Angelina Jolie Puts The Future Of Gravity In Jeopardy
The last we heard on Alfonso Cuaron’s GRAVITY, the choice for the female lead was down to 2 candidates - Scarlett Johansson and Blake Lively. However, that doesn’t appear to be the case anymore, as Warner Bros. is having trouble getting over their original choice for the role – Angelina Jolie.
Jolie passed on the film initially, pushing Warner Bros. in the direction of ScarJo, Lively, and numerous other actresses they’ve had conversations with (Sandra Bullock, Natalie Portman, Naomi Watts, Marion Cotillard, Carey Mulligan, Sienna Miller, Abbie Cornish, Rebecca Hall, and Olivia Wilde), according to Deadline Hollywood. But Warners isn’t sold on any of those names entirely, going back to Jolie a 2nd time to get spurned, because who doesn’t like getting rejected twice? That’s why I kept asking that same chick out in high school over and over and over again. Some thought it was because my persistence might eventually break her down, but really… I loved the denial. It was a definite boost to my self-esteem.
While Robert Downey Jr. is attached, and you’d think his name would be enough to carry the picture these days, it’s not his movie. He plays a comparably smaller role in the grand scheme of things, with GRAVITY centers around a female astronaut who’s the sole surviving member of her crew when they’re all killed in space by debris from an exploding satellite. The film then follows her quest to get back to Earth and back to her kid, so you can see where picking an actress to fit that material is key.
The studio is worried that they won’t be able to find an actress with the star power of Jolie to put asses in the seats for the film and cover the film’s $80 million budget, which explains their second attempt at getting her to reconsider. However, as this summer proved, big names don’t necessarily mean big box office. Then again, good stories don’t necessarily mean that either, when you consider that audiences didn’t turn out for SCOTT PILGRIM, but did VAMPIRES SUCK, so… frankly, it’s impossible to predict what the general public is going to come out to see these days.
However, Warner Bros. might want to use CAST AWAY as the model for its planning, since that’s the film it’s most often compared to. Tom Hanks was a solid enough star to carry to film, but that film’s budget was $90 million and it wound up grossing $429.6 million worldwide… and that was 10 years ago. Therefore, it doesn’t have to be a HUGE star Warners lands, but merely someone we wouldn’t mind watching for 2 hours.
I hope this doesn’t mean GRAVITY collapses, because it’d be a shame to waste Alfonso Cuaron and RDJ, simply because you can’t find someone who’s Angelina Jolie. I hate to break it to you, but there’s only 1 of her around these days… then again, Megan Fox looks close enough, so would that seal the deal?
