Natalie Portman Is Drawn Towards GRAVITY

Active negotiations are now underway (THR) for Natalie Portman to join Alfonso Cuaron's much hyped 3D project GRAVITY. Portman is now the top contender after another A list actress bowed out - I won't point out who it was again because it seems her saying no to the project has more Internet traction than the movie itself! Ridiculous.

Anyway I am VERY happy with Warner Bros. targeting Portman for the role but she has to break out the chops for this one. She will be owning the screen for much of the movie in a solo capacity. Can she swing it? I hope so. She will have to dig deep. I like her in the role much more than Scarlett Johansson.

Here is the supposed storyline (via Scriptshadow - SPOILER ALERT): The script follows Ryan Stone, an engineer whose career path unexpectedly puts her on a space shuttle, doing repairs. (In a more recent draft, she’s working on repairing the Hubble.) She’s paired with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski. But things go very wrong. The Russians just blew up something that “creates a chain reaction of spraying debris that hits multiple satellites, which also end up exploding, and all of a sudden thousands of pieces of debris are heading straight towards the space shuttle.”Cutting forward a bit, that debris destroys the shuttle and eventually leaves Ryan alone, trying to make her way to the International Space Station and rescue.

Everything that can go wrong does go wrong as the movie becomes a series of near death experiences. Ryan must jump from point to point – whether it be to a vessel, a station, or an oxygen tank – and survive long enough to make the journey to the next point after that (and so on). Each destination is accompanied by dangerous debris, dropping oxygen, and the strong chance that whatever she’s trying to get to might not be there. Think Apollo 13, but with the odds stacked 1 million times higher against you, if that’s possible.

See what I mean? Portman will have to be perfect. I think she can do it. Can't wait for those long lingering space shots from Cuaron!!