"Sandra Bullock shines at the opening of the film festival"

The American movie star Sandra Bullock, alongside Irwin Winkler, were rewarded by the applause and screams of the crowd yesterday, who had been waiting, despite the cold weather, at the stairs of the Decascoop Ghent, where the film festival is happening. Most spectators merely caught a glimpse of Bullock, because the star was completely shielded by bodyguards. Even Luk Alloo, who tried -as usual- his act of star-approaching, didn't get through. The hundreds of guests, amongst whom a lot of known Flemish people, including prime minister Guy Verhofstadt and the Flemish minister-president Patrick Dewael, got to see the opening movie "Kadosh" in 4 theatres at the same time. The 26th film festival of Ghent will continue till the 16th of October.

Sandra Bullock awards the film trophy in Ghent

A good wind has brought American superstar Sandra Bullock to the 26th film festival of Ghent. The always-happy actress from Speed, While you were sleeping, and the recent Forces of Nature is in Ghent to present an award to Irwin Winkler, with whom Bullock worked at "The Net". "For Winky I do it with pleasure", she laughs. She also added she likes Ghent because of its magnificent architecture.

Sandra Bullock Has shortened her visit to Ghent with 3 days, because of the movie Gun Shy, in which she not only plays a small role, but she also produces. Bullock loves being involved 24/7 with movies. "I am the kind of person who has an opinion about everything, and I want to have a say everywhere. So that suits me. Besides, it brings me back to the days of 50-bucks-a-day kind of movies, where you have to do everything yourself, from make-up to acting." If this means she is thinking about giving up on acting? "I think about it every day! Sometimes in the middle of an act. Every time I bump into a wall and have the feeling I cannot go any further, I have to get the grips with myself again. That's a challenge. You grow a little bit with every movie you do. Each new role feels like I've been to school again." Winkler adds:"I suppose she thinks about giving up especially when she has to get up at 5 o'clock in the morning."

Germany

We mostly know Sandra Bullock from romantic comedies, but these days she tries out heavier things. She recently finished "28 days", a black comedy where she plays an alcoholic/junkie type. "A difficult role, one that changes your view on life itself. You could say it's completely different from my previous roles, but in fact that's true for every role."Still Bullock says she feels most comfortable doing comedies. "Comedy is what I do in real life, so why would I not do it in my movies?", she laughs. She admits she's been the clown who came to school in Lederhosen. Of course she got the Lederhosen from Germany, the country where her mother lives, and where she'd spent her youth. "I still often visit Oberbayern", Bullock says, "My sister recently got married there. It is of course a funny mix: a father from Alabama, a mother from Germany, but don't you think it works out great?" It sure created an actress often described as "the girl next door", the girl everyone want to have as a neigbour. Bullocks takes this as a compliments, but wildly laughing she adds : "You should talk to my neigbours, then you'd be surprised. I simply terrorize them! No seriously, I think the public sees me as a sweet, nice and well mannered girl. Probably because I haven't hit anyone yet."

Marilyn

Speed is the movie who gave Sandra Bullock her carrier jump, and the sequel, Speed 2, taught her what a mistake is. "Thank you, no more sequels for me. I've made one big sequel, and I've learned one big lesson. Mind you, I've had loads of fun though! 5 months in the Caribbean, that's not bad at all! We've done most of our stunts ourselves, and almost got killed. That's the way it works with action movies. But I suppose we didn't have the Gods with us, nobody came to see Speed 2". Perhaps she considers a remake? After all, there were talks about Sandra Bullock in a new "Some like it hot? "Ah, they sometimes say I'm pregnant. I mean, there are some big differences between Marilyn Monroe and I. I miss something vital in front, don't I? Not that they can't fix it these days, but still.