Sandra Bullock reveals she asked to be 'fired' after facing a 'situation' on a film set that left her feeling uncomfortable
Sandra Bullock is no stranger to unwanted advances in Hollywood that left her feeling uncomfortable. In an interview with The Times, the actress opened up about asking to be fired from a film after being subjected to unwanted advances on the set. Even though Sandra did not mention the name of the movie, she did reveal that the troubling overtures had been made by a person in authority.
"Very early on in my career, I had a situation on a film, which was hard. It came from a person of authority. I kept deflecting it with humor and it didn't work. Finally, I said, "Please, just fire me,"' she said. "It was a lesson. After that, I tended to remove anything that could be misconstrued as sexual. I locked it down." While many people came forward and accused the movie mogul, Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault, Sandra insists that she did not face that bad an experience.
“I heard about Harvey and I was afraid of him,” she said. “I wasn’t asked to be in that world. I learned early on to shut things off so those things didn’t come my way.” While she did not know about Harvey, there were many things that she had heard the others speak about him that she did not really like. “I only heard what Harvey wanted people to hear, and that made me so f—— angry. People would say, ‘Well, you know how she got that role? She f—– Harvey," she revealed.
She added, " I would say, ‘Shut the f— up. You don’t know that.’ Then, later, to find out that woman was brutally attacked … They didn’t sleep with Harvey. Harvey wanted you to think that.” Even though Sandra was happy to see a pool of people coming forward and opening up about their experiences, a part of her was worried about what these "brave people" will have to face later.
“I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is amazing, but f—, f—, f—, what if it doesn’t work? Please God, let it not swing the other way.’ We’re in such uncharted territory right now. I’ve seen a lot of fear and a lot of men of a certain generation, not understanding,” she said. However, when things started taking a turn in Hollywood with regard to sexual assault and the status of women in the industry, Sandra felt the change take place around her.
“I saw a tremendous amount of fear from men on set,” she continued. “In the end, I said, ‘I know you’re scared, but I feel safe, so you can make some jokes now. But if you cross the line, I will f— you up.’ ” Sandra added that early in her career she would use her humor to deflect unwanted advances. “That’s how I’ve always navigated tricky situations. That’s how I’ve survived," she said.