Sandra Bullock Works Hard at Popularity

N E W   Y O R K, Dec. 16, 2002 -- She has been voted Miss Congeniality on screen and off, but these days the girl who was labeled by her senior class as "most likely to brighten your day" says she doesn't work so hard at being sweet anymore.

"I worked for that one," Sandra Bullock said of her high school superlative.

"I worked every morning," she said on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America. "I came in and I was like, 'Hey, how's it going?' I've quit that," Bullock added, laughing.

The actress/producer has a reputation for being both nice and down-to-earth, a reputation that's followed her ever since she hit it big with Speed in 1994.Since then she's been known as the star who is like "the girl next door," and no matter what she says, her crew and co-stars say the actress/producer is still "nice."

The Perfect Romantic Partner?

In her latest film, Two Weeks Notice — Bullock has appeared in three films this year alone — she stars opposite Hugh Grant, who plays the self-centered boss with whom she falls in love after giving him her two weeks notice.

Bullock, 37, has had a lot of success with romantic comedies, like the 1995 hit While You Were Sleeping and 2000's Miss Congeniality. But now she says she plans to take a break for a while from the genre because she doesn't think she could top the partner she got in Two Weeks Notice.

Don't tell him [Grant] that, because his ego is big enough as it is," Bullock said, laughing. "I just had a good time."

But Bullock said the good time was mostly on-screen. Rumors that she and Grant were enjoying an off-screen romance were completely false, the actress stressed.

"There were a couple of denials we had to go through, dating, married, having children and now we hate each other," the actress joked. "We're trying to deny that. We're in denial across the board."

Bullock got to boss Grant around on the set a bit since she not only starred in but helped produce Two Weeks Notice, which is set to hit theaters this Friday.

"I talk incessantly and bark out orders. Sometimes he [Grant] would walk away," she joked.