Sandra's Practical Magic

On the eve of her latest film, Practical Magic, Kevin Short writes about Sandra Bullock, the girl next door with all kinds of appeal.

Sandra Bullock could be the girl next door. She's accessible and down-to-earth, she loves salsa, freaks on Tom Jones, was a cheerleader in school and just happens to be one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. Her appeal is her simplicity. She could be your drinking buddy... if only.

Born Sandra Annette Bullock on July 26, 1964, the daughter of a German opera singer (Helga Bullock) and an Alabama-born father, she spent much of her youth in Germany, developing keen appreciation for the arts. Her mother spent the performing season in Europe, and Sandra would get bit parts as 'the token gypsy child'. She also began a serious study of piano, but knew early on that her destiny would lie elsewhere.

In 1982, she attended East Carolina University and later studied acting at the Sanford Meisner Neighborhood Playhouse before taking a shot at being an actress in New York. By night Sandra would do her time behind a bar and by day hit auditions like hundreds of other hopefuls. But she never came close to quitting.

"There was only one time when I said I was going to quit this business, in my early 20s," she recalls. Before long, the aspiring actress was cast for the lead role of the NBC sitcom Working Girl. The project promptly folded, Sandra moved to Los Angeles, and a string of forgettable movies. In LA, Sandra was just another aspiring actress playing bit parts until she graduated to supporting parts in such critically acclaimed films as The Vanishing and Wrestling Ernest Hemingway. But it was a futuristic action/comedy, 1993's Demolition Man, that caught the attention of studio executives and fans. Seeing her performance in The Vanishing, the director of Demolition Man Joel Silver, wanted her in the film. So she was off to start work on Demolition Man as a cop in a futuristic world. The part, originally meant for Lori Petty was perfect for her. Sandra's innocence was the perfect foil to Stallone's gruff, foul-mouthed hero.

That performance won her a similar role opposite Keanu Reeves in the 1994 blockbuster, Speed, as the ordinary working girl (who happens to be able to drive a bus). Sandra arrived and was being compared to Julia Roberts - the other sexy girl next door. She later did two other films with Keanu Reeves, Excellent Adventure and Chain Reaction.

With While You Were Sleeping, in which she is the romantic lead, Sandra had arrived. In it she plays the lonely heroine who is mistaken for the fiancee of a man in a coma (Peter Gallagher), is embraced by his family, plays along and promptly begins mooning over his brother (Bill Pullman). In this film Sandra had the chance to show that she was able to carry a movie - and the success of the film proved it. For this film Sandra earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy. But it was The Net, the hacker-thriller which cast her as computer analyst Angela Bennet, that ensured that Sandra moved out of the shadow of Julia Roberts.

Sandra's personal life however has not followed her meteoric rise. In an interview she once wistfully said, "I just love the way Keanu looks at me while he's kissing me. Why don't guys we meet look at us like this?" Her relationship with Tate Donovan, whom she had referred to as "the greatest love of my life", ended about the time Speed hit the theatres. Sandra had met him while filming Love Potion No. 9. Sandra made no effort to hide her wounded feelings. A flirtation with a Dallas Cowboy Troy Aikman seemed to go nowhere. Recently, she has been linked with A Time To Kill co-star Matthew McConaughey, although both actors maintain that they are just good friends. She was also seen with Don Padilla, he accompanied her to the opening of The Net, but he too was labelled a friend! Typical Hollywood.

One of her latest projects is The Prince Of Egypt. But Sandra needed a lot of persuasion before signing on to voice the character of Miriam in the animated Moses epic. "Steven Spielberg called me and asked me to do it," says Sandra whose voice joins those of Val Kilmer, Michelle Pfeiffer and Jeff Goldblum.

She declined but was eventually persuaded. Sandra, however, found herself praying for creative inspiration, "You don't have the atmosphere of being on a movie set," she explains. "You're in a little recording booth with no crutches. It's like being there naked with your voice." But the actress wasn't alone. "I had Jeff Goldblum (Spielberg's partner) in the room," says the actress.

Later in the year, Practical Magic will hit the screens in Malaysia. The film is about the two Owens sisters, Sally (Sandra Bullock) and Gillian (Nicole Kidman) raised by their aunts after their parents' death. They practice the ancient art of white magic handed down through their family. Aunt Jet (Dianne Wiest) and Aunt Frances (Stockard Channing) hope to give their nieces the strength that comes from the use of practical magic. The Owens' sorcery also carries a curse - the men they fall in love with are doomed to an untimely death. But Sally denies her powers and strives to live a normal life. Says Nicole Kidman of Sandra,"I never got to work opposite a woman before and I liked it. Sandy's a tomboy and she likes to have fun. She doesn't take it all too seriously, and that's good. We just laughed. We teased (director) Griffin (Dunne) and had a lot of fun together and have become good friends." -E

Copyright Expression, American Express (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd.
Source: Pg. 27, Malaysia Expression, January 1999

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