The two movies that saved Sandra Bullock’s career: “I would have been out in the cow pasture”
While streaming is seen as a very modern addition to the cinematic landscape, it actually has its roots in a very old practice. As individual platforms build up their roster of movies, shows, and franchises, they are beginning to resemble the studios that dominated Hollywood during the first half of the 20th century.
Just as the studios would sign actors to contracts that tethered them to their output, modern streamers are forming working relationships with some of the biggest industry stars in the world, with one of the latest names being Sandra Bullock, seeing as the Oscar winner has appeared in a number of movies that wouldn’t exist without the backing of Netflix.
In 2018, she starred in Bird Box, a horror movie in which the Earth is invaded by entities that cause people to commit suicide if they look at them, and then, three years later, she fronted The Unforgivable, the story of a woman who attempts to reconnect with her daughter after spending a long time in prison, and it was at this premiere where The Hollywood Reporter asked Bullock about the importance of Netflix in the modern movie landscape.
Unsurprisingly, given that she was at an event promoting one of its films, she had nothing but nice things to say.
“They’re good to artists,” she said of the streaming giant, “They’re good to filmmakers. If it wasn’t for Netflix, a lot of people wouldn’t be working. Their stories wouldn’t be told. Who would think that me, as a woman, would still be working at this point? I would have been out in the cow pasture. It’s true.”
Bullock has always struggled with the conventional Hollywood system and spoken candidly about facing abhorrent sexism throughout her career and how it almost pushed her out of the industry entirely. She’s taken numerous breaks from acting over the years, including to care for her late partner, who died in 2023 after a battle with ALS, and so, perhaps, there’s something about the direct, streamlined Netflix process that appeals to her.
The big argument against Bullock’s claim would be that the quality of Netflix’s output is questionable at best, as in recent years, the big red N has pumped out slop like Back in Action, The Woman in Cabin 10, and the monstrously expensive (and forgettable) The Electric State.
Neither of the aforementioned Bullock movies was particularly well-received either, such that The Unforgivable got broadly awful reviews, and while Bird Box did fare better, it attracted its fair share of haters, including from people who worked on it. Then again, the platform has also been involved with the likes of Roma, The Irishman, The Power of the Dog, and many other critically lauded pictures, which makes one debate if they make up for the slew of terrible Christmas films they release every year.
However, it’s worth mentioning that Bullock hasn’t teamed up with Netflix since 2021, although she’s only made two movies anywhere since then, and whether that is an indicator that she has stopped believing in their mission statement, or is it just a consequence of the actor’s lifestyle, we may never know.
