Warner Bros. has been developing Alfonso Cuaron’s 3-D space thriller for some time now, with Robert Downey Jr. attached to co-star in the $80 million flick. But the future of the project is suddenly in jeopardy, according to Deadline, now that Angelina Jolie has - for the second time - declined the leading role of a woman on a mission to return home to her child. Cuaron initially approached Jolie for the pivotal role (the heroine is the only person onscreen for a large part of the movie). When she turned it down, the studio tested or approached a slew of actresses, including Sandra Bullock, Natalie Portman, Naomi Watts, Marion Cotillard, Carey Mulligan, Scarlett Johansson, Sienna Miller, Abbie Cornish, Rebecca Hall, Olivia Wilde, Blake Lively. (In early August, the Hollywood Reporter had Lively and Johansson as the frontrunners.) Apparently unsure that any of these women “can hold the screen and draw an audience to an $80 million film,†the studio made a second attempt to get Jolie, who has now “just passed for a second time.†Considering this project does seem pretty perfect for Jolie, let’s hope she changes her mind (Bullock or Portman could also probably pull it off)… at the very least, let’s cross our fingers the studio doesn’t pull a “reverse-Salt.â€
Angelina Jolie Pass Puts ‘Gravity’ In Shaky Orbit For Warner Bros [Deadline]