Writer Marc Lawrence makes his directorial debut with "Two Weeks Notice," a movie he wrote specifically with Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock in mind.
Addressing the question of whether it's ever too late to say "I love you," "Two Weeks Notice" stars Hugh Grant as a very wealthy, charming bachelor business owner who hires a brilliant but slightly neurotic attorney (Sandra Bullock) to work for his company. Complete opposites, the two wear on each other's nerves until Bullock gives her 'two weeks notice,' forcing them to reassess their business - and personal - relationship.
Both stars joined director Marc Lawrence and their co-star Alicia Witt for "Two Weeks Notice's" Los Angeles Premiere. Working the press line together, it was quite evident these two Hollywood stars have a good time in each other's presence.
SANDRA BULLOCK ('Lucy') & HUGH GRANT ('George')
This is your first movie together. What's it like to work with Hugh?
BULLOCK: He's one of the easiest people to work with that I've ever worked with.
Could you two ever become romantically involved?
BULLOCK: No, I know him too well. We know way too much about each other; that's why we love and adore each other. But we know too much now [so] that we can't be mysterious.
Would you ever fall for Sandra?
HUGH GRANT: Oh God yes, definitely. It would be very, very easy.
You've both been in many romantic movies. How do you feel about kissing onscreen?
BULLOCK: Most of the time it's incredibly uncomfortable, super uncomfortable. I don't know how to answer that. Each one is different, like real-life kisses (laughing). Sometimes they are horrible; sometimes they are great.
And kissing Hugh?
BULLOCK: He'll tell you. He has a really strong opinion about how great a kisser he is.
How great a kisser are you?
GRANT: Come here I'll show you (laughing).
Do you prefer working on comedies or dramas?
BULLOCK: I always like doing what I'm not doing at that time. I'll never stop doing comedy because it's just the greatest form of entertainment. If you can pull it off, it's good. If you fail at it, it's horrendous. There's sort of a nice addictive challenge to that, to see if you can pull off a joke.
Is it fun for the two of you to do interviews together?
BULLOCK: It makes it more fun for me. I don't want to talk about myself but he loves talking about himself, and I love listening to him talk about himself.
Do you have any funny stories to share about working with Hugh?
BULLOCK: It's very easy to make him lose concentration and make him laugh. Once you figure that out, you spend a lot of time trying to make him giggle.
What did you do to make him giggle?
BULLOCK: You don't have to do much. It's pretty much just around the 'potty humor' area. Potty humor can make him go down in a second. You just say, “Poop,” and then he starts to giggle. I would be about the second grade level most of the day.
Is there any one incident that really stands out?
BULLOCK: We couldn't get through a very simple dinner scene, which took us the entire day to shoot and was maybe scheduled for a quarter of a day.
Why?
BULLOCK: Because the ice dropping in the glass sounded like poop in the toilet. It really comes down to toilet humor. Every time it dropped in the glass, we just [broke up] - at least I did. He thought he could rise above it but he really couldn't so he's just as bad as I was.
Can you now be proclaimed the 'King of Romantic Comedies'?
GRANT: Listen, I'll take any title I can get (laughing) or any compliment I can get.
You seem very comfortable in that genre.
GRANT: Oddly enough, I don't particularly. I feel relatively comfortable in the area of light comedy but romance I was never particularly interested in.
What did it mean to have been one of the first productions back into New York City?
SANDRA BULLOCK: A lot, obviously. New York is where I got my start. I wouldn't be standing here if I didn't start off in New York. I think we always wanted it to be in the City; it was always our choice. Marc Lawrence - being a born and bred New Yorker - really wanted it to be in the City. When Warner Bros. gave us the option of it being here [Los Angeles] or New York, we said New York. They left it up to us.
Was it tough doing double duty on this film?
BULLOCK: A little bit, a little draining. But you know what? I wanted it and I wanted to be there in both capacities. It was really satisfying.
Rumor has it you are going to take time off and concentrate your efforts working behind the camera.
BULLOCK: I'm not going to direct but I love production. I'm just going to take some time off and do other things for a while.
How does it feel to be in your shoes right now as a Hollywood star and a producer?
BULLOCK: It feels like you are really working and earning your money. It allows you to discover talent and put people who are super talented where they belong, whether it's on television or on film. There's a great sense of satisfaction. You still get the thrill of it but you don't have to show up in hair and make-up, you don't have to be on the cover of a magazine, and someone's not constantly taking pictures of you. You can just enjoy the artistic process and not feel you have to be anything other than who you are in your head.
