In this Sunday’s issue, Parade interviews Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy, stars of the upcoming buddy-cop comedy The Heat. Although the two actresses hadn’t met before working on this movie, they developed the kind of camaraderie that even Oscar and Emmy winners can’t fake.
Director Paul Feig (Bridesmaids) notes that they were “inseparable…normally after movies, those friendships go away. Theirs blossomed.”
Back in L.A., Bullock and her 3-year-old son, Louis, regularly spend quality time with McCarthy, her actor husband Ben Falcone, and their daughters, Vivian, 6, and Georgette, 3.
In the interview they compare notes on working together and their mixed feelings about being working moms; they also rib each other mercilessly. Some excerpts:
On working together:
Sandra: “I’ve always wanted to do a female buddy film, the kind the guys get to do. This didn’t have anything to do with getting a guy, and it didn’t involve shoe shopping…I’d seen Bridesmaids, and I said, ‘If Melissa McCarthy wants to work with me…’ The first week I was like, ‘What is she doing? That’s not in the script.’ I was the lone actor, jack-of-one-trade, in a room full of improv actors and stand-up comedians. I mean, you should just listen to the stuff that comes out of her mouth.”
Melissa (to Sandra): “Before I knew you—don’t listen, I don’t want you to get cocky—I was asked in an interview who I thought was funny, and I said you…I love to watch someone who just goes for it and isn’t worried about whether it’s silly or awkward or unflattering.”
On what they have in common:
Sandra: “Having kids connected us on a deeper level. And the things we’re obsessed with outside of being a mom are the same, too: construction and house renovation…. We’re kindred spirits in that world. If we had a beer den, with Barcaloungers—but our version of that—it’d be great.”
Melissa: “There’d be fabric swatches everywhere. And reclaimed wood.”
On whether they worry about being good or bad moms:
Sandra: “Every single second of every single day…I don’t know if I feel like a bad mom, but at the end of the day I’m always plagued with, did I do enough? Should I go in a different direction? But I also know that my entire life revolves around Louis.”
Melissa: “It plagues me. I feel intensely guilty for working…You have to be able to provide for your kids. But I feel like it’s a weird modern phenomenon that you always feel guilty for it.”
For more on their feelings about the impact of fame and paparazzi on their families, and why Sandra’s son, Louis, has been called “an angry kid,” go to http://www.parade.com/20009/annemarieoneill/sandra-bullock-melissa-mccarthy-a-real-hollywood-friendship/