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Faster than you can say, "fuck that, this project bores me, pass," a new actress (sorta) has been thrown back into the mix for "Gravity." Poor Alfonso Cuaron. How many times does the dude have to have his heart broken this week?
So like, what, minutes ago, Natalie Portman turned down the lead role as an astronaut in Cuaron's sci-fi action drama, "Gravity," because, well, none of us really know why (we'll get to that in a sec).
In talks now is Sandra Bullock, who has reportedly been Warner Bros. first choice for the role for a long time now because of her incredible 2009 box-office performance. Yes, her numbers last year (approximately $453.9 million just domestically) even blew Angelina Jolie's phenomenal 2008 numbers out of the water ("Wanted," "Changeling" and "Kung Fu Panda" grossed an approximate $385.6 million domestically). Jolie, ironically the female who first kicked off this project as its first choice.
WB have essentially been patiently waiting for Cuaron to get over himself and choose Bullock, but the director has basically offered the gig to almost everyone else in Hollywood (names like Marion Cotillard, Carey Mulligan, Sienna Miller, Abbie Cornish, Rebecca Hall, Olivia Wilde and Blake Lively have all been batted around).
Well, Variety says Cuaron and WB have finally offered the role to America's new sweetheart and if the director is smart, he'll take it. And well, he has. This is essentially what you can call the project's last lifeline and apparently Bullock is in negotiations as we speak.
Frankly, we'd have expected Bullock to perhaps be mildly offended given that Cuaron wanted to hire almost every young starlet in Hollywood before her. even if the role is probably more suited to her age (who's gonna buy a 25 year old astronaut? Now a 40-something one, that's more plausible). But Bullock's got that whole wisdom thing happening (gotta love old age and not giving a shit about petty nonsense) and she's probably shrugged in her own way and realizes she's just rescued an $80 million dollar film that was likely going to get tossed in the garbage (or dramatically reduced in scope and budget) if she didn't sign on board.
Some have asked. Why are all the ladies passing? Our speculation. When we first revealed the plot, we were honestly very kind and gracious to what felt very much like a first draft. As we've said often and lately on our message boards, the female character is under-drawn and the Robert Downey Jr. character is much more interesting. With all the females passing on it, our guess, is the script wasn't improved that much character-wise. Essentially, it was/is, a race against time film. The film centers around two astronauts fighting to survive on a remote space station after satellite debris wipes out the rest of the crew and their ship. The second half of the picture is the female astronaut trying desperately to get back to earth and her daughter (the daughter is a new development, so clearly the character has been worked on).
But with Bullock on board, "Gravity," has legs to stand on and won't be floating into the Hollywood ether of projects that never came to pass. We're happy for Cuaron, but honestly, we'd love to read a new version of the script. The original version was thrilling, but you do need a little more than that. Let's hope a happy ending has been found, the film will shoot sometime in 2011 and then we'll all have an ambitious new treat to marvel at sometime in 2012.
Alfonso Cuarón's troubled, ambitious and potentially great sci-fi thriller "Gravity" will continue the search for its leading lady as Natalie Portman has officially turned down the lead role.
The news is a major bummer for the $80 million production, which can only move forward if it can find a bankable lead female star to topline the pic. Angelina Jolie was the favored choice but turned down the part twice, so Warner Bros. took a long look at their list of contenders and made an offer to Portman. It was last reported that she was in active negotiations, but clearly, she has moved on.
The question now facing the production is which direction to go in. Cuarón was willing to bring the film in on a smaller budget to get an actress of his choice, but Warner Bros., who are worried about marketing a female-led sci-fi action film (not exactly a guarantee of box office success), want a more bankable name. We imagine they'll go back and look at recognized names like Sandra Bullock, Naomi Watts and Scarlett Johansson who have been mentioned as candidates while other names linked as potential leads that have included Marion Cotillard, Carey Mulligan, Sienna Miller, Abbie Cornish, Rebecca Hall, Olivia Wilde and Blake Lively.
At this point, we don't care who is cast really, we just want the film to get made. We hope that Portman's pass on the project isn't a harbinger of worse things to come. Here's hoping Cuarón and Warner Bros. can find a leading lady for the project soon. [Deadline]
Following up the buzz surrounding the her performance in Darren Aronofksy's "Black Swan," Natalie Portman recently became a leading contender and was reportedly offered the lead role in Alfonso Cuaron's 3D sci-fi epic "Gravity."
Little has been heard since of the offer, but buried in a story about the project's co-writer Jonas Cuaron's latest teaming with Warner Bros. and Hollywood Gang — a mysterious, gritty thriller set in Mexico City — THR now reports that Portman is in active negotiations for the role which was declined by Angelina Jolie twice; once when the project was set-up at Universal and again when it was picked up by WB.
Cuaron was apparently clashing with the studio over the casting choice with the suits more interested in a box office queen like Sandra Bullock. On the other hand, the director was prepared to sacrifice the original budgetary plans in the region of $80 million — which included the likes of 60% CGI and a 20-minute single shot opening scene — if it meant he could cast a quality thespian like Portman to spearhead his "Castaway"-esque sci-fi epic. With "active negotiations" now underway, we presume things are at least looking up for Cuaron and the project?
We certainly hope so. While Portman has a number of other potential projects including David O. Russell's "Pride And Prejudice And Zombies" and the Wachowski's "Cloud Atlas," both of those are still in early stages, and her calendar seems flexible at this juncture. With "Gravity" bumped from its initial plan of shooting after "Sherlock Holmes 2" to accommodate co-star Robert Downey Jr., it's now looking to get in front of cameras sometime in 2011, presumably we would think, after "The Avengers" has wrapped. Either way, it's good to see "Gravity" not falling into development hell just yet.
>>> Natalie Portman Now In 'Active Negotiations' For Alfonso Cuaron's 3D Sci-Fi Epic 'Gravity' >>>
Faster than you can say, "fuck that, this project bores me, pass," a new actress (sorta) has been thrown back into the mix for "Gravity." Poor Alfonso Cuaron. How many times does the dude have to have his heart broken this week?
