Sandra Bullock to Her Kids: "There Isn't Anything That I Wouldn't Do for You"

Photo credit: Kevin Winter - Getty Images
Photo credit: Kevin Winter - Getty Images

From Oprah Magazine

  • Sandra Bullock was awarded the prize for Most Frightened Performance on Monday at the MTV Movie & TV Awards.

  • Accepting the award for her performance in Netflix's Bird Box, Bullock made an emotional speech in which she revealed the reason she took the role.

  • "I made Bird Box because my children asked me why I never made anything for them," she said, paying tribute to her children Louis Bardo, 9, and Laila, 7, before calling out fellow winner Jada Pinkett Smith.


Monday night's MTV Movie & TV Awards kicked off on an emotional note, as Sandra Bullock accepted the award for Most Frightened Performance. The honor, naturally, was for her performance in the breakout Netflix movie Bird Box, and Bullock used her moment on stage to explain the touching reason why she took the role.

"I made Bird Box because my children asked me why I never made anything for them," Bullock said. "So when Bird Box crossed my path, I knew this was a story I needed to make because it was about family."

If you haven't seen Bird Box by now, the movie takes place in a post-apocalyptic future where the world has been destroyed by a mysterious force that is fatal to any human who sees it. The only way to survive is by wearing a blindfold, and Bullock stars as a woman who embarks on a dangerous, blindfolded quest with her children, searching for a place to find sanctuary.

"When I finished the film, I went to my babies and I said, 'Here, mommy made this for you," Bullock continued in her speech. "And even though you can't see it until you're 21-because apparently a movie about being a mommy is a horror film-you will know when you see it that there isn't anything that I wouldn't do for you."

Bullock adopted both of her children–9-year-old Louis and 7-year-old Laila–and went on to make an emotional statement about found family. "I wanted you to see what being a family looks like, that sometimes you’re born into a family, sometimes you need to go find it, sometimes it finds you," she said. "But no matter how it comes together, that when it does, family is what you fight for, family is what you protect and what you saw in that movie is what your mommy would do for you.”

We're not crying, it's just dusty in here.

Photo credit: Kevin Winter - Getty Images
Photo credit: Kevin Winter - Getty Images

Bullock ended her speech on a more characteristically comedic note, revealing that Louis didn't quite appreciate the impact of the movie: "When I was finished, my son looked at me with his big, beautiful eyes and he said, 'Mommy, it was superhero movies I was talking about. Those are the films you should be making. Superheroes are the ones doing the important work right now... I grounded him.'" You can always rely on your kids to keep you humble!

Bullock wrapped up by thanking MTV and the award's voters, "because it allowed me to be here tonight and bring my Marvel-loving, DC-loving son with me so that he may stand in the same room with real superheroes like Wonder Woman [Gal Gadot], Captain Marvel [Brie Larson], trailblazers like Jada Pinkett Smith-and I’m sure he will notice that they’re women, just like his mama. Thank you.”


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