Sandra Bullock "Gravity" Behind-The-Scenes: Bullock "Pushed Body To The Extreme", Spent Hours Alone Floating In Space- But Result "Will Inspire Women"
Sandra Bullock stars in the new Alfonso Cuarón film "Gravity," and she revealed how, much like her character, she was pushed to the extreme in her new role.
In Gravity, Bullock spends much of her time alone, floating in zero gravity.
"I pushed my body to the extreme," the Oscar-winning actress said of portraying Dr. Ryan Stone. "Strength-wise, I had to know I could do anything Alfonso asked of me at any given point, so not a day went by that we didn't train."
However, she wasn't always alone-she had help thanks to a chance meeting. Her brother-in-law and the sister of Catherine "Cady" Coleman, an astronaut, met at a wine packaging facility. The astronaut, who has spent over 4,330 hours in space on both the Space Shuttle Columbia and the International Space Station, gave Bullock valuable advice on how to "float" in space- and it helped keep her afloat.
'"(My brother-in-law) got my number to Cady, who was at the ISS at the time, and she called and I was able to literally ask someone who was experiencing the things that I was trying to physically learn," explained Bullock. "I was able to ask her about how the body works, and what do you do, and what do I need to reteach my body physically to do that cannot happen on Earth. It was just a really coincidental, fortuitous thing that happened -- over wine -- that got me the final piece of information that I needed."
In an interview about her experience, Coleman said,
"You're in a really unusual environment -- it's a very profound environment"
"The pervasive view of the Earth, and how you would see it reflected in the helmet -- it's like you can't get away from the view," she revealed.
Coleman also spoke of the tribulations Bullcok's character faced. "It took me a while to realize that (Stone) didn't solve her problems in the beginning as effectively sometimes -- not because she wasn't capable of it, but because she hadn't decided whether she wanted to live," Coleman said. "And that can happen to anybody -- no matter how trained they are, no matter if they are a woman or a man."
However, being a woman was integral to the character, Bullock said. She was glad that Cuarón and his son, Jonás, wrote the part of Ryan Stone specifically for a woman.
"It wasn't an afterthought. It was, I think, an integral part of the story," Bullock said. "It's revolutionary in the fact that a studio on blind faith would fund something as unknown as this." Coleman says other young women will find the role empowering. "I think that it's going to empower young women in ways we that can't even imagine." In the film, rather than using traditional wires to float, Cuaron had a custom designed rig operated by puppeteers. "With wires, you can see the strain on the actors," explained Cuarón. "Gravity is still pulling everything down." Instead, Bullock became much like a marionette on strings, spending hours "floating". "It's just core strength," Bullock revealed. "From a dancer's perspective, just making sure that you weren't going to hurt your body -- that you could be very agile and physical to maintain your body in a rig that's load-bearing -- with the load as your weight, for long hours of time." The result will be visually stunning, Bullock said. "There was no time to pick apart one's performance, because you were inundated with the extreme beauty and emotion that (Cuarón) created visually," Bullock said. "We had that same reaction -- I think that George (Clooney) and I both did -- we both went, 'Wow.' You can't really speak after the film's over."
