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Some actors need years to gain notoriety. Sandra Bullock doesn’t fall into that category. After getting her start in Hollywood in the late 1980s, she needed only a few years to find her way to the silver screen. Bullock was on her way to certified stardom after 1994’s Speed, and hits such as Miss Congeniality, The Blind Side, Gravity, and Bird Box followed.

Bullock is a box office force who can pick and choose her projects, but pressing pause could be her next choice. If her recent comments are to be believed, The Lost City could be one of her last acting gigs for a while.

Sandra Bullock wants to ‘pause’ acting — to clean her basement

Despite seemingly having her choice of roles, Bullock plans to slow down her acting roles.

In a profile for CBS Sunday Morning, Bullock revealed to Tracy Smith she plans to ‘pause’ her on-screen acting work:

“Right now, work in front of the camera needs to take a pause.” 

When Smith asked Bullock how long her acting hiatus would last, Bullock said she isn’t sure and that it’s more about how she’s feeling rather than a set timeline. She also admitted her basement cleaning regimen is a factor in her decision.

“I don’t know what a while is,” Bullock said. “I would just like to clean out the basement. I have a room where all my sh*t goes for all the years; I want to go through it and see if I remember any of it.”

We don’t know about the basement cleaning, but she might be serious about slowing down for the time being.

Bullock might be serious about stepping back from Hollywood

Time will be the ultimate truth-teller regarding how committed Bullock is to pausing her acting career. But we have no reason to doubt her.

Bullock’s conversation with Smith took place at the actor’s Walton’s Fancy and Staple cafe in Austin, Texas. Early in the interview, Bullock admitted that owning the store is “just as fulfilling and making movies.”

Plus, she has always been a bit of a homebody. She doesn’t shy away from facing the big parenting struggles that come with being a mother, and she relishes co-parenting with her partner Bryan Randall.

As if her upcoming acting schedule, passion for running her business, and commitment to being a good mother weren’t enough, Bullock’s history indicates she has no problem taking a step back from Hollywood.

She has paused her acting career in the past

Sandra Bullock attends a screening of her 2022 movie "The Lost City" in New York, New York.
Sandra Bullock | Monica Schipper/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures

Getting out from in front of the camera seems to be Bullock’s next step, and she has never had an issue slowing down her acting itinerary before. Given her history, we won’t be surprised if she takes two or three years off.

Bullock has been busy lately. She starred in The Unforgivable in late 2021, and both The Lost City and Bullet Train should drop in the first half of 2022. But aside from Bullet Train, she doesn’t have any acting credits in the imminent future, according to her IMDb profile.

After starring in The Blind Side, All About Steve, and The Proposal in 2009 (and serving as a producer in the latter two), Bullock didn’t star again until 2011’s Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. Then she took time away until starring in two feature films in 2013. 

Another two-year break preceded a busier 2015, and then it was a three-year hiatus before Ocean’s Eight and Bird Box (which she also executive produced) in 2018. Bullock stepped back again until her recent burst of creativity in 2021 and 2022. 

Bullock has the cache to control her career, and if a project speaks to her, she could make a beeline to the front of the camera sooner than later. But she says she’s serious about pausing, and her credit history points to how serious she is.

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