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.