We honestly never thought we’d be seeing this film anytime soon, but we’re happy to report otherwise.
Speaking with MTV, man of the moment Robert Downey Jr. has confirmed that next up for him will be Alfonso Cuarón’s 3-D sci-fi-thriller “Gravity” before moving onto his reunion with Guy Ritchie, Jude Law and possibly Rachel McAdams in a ‘Sherlock Holmes’ sequel.
“Gravity” had been reported as potentially going in front of cameras this summer in London, but now we’ve heard it from the horses mouth with ‘Sherlock’ following it with a late summer/early fall, possibly 3-D shoot (MTV also confirms our initial report about Sherlock shooting all over Europe). An interesting sidenote to all this, however, is the fact the lead role was originally linked to Angelina Jolie before she apparently passed — with Downey Jr. now on board, it’s likely they’ve switched genders, scrapped the idea of a female lead, and made “Iron Man” the star.
Our script review pegged the actor for a “key supporting role” starring alongside the female lead but it’s hard to imagine today’s biggest actor taking a backseat to any another thesp. Even from a marketing standpoint, it seems like a viable option to have the script altered for Downey Jr. to topline, attracting all the fans of his work in “Iron Man” and “Sherlock Holmes.” And yes, it’s possible the production might just have found a female to replace Jolie, but is she as internationally poster bankable as RDJ and enough to get a green light? Seems doubtful (though we’d love to see him work with Rachel McAdams again).
The film centers on a team of astronauts — including the lead medical engineer and a talkative “mile-a-minute” veteran astronaut — who are asked to abandon their fix-it Hubble telescope mission and quickly reboard their ship after a sudden implosion of Russian satellites triggers a debris avalanche in orbit that threatens their immediate safety. What transpires is described as a “streamlined thrill ride” and a nonstop race for our protagonists to get back to earth. That was the first draft, of course, and things will probably change, but we bet you the basic structure of the film (what we described above) remains the same.
We’re actually surprised that the project has come together so quickly, with much of that probably to do with Downey Jr.’s name. It’s a fascinating concept on a massive scale and, in the capable hands of Cuarón, may very well end up being one of 2011’s biggest tentpole films.
