Sandra Bullock, Julianne Moore refuse to rest on their laurels

BULLOCK. Portrays role originally written for George Clooney.

THE MOST exciting actors are those who refuse to rest on their laurels—like Sandra Bullock, who plays a role in David Gordon Green’s buzzed-about political drama, “Our Brand Is Crisis,” originally written for a male actor, in this case George Clooney!

Bullock wanted to stretch her thespic wings—but, she was aware that the best roles in Hollywood are often intended for men.

Aware of this “limitation,” she then asked her agent to find “gender-blind” characters in good scripts that they could “tweak.”

She got her wish with “Crisis,” where she portrays “Calamity” Jane Bodine, a disgraced political campaign strategist who is hired by a Bolivian candidate to get him elected.

But, Jane’s career-boosting and –reinventing tack hits a bump in the road when a longtime rival (Billy Bob Thornton) joins the potentially chaotic political fray!

True-to-life drama

After her Oscar triumph in “Still Alice,” Julianne Moore is generating Oscar buzz anew for her portrayal of cancer-stricken Laurel Hester, a lesbian police officer who wants to pass her pension benefits on to her domestic partner, Stacie Andree (Ellen Page), in the true-to-life drama, “Freeheld.”

The couple’s struggle for equality is long and arduous—but, nine months after Hester’s death, the  New Jersey Supreme Court rules that same-sex couples must have the same rights as heterosexual partners, forcing the legislature to legalize civil unions in the Garden State.

Director Peter Sollett’s big-screen drama is based on Cynthia Wade’s acclaimed documentary—which won the Special Jury Prize at Sundance in 2007, and the Oscar for best documentary short the following year.

Leo Rialp is ‘Lear’

On the theater scene, acclaimed actor-director Leo Rialp takes on the role of a lifetime—as “King Lear” in Dulaang UP’s staging (call 926-1349) of William Shakespeare’s classic tragedy, about the title character’s descent into madness after he disposes of his kingdom between two of his three daughters.

Set in the waning years of a Southeast Asian kingdom, the play directed by Tony Mabesa is being staged at the Guerrero Theater in UP Diliman from Oct. 7-25, with Leo and Joel Lamangan topbilling the production’s English and Filipino versions, respectively.