Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on January 2014

Official Oscar nominations are due out January 16. Although anything can happen at this point, there’s been a lot of talk naming Sandra Bullock as a shoo-in for a Best Actress award. The 49-year-old star not only went through six months of grueling training to pull off her role as an astronaut in Gravity, but she carries the film, being the only character on screen for the large majority of the space epic. She also overcame great technical and emotional challenges to film scenes simulating zero gravity. “The director invented all these things I was strapped into and hanging from,” the actress said during a recent visit to Japan to promote the film. “I was isolated and alone during filming but that was the best way to film this type of story.” Bullock, who took home a gold statuette in 2010 for the drama The Blind Side, modestly dismissed all the award buzz. “As far as the Oscar goes, that’s not going to happen,” she told reporters in Tokyo. “It is such a beautiful story that I [feel] I have already won the award. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, both as a human being and as an actor.”Gravity is now playing.

Update: Bullock was nominated in the Best Actress in a Leading Role category