Both Sandra Bullock and George Clooney have a reputation for being one of the nicest actors in Hollywood. It’s no wonder they made such a good duo in the 2013 big-budget film, Gravity.
Rated 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, the Oscar-winning flick features Bullock in “a one-woman show, and she delivers,” wrote Roger Ebert‘s Matt Zoller Seitz. “Her work here constitutes one of the greatest physical performances I’ve seen, and she’s framed in ways that make each moment resonate.”
To sum it up without giving so much away, Clooney’s Matt Kowalski leaves the regretful Miss Congeniality alum’s, Ryan Stone stranded in space. Little did Bullock know, it would all feel “depressing” in real life as well.
She was left flying, or floating solo (to be more accurate), filming the rest of the box office hit that made a whopping $723.2 million — paying off its $80-130 million budget. Here’s how Bullock really felt acting on-camera all by herself.
In a 2013 interview with Variety, Bullock admitted that Clooney’s exit from Gravity, following his character’s quick demise, left her “depressed” on set. “When George came, it was like this energy for us, and you were so appreciative of him being there,” she said at that time. “And then, when he left, I had never been hit with a depression like that.”
She continued: “We had so much fun for three weeks, but then my friend left. I was amazed at how I was affected by him going. I had a hard time saying goodbye. I didn’t wanna look at him, I was just gonna give him a pat and I walked away – and I was mad.” It didn’t help that the 28 Days actress was locked in isolation for 10 hours at a time while shooting the movie.
“I was depressed, I was angry, I would get so sad because it was a black room, no human contact, they took away sound,” Bullock said of her unique experience. “What they did was, Alfonso could see because he had cameras always on my face, he would be like, ‘She’s cracking, she’s cracking, go get the kid.'”
She noted: “They’d created this whole wonderland just outside for Louis (to keep him occupied during filming), so they brought him in.”
No, the two have never dated despite going “way back — so far back that we’ve now started to take years off how long it’s been,” said Bullock on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno while promoting Gravity. She even quipped: “I think we’re probably the only two that haven’t dated in the business.”
On why they never went for it, the Lake House star explained that “it’s probably because we’re a little too similar in all the disturbing ways.” Still, she revealed that her son was a fan of the Batman & Robin alum.
“My son thinks he’s a very cool dude,” said Bullock. “If there’s a choice between me [and] George and Alfonso [Cuaron, Gravity‘s director], my son will leave me to be with George and these guys.”
In 2015, while promoting her then-new film, Our Brand Is Crisis, which was produced by Clooney, Bullock recalled how her longtime collaborator was such a perfect wingman, coming up to someone she “would have liked to” have had as her “boyfriend at the time.”
“George said, ‘If you don’t marry her, I will,'” The Lost City star told Access Hollywood back then. Of course, she added that “George is not gonna marry anybody except for Amal. He was waiting 30 years to do that.”
Still, it all worked out with the mystery man. “We were together for four years after that, thanks to George,” said the actress.
Clooney and Bullock remain good friends to this day. When she found out that she was working with him on Gravity, she “knew I would have a colleague and someone I would feel comfortable with, who understands my quirks and I understand his. Someone I’ve known for a long time.”
She also said that they’ve “seen each other in many facets and stages of our lives, and this is just another one of them. The beautiful thing is that we still like each other in the end, we still admire each other, and we have fun.”
Speaking about working together on Gravity, the Up in the Air actor joked back then that “Sandra is boss.” But kidding aside, he said that “it’s really fun to sit down with someone you know and say, ‘Well, let’s make this movie.'”
He also expressed his admiration for his friend after overcoming her scandalous divorce with Jesse James. “She’s a really dear friend,” Clooney said during an interview with People. “So watching how this year has gone for her — and she’s had tough years before — has been great.”