Sandra Bullock lured back to acting, felt ‘permanently broken ... time-wise’

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Sandra Bullock is opening up about the time following the implosion of her marriage to Jesse James, a time, she said, when she thought she’d never return to acting.

‘Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close’ lured her back on set, but not without some persuasion from director Stephen Daldry.

Bullock had been at the center of the 2010 scandal that saw James’ repeated infidelities revealed just days after her best actress Oscar win for ‘The Blind Side.’

REVIEW: ‘Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close’

‘I was perfectly content to be permanently broken,’ she said. Recognizing how that might sound in print, she smiles at the unintended hint of her personal turmoil, and adds ‘time-wise’ to clarify the break as one from moviemaking.

‘I honestly didn’t think I was in a place where I wanted to work or wanted to step out of where I was. ... I wasn’t prepared. But the opportunity was louder than my head,’ Bullock told the Associated Press’ Jake Coyle.

That loud opportunity was actually ‘Extremely Loud,’ a 9/11 drama costarring Tom Hanks. Daldry, director of ‘The Hours’ and ‘The Reader,’ made a house call to Bullock to rope her into the job.

‘I needed a partner in the project, somebody that would be a leading lady and look after me, look after herself, look after the character,’ he said.

Bullock, awesomely aware of the indulgent nature of movie-star struggles, said she now feels gratitude for being pulled from her personal storm.

‘So we had a great time. It’s no longer ‘selfish actress’ in the moment,’ she said. ‘I wanted to have an amazing time with him and, fortunately, Mr. Daldry presented it. In every possible way, it was the best!’

[For the record, 11:35 a.m., Dec. 28: This post and its headline originally referenced the quote ‘permanently broken’ from Bullock’s interview with the Associated Press. During that interview, Bullock next added the word ‘time-wise.’ The full paragraph from that AP story has been included above for clarification, and the word ‘time-wise’ has been added to the headline.]

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-- Matt Donnelly
twitter.com/MattDonnelly

The Associated Press contributed to this report.