Sandra Bullock has had a successful run as an actor in Hollywood, spanning a career of over 36 years and many hit films to her name. After making her debut in the thriller Hangmen (1987), Bullock went on to star in many acclaimed films including Demolition Man (1993), Speed (1994), While You Were Sleeping (1995), A Time to Kill (1996), Gravity (2013) to name a few.
She received the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as Leigh Anne Touhy in The Blind Side (2010), a role for which she received critical acclaim. But the film which scored Bullock her highest pay is Gravity and not the one that earned her the Academy Award.
The Blind Side and Gravity were Dramatically Challenging Films
After winning the Oscar for Best Actress for her role in The Blind Side (2010), Sandra Bullock earned another nomination for the same award for her starring role in the sci-fi drama Gravity (2013) alongside George Clooney. Even though she won the award for The Blind Side, the humongous pay that she received for her leading role in Gravity made up for her loss of winning another Academy Award.
The huge pay difference between the two films is astounding yet deserved with respect to the amount of work that Bullock did and the dedication with which Bullock put herself in such an emotionally intense film as Gravity. This is not to denounce or undermine her role in the emotionally resonant film The Blind Side, in which she put up a powerful performance.
Sandra Bullock Earned a Whopping Amount for Gravity
As a leading role in Gravity, Bullock demanded $20 million in advance according to Parade. This in itself is a unique case, with reference to the longstanding huge pay gap that exists between male and female actors in Hollywood. She also received 15% of the $723.2 million that the film grossed in its theatrical run. This makes her total salary for the film to be a whopping $74 million, which is a historic pay for an actress for a leading role in a film.
This is also a huge pay difference, compared to her Academy Award-winning role in The Blind Side, for which she demanded only $5 million upfront. In total, she earned around $20 million owing to the success of the film grossing $310 million at the box office, according to The New York Times.
Gravity was a More Dramatically Challenging Film
Bullock’s role in The Blind Side proved to be a crowd-pleaser and an emotionally powerful film about motherhood disguised as a sports drama. Her win at the Oscars is deserved with respect to the love and appreciation that the film and her role got from critics and audiences.
Her performance in Gravity got a similar response, although it was a more dramatically and emotionally challenging role compared to what she did in The Blind Side, earning her another Oscar nomination. Putting all these circumstances together, it is logically believable why Bullock charged more for the role as it demanded more work from her from a personal and emotional space.
Sources: Parade, The New York Times
