Sandra Bullock is opening up about the time following the implosion of her marriage to Jesse James, a time, she said, when she thought she'd never return to acting. 

"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" lured her back on set, but not without some persuasion from director Stephen Daldry.

"I was perfectly content to be permanently broken," Bullock said of the 2010 scandal, which saw James' repeated infidelities revealed just days after her best actress Oscar win for "The Blind Side."  

REVIEW: "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"

"I honestly didn't think I was in a place where I wanted to work or wanted to step out of where I was. ... I wasn't prepared. But the opportunity was louder than my head," she told the Associated Press' Jake Coyle.

That loud opportunity was actually "Extremely Loud," a 9/11 drama costarring Tom Hanks. Daldry, director of "The Hours" and "The Reader" made a house call to Bullock to rope her into the job.

"I needed a partner in the project, somebody that would be a leading lady and look after me, look after herself, look after the character," he said.

Bullock, awesomely aware of the indulgent nature of movie-star struggles, said she now feels gratitude for being pulled from her personal storm.

 "So we had a great time. It's no longer 'selfish actress' in the moment," she said. "I wanted to have an amazing time with him and, fortunately, Mr. Daldry presented it. In every possible way, it was the best!"