Gravity has given Sandra Bullock the biggest payday of her career after she negotiated a cut of the box office takings in addition to her $20 million fee
It was the most gruelling role of Sandra Bullock’s career: trapped inside a pitch-dark box for up to 10 hours a day, simulating the loneliness of an astronaut adrift in space.
Yet the actress’s performance in Gravity has also turned out to be her most lucrative. Bullock is set to make at least $70 million from the film after agreeing a deal that gives her a 15 per cent cut of the takings in addition to her $20 million fee.
Alfonso Cuaron’s outer space epic has exceeded industry expectations to take $700 million worldwide so far, and is still showing in cinemas.
The film’s 10 Oscar nominations, including best picture and best actress for Bullock, have boosted its success at the box office.
The payday is sweet reward for Bullock, 49, who has admitted that filming Gravity was an arduous experience.
She plays Dr Ryan Stone, an astronaut who faces disaster when an accident leaves her marooned in orbit.
Around 60 per cent of the film was shot inside a 9ftx9ft box fitted with LED lights. Bullock would be suspended in the box, sometimes with a clamp around her leg, in complete silence except for the director’s instructions in her earpiece.
The only camera was fitted to the end of a robotic arm, and came hurtling toward her face when Cuaron required a close-up of her panic-stricken expressions.
Bullock has admitted that the experience was terrifying. Her co-star in the film, George Clooney, was only on set for three weeks and she spent most of the time by herself.
“I was cut off and restricted and claustrophobic, and I didn’t have the benefit of sound,” she has said.
“It was so lonely – necessary, but pretty lonely. When George came it was like sunshine entered the room, but we had very little time together physically.
“You are basically in solitary confinement with only your own thoughts and a lot of quiet. I realised I had never been in complete silence before, probably my entire life.
“So when I was locked in that box and just sitting there for hours while they were setting up, I had nothing. Your mind goes to the craziest places.”
Bullock said the director helped her through the most difficult moments by allowing her to see her son, Louis, who was on set.
“I was depressed, I was angry, I would get so sad because it was a black room with no human contact,” she said.
“Alfonso could see, because he had cameras always on my face [so] he would be, like, ‘She’s cracking, she’s cracking, go get the kid’.”
Details of Bullock’s payday were published in The Hollywood Reporter. It is not unknown for actors to take a cut of a film’s profits, but Bullock’s deal is unusual.
Most studios insist on recouping costs before sharing profits with the actors, according to the trade publication, but Bullock negotiated a 15 per cent cut of Warner Bros’ box-office takings known as “first-dollar gross”.
So far she has made an estimated $50 million, including her fee, but a further $20 million is expected from DVD sales and television broadcast.
Bullock has disclosed that she initially turned down the film because she wanted to spend more time at home with her son, but was persuaded by Cuaron. The first choice of star, Angelina Jolie, had dropped out.
