A few weeks ago, it was reported that actress Scarlett Johansson had been cast as the female lead opposite Robert Downey, Jr. in the upcoming sci-fi movie, “Gravity.”
The reports of the casting of Johansson may have been pre-mature. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Johansson is in competition with actress Blake Lively for the starring role.
The movie will be directed by Alfonso Cuaron, who co-wrote the script with his brother Jonas.
During the past two weeks, Johansson and Lively tested for the lead role of a female astronaut lost in space. A decision is expected within the next week or two.
The movie’s plot revolves around astronauts repairing the Hubble telescope who are hit with an avalanche of satellite junk. In a plot akin to “Cast Away,” the surviving astronaut must fight her way back to Earth, where she hopes to reunite with her daughter.
The project originally was set up at Universal as a vehicle for Angelina Jolie, but it moved to Warners, where it hit debris of its own: Jolie left the project, partially because of the studio’s balking at paying her $20 million fee. Although Downey brings star power to the project, his role is overshadowed by the female lead, whose struggle to survive becomes the movie’s focus.
As the project underwent further developments this summer, Marion Cotillard, who stars in Warners’ “Inception,” tested for the lead role.
But now Lively and Johansson look like the likeliest candidates, even though they are younger than Jolie. It’s unclear whether the character is still written as a mother in the latest draft, though both actresses have played older than their ages in recent movies.
Filming probably would begin early next year, depending on the availability of the female lead.
According to the Reporter, Lively is considered the favorite of Warner studio execs, who believe her star is on the rise with the high profile role in next year’s “Green Lantern.”
Question, what spacecraft are they using to repair hubble, the shuttle is gone, and I don’t think that Orion (had it come to pass, thank you mr president) could have done the job. So there is that question, also Castaway in Earth orbit, WTF? You’re basically hosed if you are outside in that situation, if you’re in the ship, well you either make for the space station, deorbit, run out of air and die, or burn up on reentry, those are your choices. Don’t even get me started on hubble and a space craft getting in the way of a cloud of space junk, anything big enough to disable a ship would be well tracked, argh… Maybe its more budget cuts from the hope and change administration…
There should be a third option, because I can’t decide between those two. They are both gorgeous and tremendous actresses. I would be happy with either one.
I think Johansson would be more believable as a mother and scientist than Lively, but neither of them really feels right to me. If they’re replacing Jolie, they really should go with someone else in her age range or maybe even (gasp!) in their 40s.
If they had their hearts set on Angelina or someone like her, I’d put in a vote for Erica Cerra from Eureka. She’s a few years younger, but has a similar look, and we already know she can pull off the technobabble required by sci-fi.