Sandra Bullock played FBI Special Agent Sarah Ashburn alongside Melissa McCarthy’s Boston Detective Shannon Mullins in the 2013 buddy-cop film The Heat. Agent Ashburn and Detective Mullins reluctantly partner together to take down a drug lord in this Paul Feig film. The chemistry between the film’s lead pair proved crucial in its commercial success in theaters.
Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy in a still from The Heat | Credits: 20th Century Fox
Despite its label as a female comedy, Bullock believed that director Feig didn’t create “women’s stories” with his films. Besides Bullock and McCarthy, the film also featured Demián Bichir, Marlon Wayans, Michael Rapaport, and Jane Curtin in the cast.
Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock in The Heat | Credits: 20th Century Fox
Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy‘s on-screen chemistry in The Heat was enough to bring the crowd to the theaters. Katie Dippold also did a great job on her feature film debut with the script, which she first came up with when writing for Parks and Recreation. The film earned $229.9 million at the box office against a budget of $43 million (via Box Office Mojo).
When asked about Paul Feig and his female-led comedy films during an interview with Collider, Bullock had a hot take. She agreed with McCarthy’s view that the director loved women and believed that they were really funny, which made him more open and collaborative in such projects.
Bullock shared that he wanted to tell stories that involved women rather than make women’s stories. According to Bullock, the film’s appeal lies in the character’s dynamics and its universal themes rather than the gender of its protagonists. She felt that Feig’s film was about two human beings who are good at their jobs and happen to be women. She shared with Collider:
He loves women and wants to tell stories that involve women without making them “women’s stories.” They’re just a human being’s journey that happens to have breasts so…
They further shared that they built a rapport between themselves almost immediately during the film. Bullock shared that they didn’t practice the stunts in the film together. She and McCarthy were just pulling these stunts out of nowhere while maintaining respect for law enforcement. McCarthy added that she underwent some training with an officer in Boston in gun handling.
Sandra Bullock showered praises on Bridesmaids for how the film revolutionized women in comedy. She shared that the film had no censorship and never put restrictions on how women should speak or behave. She mentioned that the film wasn’t even about “a bunch of women experiencing” things. She shared with Collider:
You didn’t go, “Oh, a bunch of women experiencing…” It was a bunch of funny people having awkward life moments, and it takes the sex out of it — there’s no sex in our film — but it takes the gender out of it, and it just replaces with everyone has awkward moments.
Bullock further shared that uncensoring, promoted by films like Bridesmaids, helped women to have more fun on screen. She shared that she would love to curse like a truck driver, sharing, “I talk like a truck driver. There’s the thing where they go, ‘Oh, women don’t do that!’ I’m like, ‘They f**king do! They do! We f**king do it all the time!’”
The Heat is now available for streaming on Hulu.
