Smallscreen News

Sandra Bullock and New Orleans, making a comeback together, the interview

By April MacIntyre Aug 30, 2010, 18:03 GMT

NOLA healing: US actress Sandra Bullock EPA/ANDREW GOMBERT

New Orleans has been to Hell and back, and it is the city where actress Sandra Bullock has found refuge and a rebirth of her own.

Bullock, much like the battered town, has sought a new life and greater purpose to put her own unhappy recent past behind her.

New Orleans is also a second home to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, and Pitt's green rebuilding of the ninth ward has impressed city planners and developers with eco conscious homes built at a reasonable cost.  Other stars who have found refuge in NOLA are Harry Shearer, who is debuting a documentary today (Aug. 30) "The Big Uneasy" and HBO "Treme" actor John Goodman, who has made the old European feeling town a home too.

Bullock tells Matt Lauer, “everything works out the way the universe wants it to work out,” in interview to air Tuesday, August 31 on NBC News’ “Today.”

Lauer talked to Bullock at Warren Easton Charter High School in New Orleans, where Bullock has been a longtime supporter. She discussed her deep ties to New Orleans, and opened up about the adoption of her son, Louis, who she calls “a little Cajun cookie.” Arthur Hardy, a school board member, joined Lauer and Bullock for the interview to discuss the opening of school’s new on-campus health clinic, which Bullock helped fund.

Transcript from NBC’s “Today” show with August 31:

To learn more about Warren Easton Charter High School and to donate go to: www.warreneastoncharterfoundation.com.

ON WARREN EASTON CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL:

MATT LAUER:
How did you find Warren Easton? How did this connection take place? Did you find them? Did you find her? How did it go?

ARTHUR HARDY:
She found us, and sure did her due diligence. But called me on a Sunday afternoon.

MATT LAUER:
And she called you personally?

ARTHUR HARDY:
And she said-- yeah, this is Sandra Bullock.

SANDRA BULLOCK:
I like to cold-call people. (LAUGHTER) People I think are going to go, how you doing? What's happenin'?

ARTHUR HARDY:
You know, I'm in the Mardi Gras business and I deal with crazy people every day. (LAUGHTER) So, when she said-- "This is Sandra Bullock," yeah, I'm Clark Gable. I was about to hang up, you know, who knows. But, no, it really is. And it really was. It was pretty cool.

MATT LAUER:
Tell me how the conversation went?

ARTHUR HARDY:
She knew what we were all about. And I think-- had done enough work to know we were the real deal. And then, once she came and met the kids, it was all over. I didn't have to sell anybody.

MATT LAUER:
Why was it over?

SANDRA BULLOCK:
He's being a little modest. I mean, I did my homework. But I did my homework on the people who were running the ship, which was a very small group. Because I'd had some experiences where you give money, and there's no accounting for it. If someone can't tell you where every dime went-- and every dime should go to the cause-- that pisses me off. And I did my homework. So, it's the people who are doing the hard work, which is accounting for every single penny. Like we'll allot things and he'll say, "Well, I know we allotted it for this, but we need new lockers. Can we take, you know, $12,286.75 and bring it over here.

MATT LAUER:
Money is one thing, and something that Arthur has said in an interview in the past. He was saying, okay, it's one thing for Sandra Bullock to come in here and give us some of her money, or help us raise money. But you said something else about her. You said, "She also arrived at a time where we needed a cheerleader."

ARTHUR HARDY:
Boy, did we.

SANDRA BULLOCK:
And I was a cheerleader. Not a very good one in high school, but I did my best. (LAUGHTER)

ARTHUR HARDY:
Well, you've done pretty well.

MATT LAUER:
I was thinking more of the general sense.

SANDRA BULLOCK:
I know Matt. (LAUGHTER)

MATT LAUER:
I don't know that I've ever heard the level of passion… Where did this passion come from for this particular city and this particular school?

