Sandra Bullock

Divine inspiration

'[Ya-Ya director] Callie Khoury forced me to do the film,' Bullock says of the mother-daughter saga adapted from the novel by Rebecca Wells. 'I had read the book; I loved it. I didn't want to do the film, because I didn't want to ruin our friendship.''It's her first film [as a director],' the actress says of the Thelma & Louise screenwriter. 'There's a lot of stress. I didn't want to be involved. I said I don't want to be the narrator. I don't want to be that person, the storyteller, the boring role. But she puts you in a room with Maggie Smith, Ellen Burstyn and James Garner, and you go, OK, these people know what they're doing.'

Two Weeks Notice, a romantic comedy that Bullock describes as 'a love story to New York and a love story within New York', is about two close friends (she and Grant) who struggle with stronger feelings for each other.

'Why is it that when you become best friends with someone who could be a partner does the familiarity all of a sudden breed no ground for...breeding?' says the actress, stumbling over her own spontaneous wit. 'I think it's because it's easier to be intimate with strangers at first, and then get to know each other.'

As for the rumours sparked by Bullock's recent public appearances with Grant, the actress - who showed up at the Academy Awards with the Notting Hill star - maintains that they're just good friends.

'I couldn't have asked anyone more fun to go,' she says. 'He is so good at that. He's so smart and witty. And if I get tongue-tied, you know he's going to be great. And I like hanging out with him.'

'I have issues'

Word is Bullock's steady beau is sexy musician Bob Schneider, with whom she has maintained a quiet courtship for the last few years. 'As celebrities go, Bob and I have a very low-key relationship,' she said when the two began dating. 'We live our life together one day at a time.'

As she has done in the past, Bullock is threatening to take a year off - her periods of extreme productivity seem inevitably to signal a necessary time for rest and perhaps reflection. For instance, while the 38-year-old actress admits she needs to get over her well-reported fear of marriage (she has had long-term relationships with actors Tate Donovan and Matthew McConaughey but neither evolved into a trip to the altar), an even bigger hurdle involves exchanging words of love. 'My greatest fear is saying "I love you",' she admits. 'That's why we're making [Two Weeks Notice], and Hugh keeps saying, "This girl is rather similar to you." We got as far as looking at each other and saying, "elephant shoes". So that's as close as I've got.'

'I have issues. It's something I have to work on.'