According to Deadline Portman will not be appearing in Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity

First Angelina Jolie passed and now it seems Natalie Portman has too. According to Deadline Portman will not be appearing in Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity, an ambitious movie set in space which would be 60% CG feature animation. Much of the film is devoted to a woman’s struggle to get back to Earth (and her daughter) after her team at a remote space station are decimated by debris from an exploded satellite. http://nataliaportman.blogspot.com/

“Scheduling conflicts” is the reason given, an now Warner Bros. must search for another leading lady if this movie is ever going to get off the ground.

The next obviously choice is recent Oscar winner Sandra Bullock who had a great year at the box office last year. Deadline say Warner Bros. is “making a full court press” for the actress, probably because they can’t think of anyone else to lead after her. Naomi Watts, Marion Cotillard, Carey Mulligan, Scarlett Johansson, Sienna Miller, Abbie Cornish, Rebecca Hall, Olivia Wilde and Blake Lively have all been considered, but none have proved themselves as box office draws (but I guess they haven’t really been given the chance).

$80 million is quite a lot to put behind a movie with a female lead, but only because no studio has done it in a while. Aeon Flux, Elektra and Catwoman killed female lead action movies (because they sucked, not because they had female leads), and now the studios have a situation where Angelina Jolie is the only actress who can carry an action film.

Robert Downey Jr. has signed up to star as the team leader at the space station, but it was never the intention for him to carry the film. Filming was set to begin next year, but that will all depend on if they find a lead.

Who do you think should star in Gravity? Personally i’d be interested in names such as Kate Winslet, Halle Berry or Rachel Weisz.