SANDRA BULLOCK:
I get asked that a lot. I spent so many summers and New Years and-- and fun times in New Orleans. And I don't know why I was always drawn to this city-- Music, the culture, the people, the food. It was always a place where I felt like I could-- I could go and actually let go and enjoy the spirit of something. I don't know why. I just have been coming here for so long that when this hit, I thought, "Gosh, I've taken away so much from this city." And then meeting Arthur, and Bill, and all the people who you saw so hurt and impassioned, and-- and wanting so much to fix, to right a wrong, even on this small block, they wanted to right a wrong. And they did it with such power and love and integrity. Integrity. There's so much integrity here. And I've never been around that much integrity.

****

ON THE ADOPTION OF HER SON:

MATT LAUER:
You finalized your adoption.

SANDRA BULLOCK:
I did. I did.

MATT LAUER:
And Louie's from New Orleans.

SANDRA BULLOCK:
He's from New Orleans. He's a little Cajun cookie.

MATT LAUER:
You are forever now hitched to this city.

SANDRA BULLOCK:
I am. How lucky am I?

MATT LAUER:
What was it like, when you finalized that? It's been a long process.

SANDRA BULLOCK:
Long-- long process. How was it? I don't know. As sterile as the room seemed, it felt so rich. It felt-- it felt like it was time, you know. And the process-- the way that the process is, for a very, very good reason, and I did not circumvent. I wanted to do everything exactly the same way everyone else did. And-- it was-- he was always mine, you know. It wasn't like I felt like someone was going to take him away. But it was nice to have someone say, I think you're a fit parent.

MATT LAUER:
The nicest thing I read-- that you said recently, you said-- "Even throughout the whole process, I didn't care what he would look like, or whether it would be a he or a she. At anything about it."

SANDRA BULLOCK:
Color. Yep.

MATT LAUER:
"I just had faith that they were going to put me together with the right child." Where did that faith come from? It doesn't always happen that way.

SANDRA BULLOCK:
I don't know. I don't know. I think, everything works out the way the universe wants it to work out. And-- and we-- we had always said that it didn't matter where the child came from. If they had issues that were medical issues, we didn't care. It's like the child that needed us in the home is the child that's going to be placed.

And I didn't think it would be a boy. We don't have any boys in our family. Boy, is everyone really happy about that. So, he's like the crown prince. You know, it's nothing but girls in our family. I mean, my cousin in Germany has one son-- no boys. Can you imagine how miserable our father is? I mean, every pet was female. But it was just the hierarchy that needed to be broken.

*****

ON PRIVACY:

MATT LAUER:
One thing I want to compliment you on. You managed to do something this year that is almost impossible. You kept a secret, concerning your adoption, and found a way to retain privacy at a time where it wasn't all that private.

SANDRA BULLOCK:
Uh-huh.

MATT LAUER:
It takes friends.

SANDRA BULLOCK:
It takes-- it takes good people with integrity. I mean, I read something like, how did someone keep a secret, and it's-- you know-- human beings exist that have integrity that know how to keep their mouth shut. That know the bigger picture, that don't sell out their friends. Those people are all over the place. But again, we don't like to talk about it, because it doesn't sell a magazine. But I was blessed with the same friends I've had since before things got really special for me and blessed in life.

And when things get bad, they're still the same friends. And, you know, it-- everything passes. It all passes. But they just-- you know, they know if they screw up they're not coming on the next vacation. I'm not going to babysit their kids. I will cut them. I will take them down.

MATT LAUER:
No premiere tickets. (LAUGHTER)

SANDRA BULLOCK:
No. They don't really want to go to premieres, which is kind of nice. But, you know, it's-- I have friends and family that are filled with massive amounts of integrity. And it shouldn't be an oddity.

ARTHUR HARDY:
And they all learn two words.

SANDRA BULLOCK:
What.

ARTHUR HARDY:
No comment. (LAUGHTER)