Sandra Bullock: Why I Finally Got Back to Work After Divorce, Adoption

Louis Bardo Bullock loves his mom -- but so do moviegoers.

Over two years after wrapping her last film, an Oscar-winning turn in "The Blind Side," Sandra Bullock finally returns to the big screen in "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," out this month.

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At a Sunday press conference for the film (co-starring Tom Hanks and directed by Stephen Daldry) in New York, Bullock, 47, told reporters that she waited carefully before returning to her day job after adopting baby Louis in January 2010. Just two months later, in late March, her six-year marriage to Jesse James imploded following his alleged affairs with multiple women.

One reporter asked the star if she considered leaving the acting profession altogether after becoming a single mom. "I wasn't thinking about any of that," Bullock replied. "I was just so happy being a mom. I'm still very happy being a mom. That just shifted and became my full priority."

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Bullock, who has remained single since she and James, 42, finalized their divorce in summer 2010, has spent time with her adorable little boy in their homes in Los Angeles, New Orleans and Austin, Tex.

"Extremely Loud"director Daldry finally compelled the star to get back in front of the cameras, thanks not only to a moving 9/11 story based on author Jonathan Safran Foer's acclaimed novel, but a willingness to accommodate Bullock's schedule as a mother.

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"Whatever next opportunity that I was given had to be an amazing opportunity for myself and for my son. So we had a great time," Bullock explained. "It was no longer being a selfish actress having a moment. I wanted to have an amazing time with [Louis] and myself, and fortunately, Mr. Daldry presented that. In every possible way, it was the best!"

And the material -- a family story taking place on Sept. 11, 2011 -- definitely resonated for the star, who was in Manhattan, N.Y., on that tragic day.

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"I was there and I saw it. I saw the second plane," she said at the press conference. "I saw the people. I saw people helping people, and that to me is what resonates about the city of New York," she said of the historic moment.