THE ULTIMATE HEIST
Sandra Bullock drives an all-girl band of thieves to pull off the robbery of the century at the annual Met Gala in the fun-packed spin-off, Ocean’s 8, out in the UAE this weekend
“THERE ARE NO more stones I need to turn over,” Sandra Bullock said with a smile. So, after a string of romanticcomedy blockbusters, after demonstrating that she could carry a drama as well as a comedy, after winning an Oscar as Best Actress, what’s left on Bullock’s to-do list?
“I’m someone looking for something that inspires me,” the 53-yearold actress said. “I want to have an experience like this one, where I came out of it with so much more than I ever imagined.”
It was 10am on a dreary spring morning at New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Bullock was a shock of colour in a bright-green Elle Saab, one-shoulder pantsuit, her long, brown hair parted down the middle.
As usual, she had an air of casualness, but Bullock was at the museum on business, talking to the press about Ocean’s 8, the all-female version of the caper franchise that’s set to release in the UAE this weekend.
In the new version, Bullock stars as Debbie Ocean, sister of Danny Ocean, the thief played by Frank Sinatra in Ocean’s 11 (1960) and by George Clooney in the remake, Ocean’s Eleven (2001), and also in Ocean’s Twelve (2004) and Ocean’s Thirteen (2007).
Apparently larceny runs in the family, because Debbie is planning to stage a seemingly impossible jewel heist during the annual Met Gala, a highlight of New York’s social calendar. To do so, she puts together an all-female crew played by a truly all-star cast: Awkwafina, Cate Blanchett, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson and Rihanna.
All-female crew
Bullock was the first name on the list when director Gary Ross and the late producer Jerry Weintraub decided to go female with the Ocean’s franchise.
“I went to Sandy, who said, ‘If the script doesn’t suck and you get the people you hope you can get, then I might be interested,’” Ross recalled in a separate interview. “I took that as an absolute yes.” “I thought a female-driven Ocean’s was a really fun idea,” Bullock explained, “but I didn’t think at the time that it would get made. A year and a half later, a script was sent to me.”
Once the movie was moving, it moved fast. There wasn’t time for the all-star cast to get acquainted before the cameras rolled.
“I think there was a party I wasn’t invited to because someone lost my number,” Bullock joked, tossing in a fake sniff. “The truth was, we met on the set. I’ll never forget that, the first day, Helena Bonham Carter had this plate of meat attached to her chest and she was passing out snacks. She gave meat to everyone. I think it was one of those pu-pu platters or a charcuterie thing with meats and cheeses. All I know is, she had this tray of treats and broke the ice.
“Then she even came around with a tray of drinks,” Bullock added. “We love her.” Soon they were getting to know each other.
“Once we let our guard down and realised we were in the company of safe people,” Bullock said, “you could say we began the ‘vomit fest’. I threw up first and just started talking and talking. After I went first, the others joined in.
“Honestly, I went into this hoping it would be that way,” she added.
“I know that, in this business, you don’t always get what you hope for, but this was wonderful.”
Bonding with the team
A long, stressful New York shoot offered plenty of opportunities to bond.
“We were working crazy-long days and nights,” Bullock recalled.
“At midnight you could eventually find us draped all over each other on a couch. We managed to connect on a level that wouldn’t have been given a chance in most other films.
“There were eight strong women here,” she continued. “On most films there are only one or two women. All the actresses out there are sort of fighting for those roles because they’re little islands. Here we had all this female starlight shining, and I felt really lucky to be a part of it.”
It was also fun to have am impromptu fashion fest during the scenes in which the women are decked out for the Met Gala.
“Every single morning,” Bullock recalled, “someone would walk out of a trailer and say, ‘Oh my gosh, what are you wearing?’ The truth was, you wanted basically everything everyone was wearing.
“I have to say the designers were so generous with all of us,” she added. “As women, we all had strong opinions about what was going on our bodies. I had Alberta Ferretti designing for me, and I literally had thoughts on how I wanted a sleeve to look or how a jewel in black could disappear into the fabric.
“One of my dresses had a nautical theme with sand dollars and waves,” Bullock recalled, smiling. “Then I got it: It was for Debbie Ocean.”
Fighting for good
Beyond the glitz of the film, there was an unavoidable statement in releasing a female-driven summer movie, especially in the age of #metoo.
“The film has a message of women coming together to take care of each other,” Bullock said. “You see women
being good to each other.
“I love how the women work it out as a group,” she went on. “You see my character stepping back and letting the more gifted one step forward. Women are great in that way. It’s about recognising talent. Women will from the heart say, ‘Go out and truly shine. I’ve got your back.’
“Sure, you see them fight in the film,” she added, “but we’re fighting for the greater good, which in this film happens to be a whole lot of money. The truth is, I didn’t care about the heist aspect of the film, or the jewels or the money, as much as how the women treated each other and lifted each other up.”
In one of her favourite scenes, Rihanna’s character takes charge. “It’s a case of Debbie Ocean saying, ‘Hey, look, Rihanna is running the show now so we can all survive. Good idea,’” Bullock said. “Inside I’m thinking, in real life, ‘Good for you! We’re right here. We’ve got your back.’”
She has these kinds of relationships with her own friends, Bullock added, male and female alike.
“What happens when we treat each other that way is that there is so much love and support that it equalises a lot of things,” she said.
“Equalize” is a loaded word in Hollywood these days, evoking the questions of equal pay and equal say for actresses. Bullock didn’t shy away from them. “First of all, I don’t think this is a women’s issue,” she said. “It’s a human issue. This affects men in our industry too. I think this change will be as good for them.
“Hopefully women will see more support from the men,” the actress added.
“We’re not saying that we don’t want to be there with the men. We all just want a spot at the table and the support.”
From Speed to Ocean’s 8
Only a handful of actresses these days are paid like Bullock, who routinely earns $10 million to $15 million per film plus participation in profits, but the actress has seen both ends of the food chain. A native of Arlington, Virginia, she spent most of a decade scrambling for traction, in New York and then in Hollywood, before the smash hit Speed (1994) catapulted her to stardom.
That led to a series of hit films including While You Were Sleeping (1995), A Time to Kill (1996), Miss Congeniality (2000), Two Weeks Notice (2002), The Heat (2013) and Minions (2015). She co-starred in the Oscar-winning Crash (2004), earned an Academy Award as Best Actress for her performance in The Blind Side (2009) and was nominated again for Gravity (2013).
Next up for Bullock is Bird Box, due in December. She plays a woman who, along with two children, is blindfolded and forced to make her way through a post-apocalyptic world. The film also stars John Malkovich and Sarah Paulson.
Cindy Pearlman, The New York Times Syndicate