Bullock on brink of bizarre double as Oscars loom

(AFP PHOTO / ROBYN BECK)

Sandra Bullock is on the brink of a rare double this weekend which could see her become the first actress to win an Oscar and a slightly less-coveted Razzie award in the space of 24 hours.

The 45-year-old star is regarded as the favorite to win the best actress prize at Sunday's Oscars for her performance in "The Blind Side," a role which has already won Bullock a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards.

However, the popular leading lady is also expected to see one of her less successful roles honored at Saturday's Golden Raspberry Awards, the irreverent Oscars parody intended as an annual salute to Hollywood's worst of the worst.

Bullock is up for a Razzie for her performance in the romantic comedy "All About Steve," which suffered a critical savaging on its release last year.

Unlike most celebrity Razzie winners - who usually steer well clear of the awards - Bullock has vowed to attend on Saturday if she wins.

"It's exactly the way it should have happened because it's a great leveler," Bullock said last month.

"If you don't show up for something like the Razzies then you're a little hypocritical. You can't just show up for the good stuff."

Bullock's willingness to laugh at herself is one of the reasons why she is widely expected to pip Meryl Streep for Sunday's best actress Oscar.

Oscars voters have responded to the storyline of her personal journey this year, where she is widely perceived as being deserving of an Oscar after an outstanding year where she has starred in two hit films.

"Sandra Bullock won the Globes, she won the SAG. She's won over Hollywood," said Tom O'Neil, an award season pundit with the Los Angeles Times's theenvelope.com. "There seems to be a consensus that she's got it.

"This is a great reminder that the Oscars are not always awarded to the best movie or best performances of the year. Sometimes it comes down to whose turn it is. And the feeling is it's Sandra's turn."

For Bullock, this year's accolades are a handsome vindication of a mantra she has lived by throughout her career: "Expect as good as you give."

The actress revealed recently she kept that motivational maxim by her bedside as a reminder to keep pushing herself to bigger and better things.

"I used to be a control freak where every minute of my life was planned out and nothing ever went according to plan," Bullock said at a luncheon for Oscar nominees last month.

"So the day came that I sort of said If I get up and I'm breathing and I'm happy then I know it's going to be a good day. And also for many years I had a little note beside my bed which said 'Expect as good as you give.'

Bullock's performance in "The Blind Side," where she plays Leigh Anne Tuohy, a feisty southern matriarch who mentors a troubled teenager and sets him on the road to an American football career, has helped rewrite Hollywood law.

The film is the first movie carried by a female lead to do big business at the box office, becoming the first to break the 200 million dollar barrier.

Despite being one of Hollywood's best-paid actresses, Bullock says she does not let money govern her artistic choices.

"Everyone says 'I don't care about money' but look: I've been blessed with crazy money but a lot of times it was attached to films that weren't great," Bullock told reporters.

"So I decided to stop several years ago and start from scratch at starting scale pay. I feel more comfortable taking pay on the back end. If the film is successful it will work out, but you don't have to pay me up front.

"So that everyone who has faith in the project gets rewarded. To me that makes more sense. It's an investment in my work."