Natalie Portman Officially Offered Lead Role in ‘Gravity’

Looks like Scarlett Johansson and Blake Lively got some disappointing phone calls from their agents this morning. If you remember a few weeks ago, we reported that Johansson had the lead female role locked up for Alfonso Cuaron‘s Gravity. That is, until, it surfaced that Lively had apparently attempted to swipe the role from Johansson, conjuring up some under-the-radar casting cat-fight. But it all appears to be moot, as Natalie Portman has reportedly (via Risky Business) been officially offered the starring role in the sci-fi project, joining Robert Downey Jr who has a supporting role.

It should be clear that Portman has not yet accepted the offer, nor officially signed on in anyway. The studio and Cuaron have just made it loud and clear that they want her by announcing the offer publicly. Portman’s heavily buzzed about performance in Black Swan is apparently what made Cuaron jump at the chance to make her an offer, without even having her come in to Warner Bros. to test screen; which is standard procedure, even for A-listers.

Gravity is co-written by Cuaron and will be shot in 3D with a reported budget of around $80 million. The story centers on “a woman stranded on a space station after satellite debris slams into it and wipes out the rest of the crew.” The report claims that, if she were to accept the role, Portman would be the only featured character in most of the film, similiar to other “solitary” character circumstances, such as Tom Hanks in Cast Away.

I’m really happy about this. Natalie Portman is  gorgeous, talented and smart. She deserves to have a complex character study on a major studio budget like Gravity. Stay tuned to The Movie Mash for for updates.

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