The MTV Movie & TV Awards aired on Monday night, honoring the best onscreen work from the past year in a variety of categories, both traditional and fun, all voted on by the general public. One of those categories was for Most Frightened Performance and the award went to Sandra Bullock for her role in Netflix’s Bird Box. In her acceptance speech, the Oscar-winning actress revealed that she made Bird Box for her kids. She said:
I made Bird Box because my children asked me why I never made anything for them. So when Bird Box crossed my path, I knew this was a story I needed to make because it was about family.
You often hear stories about actors who took certain roles because it’s something they knew their kids would love and while that isn’t quite the case here, Sandra Bullock did make Bird Box for her children, as she told the audience at the MTV Movie & TV Awards. Although she’s had roles in children’s movies like as Scarlet Overkill in Minions and years ago in The Prince of Egypt, by and large Sandra Bullock makes more adult and PG-13 films.
So between films Oceans Eight, Gravity and The Heat, it does somewhat make sense that her kids would feel that she doesn’t make anything for them. But instead of making a children’s movie to entertain them, Sandra Bullock made a film that was for them and that film was Bird Box. The Netflix film follows Sandra Bullock’s Malorie as she tries to keep her children safe in a world of unimaginable horrors.
To the actress, Bird Box was about family and that’s why she knew she needed to make it for her kids. She continued:
And when I finished the film, I went to my babies and I said, 'Here, mommy made this for you. 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.
Bird Box is an R-rated horror film look at life as a mommy. It’s definitely not appropriate for Sandra Bullock's young children but the message of the film is what she wanted them to understand. In Bird Box, Malorie puts her life on the line and does everything she can to protect her kids and get them to safety against unimaginable horrors and impossible odds.
By making Bird Box, Sandra Bullock wanted her kids to know the importance of family and doing everything to fight for it and that she too would trek through the wilderness hunted and blindfolded to protect them.
It’s an incredibly sweet sentiment that shows Sandra Bullock’s love and her maternal instinct to protect her kids. And despite Malorie being something of a reluctant mother in Bird Box, she still fought with everything she had for her children and that part of the role must have felt true to Sandra Bullock’s experience as a mother.
Sandra Bullock’s acceptance speech was a highlight of the night, both hilarious and heartwarming and it really came across how much she loves her kids and how much she identifies with Malorie’s protective nature in Bird Box. You can see why she wanted to make it, but it turns out that all that sentimentality and emotion isn’t exactly what Sandra Bullock’s son had in mind when he said she doesn’t make movies for him.
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.’
Well, it’s the thought that counts. He’ll appreciate Bird Box and his mother’s love more when he’s older.
Bird Box was one of Netflix’s most high profile and buzzed about titles yet, getting major ratings for the streaming service and inspiring memes and internet idiocy. Bird Box was based on a novel by Josh Malerman and with a sequel novel titled Malorie, on its way at the end of this year, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Sandra Bullock showing more of that mother’s love and parenting frustration onscreen again.
To see all the titles headed to the big screen this year check out our 2019 Release Schedule. For more on the latest movie news and why having children is the truest horror, stay tuned to CinemaBlend.
