George Clooney a male role model for Bullock's son

US actor George Clooney and US actress Sandra Bullock arrive for the opening ceremony of the 70th Venice Film Festival and the screening of the movie "Gravity" presented out of competition, on August 28, 2013. (AFP/File)

TORONTO (AFP) – George Clooney and the guys on set of "Gravity" were positive male role models for single mother Sandra Bullock's young son Louis, whom she called a "boy's boy" on Monday.

"My son thinks he's a very cool dude," Bullock said in a rare candid moment about her personal life.

"He's a dude, my son needs to be around a man, so if there's a choice between me, George and Alfonso (Cuaron) and these guys, my son will leave and go be with George and the guys. He's a boy's boy, so he has to talk to the men."

Giggling as she shared an anecdote about the film shoot, she added: "Louis came to me and said, 'Where's George and Rande (Gerber).' And I go, 'I don't know.' And he goes, 'I need them.' And I'm like, 'I don't know where they are.' And he was like, 'I need them.'"

"So we went and found them and they had 'man time' and I sort of stood off to the side and waited for him to finish and then I was allowed to take him back."

Clooney and Bullock have known each for some 20 years and share a circle of friends.

But the two talented actors had never co-starred in a film until Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron put them in the roles of two astronauts flung into deep space when a debris shower destroys their shuttle, in his 3-D sci-fi thriller "Gravity."

The movie opened the Venice film festival last month and had its North American premiere at the Toronto film festival on Sunday.

Rumors spread of an off-screen romance, which both reportedly laughed off.

Clooney "is a good egg," commented Bullock.

Bullock divorced motorcycle builder and "Monster Garage" television series host Jesse James in 2010 after five years of marriage.

She proceeded with plans hatched during her marriage to adopt a baby boy, Louis Bardo Bullock, the same year.