Previously on The Casting Saga of Alfonso Cuaron’s sci-fi survival thriller Gravity…
Universal had Angelina Jolie in the title role of a stranded astronaut trying to survive the return to Earth, the script was written by the Brothers Cuaron, with Alfonso taking the turn in the director’s chair. Anyone familiar with his astonishing adaptation of P.D. James’ Children of Men will instantly see the appeal of this project, but all was not so rosy in the Universal sky.
The project jettisoned Jolie and docked with Warners, whose man of the moment Robert Downey Jr. stepped in to a lead role and momentum started building again. Then we heard that Downey Jr’s Iron Man 2 co-star Scarlett Johansson had ‘verbally agreed’ to step into Jolie’s moonboots.
Today, another name was thrown into orbit as HeatVision report that Green Lantern cast member Blake Lively has tested for the role Johansson is going for, along with Marion Cotillard but they understand that Lively and Johansson are most likely to be cast.
So we’re still no nearer to a fellow cast member for Downey Jr. in Cuaron’s film, but it’s good to see the project moving forward, as this film, along with Von Trier’s Melancholia, Duncan Jones’ Source Code and the various other sci-fi ventures, point to a bright future for the genre.
