Quick, name five actresses with broad, international appeal and name recognition who could lead an $80 million ambitious sci-fi project. Not easy is it? Such is the dilemma facing Warner Bros. and Alfonso Cuarón as they try to get the 3D space thriller, “Gravity” off the ground.
Deadline reports that the project has stalled somewhat after Angelina Jolie passed twice on the project. With the lead female role in the film being compared to Tom Hanks in “Cast Away” — meaning the character is onscreen and alone for the bulk of the film — Warner Bros. is trying to find an actress with as much clout and box office power as Jolie, but there’s a problem: there’s only one Angelina Jolie. The project has been pushed from its previously reported summer start date and is now set to shoot next year after Robert Downey Jr., who has a smaller supporting role in the film, wraps up “Sherlock Holmes 2.”
Warner Bros. has tested or approached pretty much every big actress in Hollywood including Sandra Bullock, Natalie Portman, Naomi Watts, Marion Cotillard, Carey Mulligan, Sienna Miller, Abbie Cornish, Rebecca Hall, Olivia Wilde, Scarlett Johansson and Blake Lively (which is probably why the latter two names were rumored to be battling for the lead part). But neither Lively or Johannson are a Jolie in terms of star power and there is a reason why Warner Bros. made two attempts to court Jolie (one reader wanted her so badly for the part, they sent us this fan-made poster).
It’s a bit easier to get away with smaller names in an expensive franchise film because audiences are familiar with the characters, but based on an original idea, it becomes a tougher sell. It’s no surprise that in the early days of “Inception,” Warner Bros. was eyeing big names like Brad Pitt and Will Smith for the role that eventually went to Leonardo DiCaprio. And certainly, Cuaron’s film — in a genre that is already difficult to turn into box office success — is equally grand in scope. The story “is set on a remote space station. While a team leader (Downey Jr.) and a female colleague are traveling outside, the other team members get wiped out by a debris field from an exploding satellite. The film’s central focus is the heroine’s desperate attempt to return home to her child.” Said to require 60% CGI, and with a 20-minute opening shot, Warner Bros. wants a big star for the sci-fi survival tale. So why don’t they just gender swap the lead role and put RDJ in the driver’s seat? We suppose it’s a possibility at this juncture but as Deadline notes, “it was never Downey’s or Cuaron’s intention for him to carry the picture.” And scheduling again becomes an issue as RDJ probably has to report to the set of “The Avengers” sometime next spring as well.
With the start date moved, the studio and Cuarón still have some time to try and cast the lead and find a budget that is workable. Our guess is that if/when they do settle on an actress for the lead, the budget is going to be knocked down. We dug the draft of the script we read earlier this year, and certainly, it’s the more unique elements that make it special. Let’s hope it can get to the big screen without the edges being rounded off.