Just a Minute With: Sandra Bullock's "Proposal"

By Michelle Nichols

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Actress Sandra Bullock says romantic comedies are bad and she is fighting against her latest movie, "The Proposal," being put in that category.

In "The Proposal," which will be released in U.S. theaters on Friday, Bullock plays a Canadian book editor who declares she is engaged to her unsuspecting assistant, played by Ryan Reynolds, to avoid deportation from the United States.

She spoke to Reuters about why she made the film, what she thinks of romantic comedies and the restrictions women face in the film industry.

Q: What have you been doing for the past couple of years?

A: "I have been told that I have been gone for two years. I just haven't been in this business, in front of the camera. I have other things that are my business that I love to do ... but aren't in front of cameras. I made this film. I produced another film. I have businesses, restoring architecture that I turn into businesses when I am done.

"I just opened a bakery and a Viennese pastry shop in an old restored building in Austin. We also have our restaurant there. I'm always working. I'm always on some construction site because that's what I love, it's my art form, the restoration of architecture, so I'm always doing something, just not in the media all the time."

Q: How did you come to make "The Proposal"?

A: "Pressure, pure pressure. I didn't want to read it ... it's categorized as romantic comedy because we women are only allowed to do one of four categories and that's it.