Sandra attended yesterday, in Los Angeles, a Q&A for Bird Box during Deadline’s The Contenders panel.

Deadline – While Sandra Bullock would eventually fall in love with Bird Box—a Netflix horror-thriller based on a novel by Josh Malerman and directed by Susanne Bier—the Oscar winner had quite a different reaction to the material in her first interaction with it some years ago.

“I thought it was intriguing, but there was something about it that didn’t click. I don’t relate to someone who doesn’t want to be a mother; I don’t relate to someone who isn’t warm and can’t love freely. Then I read it a few years ago and it hit me in a way that I can’t explain.”

Directed by Bier from Eric Heisserer’s script, Bird Box follows Malorie (Bullock), a woman who joins a pair of children in making her way through a dystopian setting along a river—all while blindfolded. In this post-apocalyptic world, to take the blindfolds off would be to risk insanity and even death.

Interestingly, what was initially so distancing about Malorie for the film’s star—her cold indifference to the children in front of her—became the part of the character that drew her in later on. Reluctant to be a mother, it’s Malorie’s self-centered approach to survival that offers a starting point for the character to transform.

“To have someone who’s that cut off then be forced to be the sole caretaker of human beings that she didn’t want to begin with, what does that bring out of you—and what is family?”

Check pictures added in our gallery:

Sandra attended last night at the SAG-AFTRA Foundation a Q&A for her next movie Bird Box, alongside her co-star Trevante Rhodes. Check some images in our gallery.

Netflix just released the first trailer for Bird Box, directed by Academy Award winner Susanne Bier, known for the Oscar-nominated “After the Wedding” (which introduced much of the world to Mads Mikkelsen).

“Bird Box” is based on an post-apocalyptic book and centers on a woman and a pair of children who are blindfolded and make their way through a dystopian setting along a river.

Here’s the official synopsis:
When a mysterious force decimates the world’s population, only one thing is certain: if you see it, you take your life. Facing the unknown, Malorie finds love, hope and a new beginning only for it to unravel. Now she must flee with her two children down a treacherous river to the one place left that may offer sanctuary. But to survive, they’ll have to undertake the perilous two-day journey blindfolded. Academy Award® winner Sandra Bullock leads an all-star cast that includes Trevante Rhodes, with Sarah Paulson, and John Malkovich in BIRD BOX, a compelling new thriller from Academy Award® winner Susanne Bier.

“Bird Box” stars Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes, Jacki Weaver, Rosa Salazar, Danielle Macdonald, Lil Rel Howery, Tom Hollander, Colson Baker, BD Wong, with Sarah Paulson, and John Malkovich. Another plus, it was written by Eric Heisserer who penned the excellent sci-fi film “Arrival.”

“Bird Box” is available on Netflix and in select theatres on December 21, but will premiere at AFI in November first.

People has the first look of Sandra Bullock in Bird Box, that will be released next December 21. The trailer, as Netflix social media is announcing, will arrive tomorrow!

After successfully pulling off a heist in this summer’s Ocean’s 8, Sandra Bullock and Sarah Paulson are back together for Netflix’s upcoming thriller, Bird Box.

Paulson and Bullock play sisters in the movie who are suddenly thrust into an mysterious apocalyptic environment where people around them start to behave abnormally for seemingly no reason. But even though the plot was darker than their previous movie, Paulson, 43, and Bullock, 54, still managed to bring comedy to the thriller, out Dec. 21.

“They are a bit like sisters. Like between takes, they were talking one time and I was like, ‘Hey girls, I’m actually trying to direct you!’ ” director Susanne Bier tells PEOPLE in the latest issue. “It was hugely important that there be a sense of humor in it, that it wasn’t gonna be a just entirely dark, scary film.”

Luckily for Bier, Paulson and Bullock already came in with a chemistry that will have viewers laughing within seconds of their first scene together.

“You had a very strong feeling of something beyond the friendly relationship between actresses,” Bier says. “There is a real strong connection between the two of them and they had a lot of fun. And I think that’s exactly what you see in the movie, there’s a very direct understanding of one another.”

But the movie is still very much a suspenseful thriller, filled with the mystery of what exactly is causing people to lose their minds. For reasons we won’t spoil here, people learn they must wear blindfolds when they go outside — and Bullock took this seriously.

“Sandy had a consultant who is someone who teaches people who have recently become blind, and helped her understand how to navigate a world where you can’t see,” Bier reveals. “She was really blindfolded. She’s such a dedicated and fearless actress that she was really blindfolded. It helped her tremendously.”

Earlier this week Sandra attended the annual Elle’s Women in Hollywood Awards and we updated the gallery with some pictures from the event. Check it:

Last week Sandra was, alongside her Ocean’s 8 co-stars Cate Blanchett, Sarah Paulson, Rihanna, and Helena Bonham Carter at The Graham Norton Show.

Watch it below, also check in our gallery screen captures and promotional images