There was a lot of commotion in the Palm Room at the Beverly Hills Four Seasons last week, where Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves joined together to talk up their new film, The Lake House. The two stars haven‚t been seen on-screen together since the 1994 film Speed and now, after waiting for the perfect script to cross their paths, the two have rejoined forces.



In Lake House, Bullock plays a hard-working doctor named Kate, who develops a friendship and eventual romance with a talented architect named Alex (Reeves). Problem is, she's living in 2006 and he‚s somehow living two years behind. Talk about a dilemma.



On this warm day, Bullock and Reeves look like they're having fun interacting with the news hounds and with each other. They both say they enjoyed working with Argentinean director Alejandro Agresti. In fact, Reeves admits that, although not familiar with Agresti's previous work, both he and Bullock found themselves quite taken by the director.



"In meeting him, he's just quite a unique person," says Reeves. "The way he collects Russian first-editions, builds his own stereos and amplifiers, wrote four novels and made over 20 films. He's a Renaissance man; a man of passion."



Bullock agrees, describing Agresti as a purist and a painter. She and Reeves knew that making this movie would be risky, as the film doesn't involve typical blockbuster ingredients like explosions and car chases. Instead of worrying about what the studio may have wanted, Agresti did what he felt was needed to create a beautiful, artistic film.



"In a day where the visual medium has become a talky, edited [piece] spliced down to an hour and 30 minutes because of the [short] attention span of whomever is watching, that doesn't exist in [Agresti's] world, nor should it," says Bullock. "You don‚t do a film like this thinking, Œthis is going to fall into this category‚ when it doesn't really fall into any. Hats off to a studio for allowing someone like him who is not the mold that every studio likes to have, and going for the journey."



Both Bullock and Reeves say that working together was not a challenge at all. They remained friends after Speed and kept in close contact. Reuniting for Lake House was like coming home to a familiar place.



"It was an ease for me to look at [Reeves] directly in places when I‚m not comfortable with myself. I could look him in the eye and I feel I have a place there," says Bullock. „Where with other people you can look them in the eye and feel that you‚re not supposed to be there, it was a nice luxury for me. We have a nice history and it's a great level of comfort that I have."



As for the dying art of letter writing, which is a prevalent plot point in the film, Bullock and Reeves both say they prefer it that way, in lieu of sending impersonal e-mails. Reeves prefers writing on a typewriter because he likes "the contact of it. When I write I try to write quasi-poetical," he says. "So I enjoy the sensation of sitting down and taking the time and then typing, the physical-ness of it; and it kind of has it‚s own independence."



Bullock is also a self-professed lover of the written word. She recalls a birthday gift she received of a leather bound portfolio which contained notes from people she admired in their own handwriting, thanking her for the kindness she bestowed in taking the time in sending out thoughtful notes throughout the years. Reeves jokes that he remembered what he wrote, and Bullock, doubting this, assures him that it was thoughtful.



In The Lake House, the old-fashioned method of communication between Kate and Alex sustains them when they can‚t physically be together. They can't explain what‚s going on but they do know that nothing has ever felt so real.



"They chose to be together and chose to accept the situation. They allowed themselves to let go and be part of it,‰ says Bullock. "They allowed themselves the joy of what can‚t be explained by society."

The Lake House releases in theaters June 16.