
But she's usually her own woman, in real life (she didn't marry until she was 41) and on screen. "I don't understand why there needs to be a love
interest to make women go see a film," she said. "I think society sort of makes us feel that way - that if you don't have a guy, you're
worthless."
The longer she lasted, the more versatile she became: The pretty young waitress could step outside her comfort zone in a film like Crash (2005) and
give a persuasive performance as a racist rich woman, or paint a quick vivid portrait of author Harper Lee in Infamous (2006). "Being a movie star is
a joke," she told Entertainment Weekly magazine, which anointed her its entertainer of the year. "It's all such a crapshoot."
She added, "Sexism is everywhere. Ageism is everywhere. But you know what? It's about making money."
And this was a good year for older women like Bullock to make money. Perhaps she was riding the crest of a wave of female-friendly films, a trend helped
by the New Moon and Twilight franchise that brought young women into the theatre. They didn't come in the numbers that make the Transformers sequel this
year's $400-million box-office champion, but there was definitely something in the air.
Meryl Streep, for instance - who turned 60 this year - opened both Julie & Julia ($120 million in box-office receipts) and It's Complicated (a
$22-million opening weekend), and nabbed two Golden Globe nominations. By way of comparison, Denzel Washington and John Travolta together could only
generate $65 million for their failed blockbuster, The Taking of Pelham 123.
Likewise, Bullock played a bitchy editor - a twist on Streep's frightening character in The Devil Wears Prada - in The Proposal, cast opposite the
younger Ryan Reynolds. It was a tribute to Bullock's fresh appearance that the age issue isn't even raised in the movie, even though the stars are 12
years apart, and Bullock held her own, if you pardon the expression, in the film's signature, oh-my-God-you're-almost-nude scene.
While she didn't bring the same deep wells of Streep-esque hauteur to the role, the film generated $163 million in business, putting it 13th on the
year's box-office list. It also garnered Bullock one of two Golden Globe nominations this year, for best actress in a comedy.
She took a step backwards with All About Steve, a stalker "comedy" whose $33 million in revenue is mostly a tribute to Bullocks' appeal, even in bad
films. Then came The Blind Side, which has brought in $184 million and counting, earned her the second Golden Globe nomination - best actress in a
drama - and has generated Oscar buzz. It would be her first.
Add them up and Bullock is approaching the same $400 million that Transformers got from blowing things up. Suddenly, she's the biggest thing in movies.
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