Entertainment
Getting down and dirty can be intimidating even for the best of us. I mean, it's one of the most intimate experiences to share with someone, and exposing yourself stark naked suddenly makes you feel all too conscious about what you look like under your clothes. Luckily, it's never actually that bad, and your nerves turn out to be fake because – really – no-one lucky enough to hook up with you will be judging you as critically as you think.
But imagine all that and having it filmed on camera – like actors do during those steamy parts of the movie you really wish you weren't watching with your parents. Of course, they don't actually have sex with their co-stars during those raunchy moments (they have lots of tricks to get around that), but it must be a pretty weird feeling nonetheless.
Sandra Bullock, for one, has disclosed that she "won't do sex scenes" in any of her movies. The Ocean's 8 star recently sat down with the Sunday Times and spoke about why she refuses to do rudey nudey scenes, saying it's simply that she doesn't "want to know" what her "best angles" are. (Raise your hand if you can relate.)
"I’m not the kind of person who says, 'I’m gonna tape myself having sexual intercourse 'cause I’m gonna look good!'," she told the Sunday Times. "I don’t want to know what my best angles are. Don’t wanna see it. Don’t want to hear it. Therefore, I’m not going to do it on film."
The Oscar-winner is said to have it spelt out in her contract that she won't get down and dirty on camera, with certain clauses stipulating details of intimate scenes rumoured to have been in place since the beginning of Bullock's career.
The 53-year-old said she's never been into "conventional female film roles", adding that "everything" in her three-decade career "was a fight" and "always will be" because she refused to settle for typical female characters. "I was always saying, 'Can it not be the typical narrative of the girl getting the guy? If there is a romantic scene, can it be funny?'"
In fact, comedy is something she's defined as a "saviour", partly because it was a way she could really express herself on screen. "Comedy has always been my deflector," Bullock explained. "It’s how I’ve survived. It’s safe, because I set the tone."
But while she had us all clutching our sides in Miss Congeniality and The Proposal, she's also proved her talents in the likes of The Bright Side and Gravity. She's now one of the world's highest paid actresses, and she says that some of the biggest roles she's scored are thanks to "securing the one feminist attorney out there". She said the attorney told her that she didn't need to accept something just because it was being offered – and that she should fight for what she thinks she deserves.
Still, Bullock admits she's been exposed to the unhealthy mentality that this is something to be ashamed of: "When I made the first big paycheque, people did not say, 'Good for you'. I was attacked on all levels. It’s hard to gloat when you don’t feel you deserve it."
Nevertheless, the actress continues to prove that you needn't compromise your values in order to succeed in your career, so I'd say that she definitely deserves to gloat a bit about it.