Sandra Bullock has been all smiles in recent weeks, following the release of her unsurprisingly successful all female- led film, Ocean’s 8. However, it was a completely different story for the actress when Harvey Weinstein worked in Hollywood.
Opening up about her fear for the film mogul, the Oscar-winner recently told The Sunday Times: ‘I heard about Harvey and I was afraid of him. 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.’
In October 2017, The New York Times published a story detailing decades of allegations of sexual assault and harassment against Weinstein from members of Hollywood including actresses Rose McGowan and Ashley Judd.
Weinstein has 'unequivocally' denied any allegations of non-consensual sex.
Bullock continued:
‘I only heard what Harvey wanted people to hear, and that made me so f*cking angry. People would say, “Well, you know how she got that role? She f*cked Harvey.” I would say, “Shut the f**k 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.’
The 53-year-old also revealed she was ‘really, really scared’ about the repercussions for the ‘brave people’ who came forward with their allegations of sexual assault and harassment against the film tycoon.
‘I was like, “Oh my God, this is amazing, but f*ck, f*ck, f*ck, 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.
‘I saw a tremendous amount of fear from men on set,’ she continued, despite not naming specific films she’d worked on. ‘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*ck you up.”’
Bullock said that earlier in her career she had used her humour to deflect unwanted advances from film executives.
‘That’s how I’ve always navigated tricky situations. That’s how I’ve survived. Because 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 humour and it didn’t work. Finally, I said, “Please just fire me.”’
‘It was a lesson. After that, I tended to remove anything that could be misconstrued as sexual. I locked it down,’ she explained.
Katie O'Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.
