HOLLYWOOD -- In the romantic fantasy The Lake House, Sandra Bullock plays Kate Forster, a lonely Chicago doctor who is willing to wait years for the perfect man to complete her life.
When Bullock arrived with co-star Keanu Reeves for their recent L.A. press conference to promote the flick which opens Friday, she knew exactly where the questions would lead.
Last July, Bullock, 41, married Jesse James, 36, host of the TV show Monster Garage. James had been married twice before, but it was Bullock's first trip to the altar.
She had dated filmmaker Michael Mailer, who produced 1989's A Fool and His Money, in which she had a cameo.
In 1994, she was engaged briefly to actor Tate Donovan, whom she had met three years earlier when they filmed the comedy Love Potion #9.
She had a four-year relationship with Matthew McConaughey. She also dated blues guitarist Guy Forsythe, Don Padilla, the film grip from her movie The Net, singer Bob Schneider and football player Troy Aikman.
In 2002, she had a brief Mrs. Robinson-style fling with Canadian Ryan Gosling, her costar in Murder by Numbers, who was 15 years her junior.
SUN: Like Kate in The Lake House, did you have a feeling of waiting for love?
SANDRA: That's a very clever way of masking the whole finally-getting-married question. Very clever. Very clever, but I never waited. I had love, so much love and so many ... well not so many ... but a few incredible relationships. If you have a four-year relationship with somebody, to me, that's just the same as being married. That person was a partner in my life. No, I never waited for anything or anybody.
SUN: Why didn't you marry before meeting Jesse?
SANDRA: I never wanted to get married. It was a death sentence to me.
SUN: What do you mean marriage was a 'death sentence'?
SANDRA: How many people do you know who say they are in the 'greatest relationship ever.' It's rare. They are usually complaining about having gotten married too young and having a husband or kids who are taking their life away. I want to enjoy everything I do to the fullest and be the best of myself, so being married earlier wasn't an option.
SUN: Didn't your parents want you to get married?
SANDRA: I wasn't raised to have a white dress and a wedding. That wasn't the way my sister and I were raised. We were raised to have a good life and push ourselves. We were encouraged to achieve what we wanted in life and, especially, to achieve happiness.
SUN: So are you saying you're happy you waited?
SANDRA: One more time: I never waited. I stayed open to all possibilities and had the greatest of love experiences every step of the way. Things I may look at today as mistakes led me to right here and to my marriage. This is a wonderful thing made more wonderful because of the best things that have happened to me in other relationships.
SUN: So why did you finally get married?
SANDRA: Even though I was satisfied not being married, the timing was finally such that I met someone who complemented me and gave me a nice net to feel more adventurous with. He is watching my back even though I can take care of myself.
SUN: Did it just feel right with Jesse?
SANDRA: It was bigger than that. It was bigger than I was. It was bigger in all the right ways.
SUN: How did you two meet?
SANDRA: It took an eight-year-old. It took my eight-year-old godson who led me to this. I asked him what he wanted for Christmas. He asked to see a taping of Monster Garage. I had no idea what he was talking about, but that's what he wanted so that's what he got. You know the rest.
SUN: How has marriage changed your views on romance and love?
SANDRA: It hasn't changed me. I'm not more complete. I'm not more of a woman now that I'm married. I'm happy. Not happier than I've ever been, but very happy.
SUN: Talking about waiting, why did you and Keanu wait 12 years before making another movie together? You made Speed in 1994.
SANDRA: People have been telling us we should do another movie together but nothing came up until The Lake House. I didn't want to do it at first, but Paul Haggis, who directed me in Crash, told me I should do it. I respect his judgment, so I agreed to do it.
SUN: Did Keanu ever tell you why he didn't do Speed 2 with you?
SANDRA: He was smart back then. He had good people surrounding him at the time telling him it wasn't a good idea to do a movie called Speed 2 that was set on a boat going 10 naughts which made it look as if it was standing still. What I want to know is why Keanu didn't phone me and tell me not to do it. This is one time when silence was not golden.
SUN: Back when you did Speed, you had all the MTV nominations, including Best Screen Kiss.
SANDRA: Did we win. We should have won. I still remember it was a good kiss.
SUN: Do you thing you two will get nominated for your kiss in The Lake House? It's pretty passionate.
SANDRA: Who cares? It was great for me. I don't kiss for the masses. That's my mantra for the day.
SUN: The Lake House is about love that flourishes through letters. Do you write letters?
SANDRA: Yes, big time. One of the greatest gifts girlfriends of mine ever gave me was a book of letters from almost every single person I ever said that I admired or respected as an actor, director, musician, philosopher or scientist.
SUN: Was that a special gift for your 40th birthday?
SANDRA: I don't remember what birthday is was. It was five or six years ago. There is no magic in birthdays in my life. There are no milestones. There are no events. Every birthday has to be celebrated to its fullest, even if it is only with one person, or if it is with 20.
SUN: The Lake House is about a magic mailbox that allows these people to communicate across time. If you had a magic mailbox, who would you want most to hear from?
SANDRA: My mother. She passed away six years ago. I would just like to know how she is, how she's doing. Because I'm sure she's having a whole wonderful new adventure of her own. I just want to know what it's like and how she is. I just want to see her handwriting again. It was so distinctive.
SUN: The Lake House is unapologetically romantic. What is your favourite romantic movie?
SANDRA: Cinema Paradiso because it's not about the kind of love in which you are attracted to someone. It's about love of family, love of life, love of people who are gone, love of film and love of memories. It embodies so much love. By the end of the film, no matter how many times I see it, it reminds me of why I fell in love with this business. The movie embodies the love of life and that is what romance means to me.
