There are millions of ways to get someone to like you back, but for a young Sandra Bullock, the best bet was to hone her rapping skills and learn most of the lines to The Sugarhill Gang’s 1979 classic Rapper’s Delight. And what do you know, it worked! Bullock deemed it ‘sad,’ but as far as celebrity anecdotes go, it can’t get any better than this.
Appearing on The Jonathan Ross Show in 2013 to promote the Alfonso Cuarón-helmed sci-fi thriller Gravity, the now-59-year-old actress revealed engaging in competitive activities with co-star George Clooney on-set.
One of the areas in which they’d show off this streak involved participating in a rap-off. And as you may have guessed, the track to which they’d show off their expertise was Rapper’s Delight.
The Bird Box star had already been well-equipped with knowing most of the words to the song from her high-school days, as she had one aim then: impress a boy she liked at the school dance! When this was brought up on the comedy chat show, she was requested to offer a glimpse into this secret talent. That was the day Sandra Bullock ended up rapping on British television.
Sandra Bullock Honed Her Rapping Skills To Impress A Boy She Liked In High School
On The Jonathan Ross Show, Sandra Bullock exhibited a side to herself that best exemplifies how effortlessly charming the Hollywood talent can be. Before she was requested to put her rapping skills on full display, the actress delved into the backstory of how she ended up learning the lines to Rapper’s Delight by The Sugarhill Gang. She prefaced:
“The sad part is, I learned the words because I liked this guy in high school. And I was like, ‘Next time I go to that dance, I’m going to know every word. I’m going to make sure he sees me lip-syncing it, and I’m going to catch his eye, and say the words. And he’s going to like me.’ And sadly, it worked.”
When it came time to commit to a rap-off with George Clooney on the Gravity (2013) set, this previously acquired skill came in quite handy. But Bullock claimed that her co-star was much more proficient—he knew most of the bridges to the track!
“But George knows a few more of the lyrics. [With] some of the bridges, I got lazy. I felt they were unnecessary in my luring of the man. But he [George Clooney] knows all the bridges.”
Besides partaking in rap battles, another area of ‘competition’ the two stars would engage in during the filming of the sci-fi involved, as claimed by Bullock, making fun of Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón and attempting to see who best emulates his accent. It didn’t work, though, as it came off rather “Cuban” combined with an Al Pacino flair, said the Miss Congeniality alum.
You can check out Bullock spitting a few lines to Rapper’s Delight in this iconic clip below:
Sandra Bullock Once Won An Oscar A Day After Accepting The Razzie For Worst Actress
During her appearance on the show, host Jonathan Ross brought up the actress boldly accepting the Razzie Award for Worst Actress at the 30th Golden Raspberry Awards (held on March 6, 2010) for her performance in All About Steve (2009). Funnily enough, only a day later, on March 7, 2010, Sandra Bullock won the Best Actress Oscar for The Blind Side (2009) at the 82nd Academy Awards.
Talk about duality.
In case you are unfamiliar with the Razzie Awards, they can be best described as the antithesis of what the Oscars represent.
While the Academy Awards honor the best in the business annually, the Golden Raspberry Awards recognize what’s considered the worst in cinema. Sandra Bullock is renowned for being the first and only actress in history who won Best and Worst Actress awards on both occasions in the same year, only 24 hours apart, albeit for different performances.
When asked about this unique distinction, Sandra Bullock was seen gracefully saying the following:
“Well, no one sets out to make a crappy film. You set out to work as a team and work on an idea that might be original. […] You want to do something different. And when you push the envelope, there’s either the failure or the odd chance that things come together.”
All About Steve (2009) saw the actress opposite Bradley Cooper in a romantic comedy directed by Phil Traill. Besides securing the Worst Actress Razzie, Cooper and Bullock’s stint in the endeavor was additionally awarded the Worst Screen Couple Razzie. Notoriety for the venture also stems from its 6% Rotten Tomatoes approval rating. Audiences were slightly kinder, with their score sitting at 30%.
While this may be one of the misses in Bullock’s prolific career, there’s more for her to boast in her filmography than to be ashamed of!
All About Steve (2009) and The Blind Side (2009) are available on Amazon Prime Video via buying/renting.
