Sandra Bullock Talks Divorce, Taking Role in 'Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close'

Sandra Bullock may not be one of the actors who has threatened Hollywood retirement over the years, but in a new interview promoting her film Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, she says her highly-public and scandalous divorce from Monster Garage host Jesse James left her uninterested in acting. 

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"I was perfectly content to be permanently broken," she tells the Associated Press of taking a break from moviemaking. 

So, when The Reader director Stephen Daldry approached her about a supporting role in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, "I honestly didn't think I was in a place where I wanted to work or wanted to step out of where I was," says Bullock. "I wasn't prepared. But the opportunity was louder than my head."

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Though she only appears in the film, which also stars Tom Hanks, Viola Davis, Jeffrey Wright, John Goodman and Zoe Caldwell, for 24 minutes. But, her role is an important one. The actress plays the mother of an exceptionally bright child (Thomas Horn) whose father (Hanks) dies on Sept. 11.

"What a great way to get back on the horse," says Bullock. "It was hard, but it was what it's supposed to be."