With Angelina Jolie passing on the opportunity to lead “Children Of Men” director Alfonso Cuarón’s next feature-length effort “Gravity” — a 3D space epic that has Robert Downey Jr. attached in a small role — a rat race recently began to find the actress who could possibly replace her.
Reports last week pegged Natalie Portman as the director’s favorite choice, based on an impressive performance in Darren Aronofsky’s ballet thriller “Black Swan,” with an offer reportedly already out to her. Now, while everyone awaits a decision from Portman, CinemaBlend are reporting that the studio already have their own first choice pick should Portman refuse, with Oscar-winner and all-round Hollywood sweetheart Sandra Bullock apparently lined up as their ideal astronaut.
From a sheer dollars and cents perspective, this move sounds incredibly plausible as the major concern for Warner Bros. has thus far seemingly been whether any one of the plethora of candidates (Naomi Watts, Marion Cotillard, Scarlett Johansson, Blake Lively, etc.) has the box office muscle to spearhead a “Castaway”-esque sci-fi epic with a budget of about $80 million. Bullock would certainly fulfill all the necessary requirements. Last week she graced the cover Entertainment Weekly billed as “The Most Powerful Actress In Hollywood,” and while Angelina Jolie is assumed to be the perennial box-office queen, Bullock’s combined 2009 box-office totals for “The Blind Side,” “All About Steve” and “The Proposal” (approximately $453.9 million just domestically) blew Jolie’s 2008 numbers aside (“Wanted,” “Changeling” and “Kung Fu Panda” grossed an approximate $385.6 million domestically that year; but this is being generous, Jolie wasn’t exactly the reason the animated ‘Panda’ was a huge success). The studio is well aware of Bullock’s new clout, plus considering their existing relationship — Bullock has been a regular at WB and, at one stage, even had a development deal with the studio through her production company, Fortis Films — it’s less an exclusive from Cinemablend and more just common sense.
In fact, the studio apparently wants Bullock more than Portman and with those stats, you can see why. For Cuarón , the benefit is not having to shave the project’s original budget down, nor scale back its ambitious plans which included, among others things, 60% CGI and a 20-minute single shot opening scene. Cuarón however, would reportedly rather have his budget cut and get Portman; a move that potentially runs the risk of clashing with the studio heads, delaying production and possibly leading to issues with Downey Jr.’s tight schedules and, god forbid, lead the project back into turn-around. Seems like there’s a precarious road ahead yet for “Gravity” still.
It remains to be seen then where the Bullock link goes from here. The actress has been fairly quiet since her Oscar win only recently attaching herself to Stephen Daldry’s Eric Roth-scripted adaptation of post-9/11 drama “Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close,” which is scheduled to begin shooting next January. Her future slate would certainly get a massive boost though if she finds herself on board “Gravity” — described in our script review as a “streamlined thrill ride” that would see our protagonist in a “nonstop race to get back to earth” after an outer space accident puts her in danger.
The project was originally supposed to shoot in between the “Sherlock Holmes” sequel this fall but has now been delayed until sometime next year. That would leave Cuarón and company some time yet to work out their production plans but, for now, it certainly looks like the director has the ball in his court with the offer out to Portman. Stay tuned.
