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Unless a role has been written with a specific actor in mind, then the way major studio movies tend to work is that key roles will be offered to the biggest and most bankable stars on a first-come, first-served basis. On one occasion, Sandra Bullock was eternally grateful that several of the names above her on the internal list declined the offer.
Even though they’re only 18 months apart in age, Bullock and Demi Moore were never superstars at the same time. The former broke through with memorable supporting turns in blockbusters like Demolition Man and Speed, while the latter faced the most difficult period of her career.
Bullock went from strength to strength throughout the 1990s to become one of Hollywood’s most popular names, whereas Moore’s star power took a serious dent when Striptease and GI Jane failed to live up to expectations. Their paths did cross once, though, and it was Bullock who benefited the most.
Ghost, Indecent Proposal, Disclosure, and The Scarlet Letter had seen Moore appear in a number of romantically inclined films in the early part of the decade, even if some were more questionable than others. A rom-com about a guy in a coma edged towards the queasy camp, but Bullock gladly signed on.
Jon Turteltaub’s 1995 caper While You Were Sleeping had already been rejected by Julia Roberts and Meg Ryan before it reached Moore’s desk, and the official reason given for her decision not to play a woman who’s assumed to be the fiance of the aforementioned coma victim by his family before falling for his brother was scheduling conflicts.
Bullock stepped in, and she landed a major hit. “It’s a great romantic comedy,” she said at the time. “Demi Moore wasn’t able to do it because they couldn’t work out her scheduling. I should call and thank her for being ‘too busy.’”
Whether or not she ever made that call remains unknown, but what history will remember is that While You Were Sleeping recouped its budget more than ten times over at the box office, won remarkably strong reviews from critics, and earned Bullock a Golden Globe nomination for ‘Best Actress – Comedy or Musical’, so Moore’s loss was definitely her gain.
The scheduling conflicts that ruled Moore out of While You Were Sleeping led her to star in three movies that were released within ten months of Bullock’s box office smash. The downside is that The Scarlet Letter, Now and Then, and The Juror earned almost $50 million less combined than Turteltaub’s romance did on its own, and her next picture after that was Striptease.
Meanwhile, Bullock had her first leading role in a major studio-backed release, and being front-and-centre in such a wildly popular flick elevated her career to the next level.
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