FILM · 2009 · USA
The Proposal
23 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (23)
- #001
Betty White nearly turned down her role in the film because shooting would have required her to be away from her Golden Retriever for ten weeks.
- #002
Julia Roberts was the first choice for the role of Margaret but reportedly refused a pay cut, so Sandra Bullock took over the part. This was the second film that same year in which Roberts was offered the lead, turned it down, and the role went to Bullock. The other film was The Blind Side (2009), which won Bullock the Academy Award for Best Actress.
- #003
Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds had been friends for nine years before making this film.
- #004
As Margaret warms up over the course of the film, her hairstyle shifts from a sleek ponytail to a fully down, soft look.
- #005
Although much of the film is set in Alaska, it was actually shot in Boston and on Boston's North Shore. In one scene you can see the famous Rockport icon "Motif No. 1," the little red shack that has been the subject of works by many famous painters and photographers. Snow-covered mountains (or any mountains at all) cannot be found anywhere on the North Shore. They were added digitally.
- #006
"Downtown" Sitka is actually Rockport, Massachusetts, which includes a famous tourist area called Bearskin Neck. The harbor formed by the Neck is where Motif #1 stands. Rockport remains a fishing village working especially for lobster, though the larger fishing grounds are in nearby Gloucester. Filming took place in April, when the season is closed for the many visitors. Bullock and Reynolds were seen shopping locally.
- #007
Ryan Reynolds said of working with Sandra Bullock: "When you work with someone like Sandra, if you work with a great tennis player, you get better. Hitting the ball with her was a dream, and I got better."
- #008
Sandra Bullock plays a Canadian who wants to marry her assistant (Ryan Reynolds) in order to keep her US visa status and avoid being deported to Canada. In real life Reynolds is Canadian, while Bullock is American but was raised in Germany.
- #009
225 Franklin St., Boston, was the real location of The Colden Books office. The entire main office, including Margaret's and Bob's offices, was completely rebuilt and replicated at Disney Studios in Burbank, CA, for filming and reshoots in January 2009.
- #010
The eagle that catches the dog was an Australian Wedge-tailed Eagle.
- #011
This was the film in which Sandra Bullock's character interrupts her own wedding for the second time. The first was While You Were Sleeping (1995).
- #012
When Sandra Bullock falls off the speedboat and swims toward the red buoy, the buoy's number is "27." All red buoys have even numbers. Green buoys have odd numbers.
- #013
Andrew's family, the Paxtons, live in Sitka, a town and borough of about 8,500 people in southeastern Alaska.
- #014
Ryan Reynolds's character's surname is Paxton. As of 2018, Sitka's mayor is Gary Paxton.
- #015
The cast includes two Oscar winners: Sandra Bullock and Mary Steenburgen.
- #016
Sitka Rocky Gutierrez Airport is located on an island in Sitka Sound with a 7,200 ft runway and is mostly served by Alaska Airlines.
- #017
Professional wrestler Barry Ace was cast but was never called to start work.
- #018
Niecy Nash had the role of a flight attendant, but her scene was cut due to the reshoot of the ending.
- #019
This film marks the first time Mary Steenburgen and Craig T. Nelson played a couple. They later appeared together in Book Club (2018).
- #020
In The Proposal, the mother, played by Mary Steenburgen, had appeared as the main mother character in the original Parenthood film. The father, played by Craig T. Nelson, later appeared as the family patriarch in the Parenthood series.
- #021
Both of The Proposal's leads had starred in films where they were the only actor on screen for much of the running time: Reynolds played the sole character seen in Buried, and Bullock was largely the only actor on screen in Gravity, apart from a few minutes she shared with George Clooney.
- #022
Margaret (Sandra Bullock) and Andrew (Ryan Reynolds) fly to Sitka, Alaska, which is about 80 miles from Juneau, Alaska.
- #023
This is the third film in which Sandra Bullock has starred opposite an actor named Ryan. The other two are Crash with Ryan Phillippe and Murder By Numbers with Ryan Gosling. Two of the Ryans are Canadian: Ryan Reynolds and Ryan Gosling.
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