Sandra Bullock: Ocean's 8 about female friendship more than fun heist

George Clooney has a movie sister, and she is Sandra Bullock.

Ocean's 8 is a spin-off of the Ocean's film franchise, and the story is of another heist, this time perpetrated by an all-female team led by Debbie Ocean, sister of Clooney's character Danny Ocean, the mastermind in the earlier trilogy.

Debbie, played by Bullock, plots her biggest caper as she sits in jail for five years, eight months and 12 days.

As soon as she gets out, she gathers her partners in crime - former associate Lou (Cate Blanchett), jeweller Amita (Mindy Kaling), thief Constance (Awkwafina), expert fence Tammy (Sarah Paulson), hacker Nine Ball (Rihanna) and fashion designer Rose Weil (Helena Bonham Carter).

The mark is world-famous actress Daphne Kluger (Anne Hathaway) and her US$150 million (S$200 million) diamond necklace, the location is the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, and the event is the annual Met Gala.

At our interview at the Whitby Hotel in New York City, Bullock said the heist is not the point of the movie, which opens here tomorrow.

The 53-year-old US actress added: "I knew that would be executed and that would be fun, but to me it was really important to show how these women just supported each other and liked each other and wanted the best for each other."

To her, it was more a film about friendship.

"I think as you get older, your circle of friends gets really small because you realise you are who you are and you are not going to change. Those people love you for exactly who you are and allow you to feel safe being that way. They are the ones that are going to be lifelong."

So did she speak to her pal Clooney - whom she co-starred with on Gravity (2013) - about Ocean's 8?

Said Bullock: "George and I talked at a friend's party and he was like, 'Are you going to do it?' And I was like, 'Yeah, I think so', and he was like, 'okay'.

"The beauty about George is that he is sort of still carrying the torch of that Rat Pack group and that essence and that fun. The only thing we wanted to translate and carry on was that we wanted to have the fun too.

"We did not have a bar on our set and we were not shooting in Vegas, but we wanted the spirit of teamwork and family.

"I wanted everyone to see these women as a family supporting each other, because you don't see it represented like that enough."

CONCERNS

Before it earned US$41.5 million at the North American box office over the weekend, there were some concerns about Ocean's 8, given that the much-hyped all-female Ghostbusters in 2016 was not exactly a big hit.

Bullock said: "We felt the pressure because we thought, 'Oh my God, if your film doesn't perform, we have a hard time climbing back to the top to get a job.'

"The men do films and they don't work and then they are making a sequel out of it, but we women weren't allowed that same experience."

Of course, we had to talk about the jewellery as the centerpiece of the robbery - the famous Toussaint necklace by French luxury goods conglomerate Cartier, which created a specifically modified version for the film and allowed the production to shoot at the Cartier Mansion. (See report on right.)

"When I think about Cartier, I think about many presents in red boxes that I should like to receive," Bullock said with a laugh.

To her, though, diamonds are not a girl's best friend.

"Real estate that you own outright is a girl's best friend. There is something about the sparkle of a diamond that leads you to it, but I don't wear much jewellery. I am afraid I am going to lose it.

"I have two wild children, and we are outside a lot. Can you see me bejewelled as I am playing baseball with the kids?

"I love jewellery when it is beautifully made and classic. But to me, they are not as good as a real friend," she said.

Bullock has been dating photographer Bryan Randall, 43, for three years and has two adopted children Louis, eight, and Laila, five.

The single mum said: "I have a complete commitment to my son and daughter. And everything I do is about my kids."

Do the two of them get on?

"As much as they want to kill each other, they fiercely love each other and they defend each other, even against me. But that's what you want, you want them to be independent of you.

"They are going to be with each other for the rest of their lives, long after I am gone. There is so much love between the two of them. I just get to watch them grow up and try to be a good mum and work occasionally, only if it works for them. I am lucky I get to do that," she said.

Motherhood has taught her to relax a little more.

Said Bullock: "I realised how impatient I was and how you get good at saying no. You are always worried about their safety and doing the right thing that you say no a lot. It just becomes a habit. I have to stop myself and go, 'Yes. Life is too short. It's happening too fast.'

"Just being gone this week (to promote Ocean's 8), I am on FaceTime with them and they already grew. And it kills me.

"So I need to let go a little bit and just live in the fun more than I do in being the mum."